ducks

[catalyst]

we´ve got a pair of ducks living on our pond.... yesterday the hen appeared with her 9 new babies... wow...

do we need to put down food for them? or chuck some chick food in the pond... or will they manage on the microscopic pond life?

[Andy Hamilton]

Whenever I see ducks they seem pretty capable of fending for themselves. However, I always see them on canals, rivers or bigger lakes. I would have thought that this means that there is simply more to eat. How big is you pond? I found this for you that should be help you http://www.liveducks.com/ - quite a nice little duck site.

[catalyst]

they seem ok when it comes to finding food... we give the parents a little bit of natural chicken food each day (mix of grains).. perhaps the young will eat some crumbs from that as well as bugs in the water and greens growing round...
but, the dad has killed 2 so far... hope the rest have learned to stay away from him..

andy

[catalyst]

down to 6 duckilngs now...

not much we can do, can´t catch dad... or any of them in fact... and worried that if we tried to the stress would kill them anyway...

next year dad will be removed while mum is sitting

andy

[Andy Hamilton]

that is quite strange that Dad kills them, are they the offspring of another duck or something?

[catalyst]

no, they are his... no other ducks for miles

i do wonder whether he is killing the males... or its natural for him to kill the slowest/weakest...

[Andy Hamilton]

Have had a look around for you and found that ducks will kill their young when food is sparse, some breeds are far more likely than others to do this. So get some food out!!

[catalyst]

we give them a cup of the mixed grains we feed our chickens and geese with, every day...
it may be that the dad thinks the pond is too small for this many ducks... ducks main food seems to slugs, bugs, etc...

have to get some chick food that floats and chuck some in water every day

[alcina]

ducks main food seems to slugs, bugs, etc...

What a pity I can't send you my slugs and snails! Kill two birds with one stone...so to speak! I get rid of the blighters, the cutesome little ducklings live. When I squish them here nothing much seems to eat them - they just lie around drying up. Obviously the birds prefer their food to wriggle on its way down.

Speaking of dead baby birds....I had a blackbird pair nesting in a honeysuckle shrub this year I was very proud that they'd chosen my garden. Apparently baby blackbirds leave the nest before they can fly, and spend about a week pottering amongst the undergrowth whilst the parents feed them. WELL dodgy idea in my books! I had at least 4 chicks in the nest. On Thursday I realised that the parents were no longer going to the nest every 15 mins. I checked around the garden and found 3 live chicks and one dead one The next day there was only one live chick. Friday was really really wet with heavy rain. The one remaining chick was sheltering under some bags of concrete I have on the patio ready to erect the pergola. Yesterday I found this chick dead. The dead chicks are now buried in the veggie bed where they're feeding the pumpkin. I'd rather have live blackbirds though.

Hope you get at least one duckling to mature!

Alcina

[catalyst]

we still have 5.... dad seems happy as long as we ensure he has a pile of food all the time!!!

unfortunately we have lost mum... the kids found her head on our track... we have had a stray dog hanging around for a few weeks... two chickens have also gone...

now have an air rifle near bedroom window, overlooking pond... have to scare this dog off, or he´ll eat all our birds..

[ina]

Hi

It seems to be really difficult to get ducklings through to adulthood - I worked on a farm once where we had one callduck with youngsters, and they all died of some mysterious disease... No murders involved here.

By the way, we used to collect slugs in a jar throughout the day, and come evening, we fed them to the ducks. Cheap way to feed the blighters, and very satisfactory to see the monsters gobbled up!!!

Anyway, as I am hoping to get myself some ducks here (as soon as I have dug out what used to be a small pond...), I'd appreciate some advice: Do you need a house for them or just a shelter, and how big would that have to be for 2-3 ducks? And I can never remember which kinds of ducks don't have a go at your greens but stick to unwanted "livestock"?

Cheers
Ina

[catalyst]

we don´t get many slugs here....:)
our ducks live on a small pond... with no fencing or shelter... seem very happy... people told us they would fly away, but i guess they´ve got it so good they aren´t inclkined to go anywhere else....
they take refuge on the water when disturbed, but have gotten used to our dogs... hence the stray´s ability to nab one a few days ago...
btw the stray dog has gone, a couple of blunt pellets up its arse from a distance did the trick of convincing it to clear off...

[ina]

Lucky you - no slugs! That's really what I want to keep them for, as slugcontrol, with the side effect of duck eggs. But I'll probably have to choose a colourful exotic breed, or give them little reflective jackets, so they don't get hit when the pheasant shoot is on...

Ina

[Andy Hamilton]

Lucky you - no slugs! That's really what I want to keep them for, as slugcontrol, with the side effect of duck eggs. But I'll probably have to choose a colourful exotic breed, or give them little reflective jackets, so they don't get hit when the pheasant shoot is on...

Ina

Ducks in Jackets, now that I wnat to see

[ina]

Well, there's lambs in jackets, to keep the delicate newborns from keeling over - so why not ducks? Equal rights for all animals!!!!!!

Ina