Do ducks do much damage to a garden?

Discussion in 'Pets' started by gardentoad, Mar 18, 2010.

  1. gardentoad

    gardentoad Seedling

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    My sister in law gave me 2 ducklings yesterday for my upcoming birthday.
    Do they do much damage to a garden? I have a couple ponds so they should be happy here but I have never kept ducks before.
    I have kept parrots for years, indoors.

    moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic
     
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  3. eileen

    eileen Resident Taxonomist Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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  4. bunkie

    bunkie Young Pine

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    how wonderful gardentoad! we are getting some baby ducks this spring too. we haven't had any for a couple years now, but had lots of fun in the past. they do love ponds! even kitty pools!

    aas for the gardens, our ducks were pretty much under verbal control. a couple words and they'd leave the area.

    great links eileen!
     
  5. gardentoad

    gardentoad Seedling

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    Thanks for the links. I couldnt get the one about keeping baby ducks to open but I will try again later.
    It's not realy true that I never had ducks. My family had 2 when I was about 4 or 5. I remember the eggs and petting them but that was about all. My mother had iris and a few roses. My father had a veggie garden but it was fenced off.

    I had been thinking about getting chickens but I knew I'd have to keep them in a pen. I was told they would eat or scratch up everything down to the ground. It sounds like I can let the ducks just run free.

    The article said their wings are pinned.Is that just the flight feathers clipped off or is it different? I have a couple mini dachshunds and I want to keep the ducks seperate from them just in case. I have a 2 foot fence that keeps the dogs out of most of the yard but I will need to keep the ducks on their side.
     



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  6. daisybeans

    daisybeans Hardy Maple

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    When I was a kid we had some ducks. My mom said if I put some pebbles in a paper bag and shook it, I could train the ducks to follow me and they did! They would walk behind me in a perfect little line. They were so cute and friendly. Good luck with yours.
     
  7. bunkie

    bunkie Young Pine

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    that's what ours did daisy! i'd shake a can with grain in it and they'd follow me anywhere...till ed taught them how to fly! :D

    i haad two males that would sit on my shoulders as i walked around. really fun!

    gardentoad, clipping the wings is to keep them from flying away. i'm not sure which feathers to clip as we never did that. here's another link to a site with lots of questions and answers...

    http://www.liveducks.com/faqs.html

    out here in the sticks we had to concern ourselves with protecting the flock from coyotes that came around seasonally. we kept the ducks in a pen at night. hawks (daytime) and owls (at night) were another problem. one once we had a cougar take a couple right out of their pen!

    this time we are really making the pen critter tight!
     
  8. Droopy

    Droopy Slug Slaughterer Plants Contributor

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    Congratulations! And good luck with them. I wish you an enjoyable experience and a good friendship.
     
  9. gardentoad

    gardentoad Seedling

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    After learning that they wont destroy everything we bought 2 more when I went after a bag of food and bedding.
    Thanks for the tip to get them to follow. My daughter will like that. She took them to the garden yesterday for the first time. It was unusually warm here.

    [​IMG]

    Mmmmmm worms!
    [​IMG]

    Water outside is still too cold so she brought them a dish to drink from.
    [​IMG]

    A bath before going back in the box. They were very dirty.
    [​IMG]
     
  10. daisybeans

    daisybeans Hardy Maple

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    They sure are cute as can be. We used to let ours swim in the tub when they were tiny. Be careful with your dogs around them. Dogs will be dogs...
     
  11. bunkie

    bunkie Young Pine

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    great pics gardentoad! they look really well adjusted and happy!
     
  12. glendann

    glendann Official Garden Angel

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    My mom had a flock once and the bitties will follow you everywhere.They think its their mommy.If you run they will too all in a row.Yours brought back so many memories.Thanks for the photos.
     
  13. Palustris

    Palustris Young Pine

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    Ours flew away, 'cos I forgot to clip their flight feathers. We can hear them on the Lake at the Big House up the road. They were Call ducks which are very noisy.
     

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