I don't restrain her in my lap and when she starts to struggle I set her down. She will immediately poop. She knows it's coming and doesn't WANT to go on me so she tries to get down quickly Anyway, I just wanted to share those few things from my experience keeping ducks.
My girls are spoiled brats. They even have their own youtube channel the one with all the ducks! Chickens are boring, in my opinion. Ducks are SO rewarding. But you're not wrong. Actually, you were spot on! They are high maintenance. The care is easy but time consuming. They are messy messy messy! They made quick work of devouring every flower I ever planted on my property in the last 15 years and my beautiful little gallon fish pond is history.
Every water plant was eaten, including very expensive lilies and you can't see the fish at all because you can't see through the water anymore. Sacrifices, man Because ducks are absolutely worth having!
You will have no plants or grass left as they will pull everything out and create a mud pool. My drake was much worse when it came to this but my ladies always followed him. Ducks are very high maintenance. I currently only have two females but the two of them are by far more work than my 14 chickens. This is such a well written and easy to read article; thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience.
My wife and I were donated 3 ducklings by some friends who found them crossing a busy road. Despite hanging around the mother couldn't be found, so they brought them to us. What an eye opener! They were 3 or 4 days old when we got them and they're now about 5 weeks old. Sadly one died during their first night with us but the other two are strong and healthy. Thanks for this in depth opinion! I've been doing a ton of research on owning ducks while deciding what to do on our property and way too many people gloss over the realities that come with owning ducks.
This is a well rounded, well written view. Sharing is caring! Click here to cancel reply. Amanda Lambert Wednesday 3rd of November Katie Sunday 15th of August After you have harvested your gardens or fields, your ducks will find a lot of food that is very good for them to eat which would otherwise be wasted.
Let ducks in harvested gardens or fields However, when ducks are in your home garden it is a good idea to watch them. Ducks may eat snails, slugs, worms and other things on the ground such as seeds or fallen leaves.
However, be sure that they do not eat the smaller plants as well. You must also be very careful if you have low- growing berries or fruits for the ducks may eat them too. Ducks eat berries How many ducks should you raise? If you are going to raise ducks that live by themselves and find their own food, with very little help from you, you can raise up to 24 ducks. You can raise up to 24 ducks that live outside by themselves However, until you know more about ducks and how to take care of them, it is best to start with a small flock.
Start with a flock of 6 ducks, 5 female ducks, and 1 male duck. With a flock of 6 ducks you will get 5 to 10 eggs each week. In addition, with a male in your flock the eggs you get will be fertile. This means that you can raise your own baby ducks.
After you have raised a small flock, you may find that you could use more eggs and more meat. Later in this booklet you will learn how to use some of your eggs to raise baby ducks to make your flock bigger. You can raise your own baby ducks How to keep ducks safe and well Although ducks can live outside by themselves, they will live much better if they have a shelter. Ducks can live outside by themselves The main reason for building a shelter for your ducks is to keep them safe from enemies at night when they are sleeping.
A simple duck shelter Ducks, especially young ducks, have many enemies. There are also other reasons for building a shelter. Here are a few. We have a marked breed, the Saxony, and keeping up with the correct patterns is tough, especially in the males. We used to have a small flock of Blue Swedish and the white bib on the chest is a marking that you have to keep an eye on.
If you find the bib is not developing as it should in your ducklings, you need to pair different parents. If you are raising a rare breed of duck, get two pairs or even better, two trios. A trio is one male and two females. If you get two breeding pairs, you have the ability to continue your breeding plan if one of the ducks in either pair does not meet breed standards.
If you get more duck pairs or trios to start with you give yourself more options from the beginning. Part of your obligation as a rare breed breeder is to keep up the standards of the breed, which frequently means culling out the non performers.
If you only have one male and one female, you drastically limit your ability to contribute to the health, longevity and usefulness of your chosen breed.
These numbers will give you an idea of how much space your ducks need in a sheltered area. Any outside space would be in addition to these figures. This means that if you have the space available, go for the bigger area and make your life as a duck keeper a bit easier! Metzer Farms has a great article on space needed for ducks and geese. The ducks do need to be raised with other ducks for companionship, but not necessarily as a breeding pair. If you are wanting to use the ducks for breeding, the ratio of males to females is more like 1 male per females.
For example: for our Saxony ducks, we would need a ratio of 1 male per 3 females, these are a heavier duck. For something lighter like Runners or Khaki Campbell, you could go with a 1 male to 5 female plan, since these types of ducks are much more active.
The reason you do not want to have more drakes than suggested is that the drakes will start harassing the females and will fight amongst themselves. Keep the ratio of males to females at the right level or only have a flock of all drakes or all duck hens. If you were to start with just 5 hens, more like a hobby flock, you could easily use all of the eggs yourself! Of course, starting an egg business is all done after you have researched the demand in your area and customer willingness to pay well for duck eggs, right?
If you are wanting to have your ducks be more of a small business, start with a larger number of ducks or ducklings, more like If 30 ducks sounds like way too many ducks to you, consider this: how do you increase your production of duck eggs? You get more ducks, of course.
When you start out with a larger group of ducks, you have the option to choose your breeding or laying stock more carefully. Since this is a business, you only want to have the producers. Then decide how many ducks you can handle and care for, and whether or not you want drakes.
Then, plan and build your accommodations. Decide what you will feed your flock and how you will manage them. Finally, get your ducks! There are many available duck breeds, each with different characteristics and traits. Which one you need will depend on how many eggs you want, if you want meat, if you need a quiet duck, if you need a flightless duck, if you want a pet, and so on. Click to Duck Breed Guide for more information. Say you use about two dozen eggs a week, which is eggs a year.
Dividing by , you need about five females, plus one male if you wish for offspring. Total, you need six ducks and more if you want to sell the eggs. Remember that not all the ducks will be laying all at the same time. If you are raising ducks for meat, consider how much space the growing youngsters will take. Remember that some ducks can hatch twenty and sometimes more eggs in just one clutch, and until they are large enough to butcher, those youngsters will take a lot of space.
Estimate how many youngsters you want per year before planning the size of your structures. Some people just want their ducks as pets, with eggs as a side benefit.
Still, if you want ducklings, plan accordingly. Do not get only one bird. Ducks are social animals and live in flocks, so you must have at least two unless you plan to spend lots of time with your duck — hardly feasible unless your duck lives in your house. Your flock size also depends on the space available.
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