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We had some surprise new arrivals yesterday for Masco's 30th birthday...

4 5-week old Khaki Campbell ducks







They were a present from one of Masco's friends (who has a few animals etc himself)

Currently they are living in a spare rabbit hutch and run, until we sort out our fencing and buy a duck house

So, in 2 years, we've gone from just having 1 dog to having 2 dogs, 2 rabbits, 4 chickens and 4 ducks.... why is my life never predictable?!

I've spent the day cramming about ducks, having never had them before in my life!!

Seeing your khaki campbells made me decide I really ought to get a few myself.
They are great for letting loose in the veg garden as they love eating slugs and pretty much ignore all the vegetables.
The only slight downside is their webbed feet do tend to paddle the soil, especially when it's wet.
It might be a good idea to shut them in the polytunnel now and again as that really is a haven for slugs and snails.
So, thanks for that Masco&Bongo, I will have a look in the next weeks small ads and join you with a few.

Plus they lay eggs too ....

They are lovely!!!! We are getting some lavender muscovey hatching eggs this coming week....really looking forward to having ducks!!!!...although not looking forward to all the poo!!!!!!!!!!!

Odsox wrote:They are great for letting loose in the veg garden as they love eating slugs and pretty much ignore all the vegetables..

Do NOT let them near cherry tomatoes!

They are wonderful creatures - I'd love some myself!

That's the kind of present I like...

Millymollymandy wrote:

Odsox wrote:They are great for letting loose in the veg garden as they love eating slugs and pretty much ignore all the vegetables..

Do NOT let them near cherry tomatoes!

Also on second thoughts, not good until seedlings have grown into sizeable plants. Otherwise they will get stomped.

i was told that they are very nervous ducks and that welsh harlequins are better
is this true

great pics im doing ducks next year to late to hatch now

They certainly look nervous - they're doing all they can to keep their distance.

naturesparadise wrote:i was told that they are very nervous ducks and that welsh harlequins are better
is this true

great pics im doing ducks next year to late to hatch now

They were quite nervous when they arrived. The pics were taken on the first proper day of them being here...

They are getting much better actually. They will let us pick them up and examine them, and they don't run away anymore.
I suspect being "enclosed" in a run doesn't help...

They aren't scared of our large bouncy dogs, and as long as I don't run up to them, they are getting used to me...

Time will tell I guess, but we're hoping to free range them in a couple of weeks or so, so I'm hoping they will get friendlier

I think I'd be nervous, too - if there was suddenly all those huuuuge creatures around me, and me not able to run away and hide...

ina wrote:I think I'd be nervous, too - if there was suddenly all those huuuuge creatures around me, and me not able to run away and hide...

Yeah, that's what I thought... not sure whether they had much human contact between birth and 5 weeks.... they have realised that I am the one with the food though, so crowd round their bowl when I fill it up!