I have a question re: keeping ducks. Is it an absolute necessity for ducks to have a pond? I'm interested in raising a few Runner ducks, essentially as pets, but we don't have a pond. Are there any experienced duck keepers out there that can offer some general advice?

thanks, Amy

-- Amy (acook@in4web.com), December 23, 2000

Answers

Amy, mine have never had a pond. They have a 5' wading pool, hot pink to be precise. They really just need water deep enough to completely submerge their heads to they can keep their nostrils cleaned out. They like to swim, but we all must make sacrifices!

When you get your baby ducks, always be sure to water them before feeding them. Give them time to get a really good drink of water, and then make sure they still have water available. THEN feed them. Otherwise, they can choke or they will eat so much feed that when they drink water and it expands, it will kill them. I've lost a lot of them that way before I finally read what was wrong. Anyway, haven't lost any since. Otherwise, they brood pretty much like chickens, except they don't need as much heat for as long. Good luck.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 23, 2000.

Amy, be sure that your "pond" in level w/ the ground on at least on side so they can get out easily. When we had ducks, I also used a wading pool but I dug the ground out on one side so that it was at a slant (ei. one deep end and one shallow.) It will get VERY dirty (they also use the water as a potty) so keep it small enough that you can clean it out from time to time! enjoy!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), December 23, 2000.

My cousin's ducks had a hideously dirty concrete pond that they made for them. They liked swimming in it, but the feces in the water got pretty hideous smelling (they only drained it once or twice a year). We dug out some shallow areas and lined them with plastic, making gradual slopes for them to get out of and weighted the edges with dirt --it wasn't long before the dirt was in the bottom along with everything else and ducks had hard time getting out of the pond. Concrete patio bricks helped with traction, and the mud packed down so that we were able to semi-change water weekly by hosing it out with a forceful stream on a flat angle.

I used kid's wading ponds for my dogs, they liked it, and those were a lot easier to clean. We also used various old tubs and things to give them bath-tubs at times, but you have to watch the sides being too steep for them to get out, especially ducklings, who will get exhausted trying and drown if they don't have a support under them so that they can get out. We used the lids of garbage cans for young ones til they were older and stronger (and taller).

The basins were better in the winters, but even then, filling them with hot water for the ducks, we would occasionally get a duck that sat in the water so long (it probably felt good in the cold) that they'd freeze into the water and have to be thawed out again. None lost feet that way, but I was afraid they might.

We always fed our young ducks a slurry mix so there neve was any expansion problems.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), December 23, 2000.

We had some that would run 70 mhp laps in a 6 ft wading pool.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 23, 2000.

We have a small, seasonal pond (fills up in the rainy season, but can be dry in summer.) Our ducklings learn to swim in an old VW Rabbit hubcap (with bricks on the side and a few big rocks in the hubcap for them to climb out on. The hubcap is a drinking bowl the rest of the year (unless it's freezing out.) Our ducks drink and dunk their heads into plastic pails and don't seem to mind not having a pond when there's not a lot of rainwater to fill it up (we drain our house roof water via underground pipe into the pond.) They sleep in the pasture about 20 yards away from the barn. They were just up on the patio reminding me to feed them some cracked corn before they go to bed!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), December 23, 2000.

Thanks to all of you for responding to my duck question. You've been such a great help!

Amy

-- Amy (acook@in4web.com), December 24, 2000.

Runners in particular don't seem to care too much about swimming. They rarely desport in the 4ft rubber pond I have for them. I keep several 3gal containers about with water in as well. Don't think of them as pets though -- think of them as egg producers and insect marshalls -- everybody's got to pull their weight on the homestead.

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), December 26, 2000.

Amy..We use the kids wading poolin the summer. This winter, with temps down to -25, the ducks are in the barn (unheated) and we are just using a black rubber feed dish about 20 inches so that we can easily get the frozen water out to refill. They seem happy and don't seem to be experiencing any problems.

-- JoAnn (jonehls@excite.com), December 30, 2000.