Discussion
really fancy a couple of ducks, going to romsey show tomorrow and they always have them for sale there, would it be cruel to keep a couple as pets , i have a reasonble garden and would be able to sort out water, maybe a small pond or even a raised water feature
are they hard to keep or easy going
are they hard to keep or easy going
I have a duck, he lives with a couple of hens.
Ducks need water for eating and washing, mine will often get a mouthful of mud and take it to the pond and swish it about in his mouth to filter bugs out of it so your water will stay clean for about 3 minutes after you change it. He will help himself to dry food but after a mouthful he'll be back off to the pond to take a large gulp of water to wash it down.
He doesn't actually like water as much as you'd think and spends 99% of his time pottering around the garden digging up the lawn and the borders with his bill to find bugs (which he washes out in his pond) I find it odd that he can be sat in his pond hiding under a overhanging bush to avoid the rain.
We started out with a six foot pond but it was too much work to clean out and refill, he turns it in to a mud and crap soup in 3 minutes flat. We now have a 2 1/2 foot pond which is much more manageable.
He craps a lot which isn't a problem while he is off in the border but it can be quite messy when he is sat at the back door quacking to be let in, leaving the back door open is not possible because his favourite pass time is either sitting in the dogs water bowl or chatting to the other duck reflected in the oven door. Sometimes the sneaky bugger has crept in silently and gone to sleep under my legs in the living room which is not good seeing as he craps for England.
He thinks I'm his best mate and he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes) Conversely he thinks the dog is the spawn of the devil and growls at him constantly although he is calming down now.
He quacks a lot, if he's not chatting to you as he's walking about (which sounds like he's gently saying whack-whack-whack) he'll be at the back door quacking as loud as he can to be let in which can be quite annoying.
He eats chicken pellets and corn which can be found in pet shops, I did buy him duck pellets but he turned his nose up at them. It probably costs me 50p a week to feed him.
Ducks need water for eating and washing, mine will often get a mouthful of mud and take it to the pond and swish it about in his mouth to filter bugs out of it so your water will stay clean for about 3 minutes after you change it. He will help himself to dry food but after a mouthful he'll be back off to the pond to take a large gulp of water to wash it down.
He doesn't actually like water as much as you'd think and spends 99% of his time pottering around the garden digging up the lawn and the borders with his bill to find bugs (which he washes out in his pond) I find it odd that he can be sat in his pond hiding under a overhanging bush to avoid the rain.
We started out with a six foot pond but it was too much work to clean out and refill, he turns it in to a mud and crap soup in 3 minutes flat. We now have a 2 1/2 foot pond which is much more manageable.
He craps a lot which isn't a problem while he is off in the border but it can be quite messy when he is sat at the back door quacking to be let in, leaving the back door open is not possible because his favourite pass time is either sitting in the dogs water bowl or chatting to the other duck reflected in the oven door. Sometimes the sneaky bugger has crept in silently and gone to sleep under my legs in the living room which is not good seeing as he craps for England.
He thinks I'm his best mate and he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes) Conversely he thinks the dog is the spawn of the devil and growls at him constantly although he is calming down now.
He quacks a lot, if he's not chatting to you as he's walking about (which sounds like he's gently saying whack-whack-whack) he'll be at the back door quacking as loud as he can to be let in which can be quite annoying.
He eats chicken pellets and corn which can be found in pet shops, I did buy him duck pellets but he turned his nose up at them. It probably costs me 50p a week to feed him.
Sheets Tabuer said:
...We started out with a six foot pond but it was too much work to clean out and refill, he turns it in to a mud and crap soup in 3 minutes flat. We now have a 2 1/2 foot pond which is much more manageable.
He craps a lot...
...he craps for England.
...he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes).
You'll notice a bit of a theme developing here?He craps a lot...
...he craps for England.
...he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes).
Hint: They crap a lot, so if you have a pond/water feature, it will need to be designed to be capable of being cleaned out regularly, and you'll want to make sure that people don't trail duck crap onto your carpets when they enter the house form the garden.
I like ducks though... as birds go, they have a lot of character.
Sheets Tabuer said:
I have a duck, he lives with a couple of hens.
Ducks need water for eating and washing, mine will often get a mouthful of mud and take it to the pond and swish it about in his mouth to filter bugs out of it so your water will stay clean for about 3 minutes after you change it. He will help himself to dry food but after a mouthful he'll be back off to the pond to take a large gulp of water to wash it down.
He doesn't actually like water as much as you'd think and spends 99% of his time pottering around the garden digging up the lawn and the borders with his bill to find bugs (which he washes out in his pond) I find it odd that he can be sat in his pond hiding under a overhanging bush to avoid the rain.
We started out with a six foot pond but it was too much work to clean out and refill, he turns it in to a mud and crap soup in 3 minutes flat. We now have a 2 1/2 foot pond which is much more manageable.
He craps a lot which isn't a problem while he is off in the border but it can be quite messy when he is sat at the back door quacking to be let in, leaving the back door open is not possible because his favourite pass time is either sitting in the dogs water bowl or chatting to the other duck reflected in the oven door. Sometimes the sneaky bugger has crept in silently and gone to sleep under my legs in the living room which is not good seeing as he craps for England.
He thinks I'm his best mate and he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes) Conversely he thinks the dog is the spawn of the devil and growls at him constantly although he is calming down now.
He quacks a lot, if he's not chatting to you as he's walking about (which sounds like he's gently saying whack-whack-whack) he'll be at the back door quacking as loud as he can to be let in which can be quite annoying.
He eats chicken pellets and corn which can be found in pet shops, I did buy him duck pellets but he turned his nose up at them. It probably costs me 50p a week to feed him.
Oh that did make me chuckle! he sounds like a proper character!Ducks need water for eating and washing, mine will often get a mouthful of mud and take it to the pond and swish it about in his mouth to filter bugs out of it so your water will stay clean for about 3 minutes after you change it. He will help himself to dry food but after a mouthful he'll be back off to the pond to take a large gulp of water to wash it down.
He doesn't actually like water as much as you'd think and spends 99% of his time pottering around the garden digging up the lawn and the borders with his bill to find bugs (which he washes out in his pond) I find it odd that he can be sat in his pond hiding under a overhanging bush to avoid the rain.
We started out with a six foot pond but it was too much work to clean out and refill, he turns it in to a mud and crap soup in 3 minutes flat. We now have a 2 1/2 foot pond which is much more manageable.
He craps a lot which isn't a problem while he is off in the border but it can be quite messy when he is sat at the back door quacking to be let in, leaving the back door open is not possible because his favourite pass time is either sitting in the dogs water bowl or chatting to the other duck reflected in the oven door. Sometimes the sneaky bugger has crept in silently and gone to sleep under my legs in the living room which is not good seeing as he craps for England.
He thinks I'm his best mate and he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes) Conversely he thinks the dog is the spawn of the devil and growls at him constantly although he is calming down now.
He quacks a lot, if he's not chatting to you as he's walking about (which sounds like he's gently saying whack-whack-whack) he'll be at the back door quacking as loud as he can to be let in which can be quite annoying.
He eats chicken pellets and corn which can be found in pet shops, I did buy him duck pellets but he turned his nose up at them. It probably costs me 50p a week to feed him.
Sheets Tabuer said:
I have a duck, he lives with a couple of hens.
Ducks need water for eating and washing, mine will often get a mouthful of mud and take it to the pond and swish it about in his mouth to filter bugs out of it so your water will stay clean for about 3 minutes after you change it. He will help himself to dry food but after a mouthful he'll be back off to the pond to take a large gulp of water to wash it down.
He doesn't actually like water as much as you'd think and spends 99% of his time pottering around the garden digging up the lawn and the borders with his bill to find bugs (which he washes out in his pond) I find it odd that he can be sat in his pond hiding under a overhanging bush to avoid the rain.
We started out with a six foot pond but it was too much work to clean out and refill, he turns it in to a mud and crap soup in 3 minutes flat. We now have a 2 1/2 foot pond which is much more manageable.
He craps a lot which isn't a problem while he is off in the border but it can be quite messy when he is sat at the back door quacking to be let in, leaving the back door open is not possible because his favourite pass time is either sitting in the dogs water bowl or chatting to the other duck reflected in the oven door. Sometimes the sneaky bugger has crept in silently and gone to sleep under my legs in the living room which is not good seeing as he craps for England.
He thinks I'm his best mate and he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes) Conversely he thinks the dog is the spawn of the devil and growls at him constantly although he is calming down now.
He quacks a lot, if he's not chatting to you as he's walking about (which sounds like he's gently saying whack-whack-whack) he'll be at the back door quacking as loud as he can to be let in which can be quite annoying.
He eats chicken pellets and corn which can be found in pet shops, I did buy him duck pellets but he turned his nose up at them. It probably costs me 50p a week to feed him.
What sort of duck is he?Ducks need water for eating and washing, mine will often get a mouthful of mud and take it to the pond and swish it about in his mouth to filter bugs out of it so your water will stay clean for about 3 minutes after you change it. He will help himself to dry food but after a mouthful he'll be back off to the pond to take a large gulp of water to wash it down.
He doesn't actually like water as much as you'd think and spends 99% of his time pottering around the garden digging up the lawn and the borders with his bill to find bugs (which he washes out in his pond) I find it odd that he can be sat in his pond hiding under a overhanging bush to avoid the rain.
We started out with a six foot pond but it was too much work to clean out and refill, he turns it in to a mud and crap soup in 3 minutes flat. We now have a 2 1/2 foot pond which is much more manageable.
He craps a lot which isn't a problem while he is off in the border but it can be quite messy when he is sat at the back door quacking to be let in, leaving the back door open is not possible because his favourite pass time is either sitting in the dogs water bowl or chatting to the other duck reflected in the oven door. Sometimes the sneaky bugger has crept in silently and gone to sleep under my legs in the living room which is not good seeing as he craps for England.
He thinks I'm his best mate and he'll follow me all over the garden to see what I'm up to (crapping as he goes) Conversely he thinks the dog is the spawn of the devil and growls at him constantly although he is calming down now.
He quacks a lot, if he's not chatting to you as he's walking about (which sounds like he's gently saying whack-whack-whack) he'll be at the back door quacking as loud as he can to be let in which can be quite annoying.
He eats chicken pellets and corn which can be found in pet shops, I did buy him duck pellets but he turned his nose up at them. It probably costs me 50p a week to feed him.
Here are some of mine.
Fab pets but if you haven't got a river with flowing water don't think about a pond they will ruin it will poo, strip out every last leaf of vegetation and eat your goldfish.
Muscovy or Khaki Campbells are not big swimmers so Ok as a garden duck.
They can be noisy although I like the quacking sound your neighbours may not.
They live about 5-7 years.
Fab pets but if you haven't got a river with flowing water don't think about a pond they will ruin it will poo, strip out every last leaf of vegetation and eat your goldfish.
Muscovy or Khaki Campbells are not big swimmers so Ok as a garden duck.
They can be noisy although I like the quacking sound your neighbours may not.
They live about 5-7 years.
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