Ducks in garden

[peteyfoozer]

Anyone got experience with ducks? I keep getting told the eggs are even better than chicken eggs so I bought some ducklings as my hens are all geriatric and ready for the stew pot. The chickens scratched too much and exposed roots and I hear ducks won't do that, but they eat a lot of weeds and bugs…I guess we'll find out!

 

[Smart Red]

Don't know much about ducks other than I heard they are messier than chickens. I have seen my SIL's ducks line up like soldiers in review and march forward in a straight line eating every bug that gets disturbed. The family never seemed to complain about mosquitoes despite all the horse, cow, and duck watering mud spots on the farm.

 

[bobm]

If you bought the Khaki Campbels , you are good to go in the number of eggs. They are the egg layer machines. They lay the EXTRA EXTRA LARGE eggs and LOTS AND LOTS of them per year. If some other types, well ... the eggs will be large but not so many per year. Ducks will eat bugs, snails and slugs as well as weeds, and aren't vegies only a different type of weed ?

 

[peteyfoozer]

haha! I guess veggies just might fall into that category LOL I did get some Khaki Campbells, and hope there are hens as all i could find was straight runs. They sure are cute and I love the way they flock!

 

[ninnymary]

Well petey, you can't just tell us about them, you have to post pictures!

Mary

 

[baymule]

@peteyfoozer I had ducks this spring, but I sent the Pekins to freezer camp. I got 17 Pekins and 3 Runners for eggs and fun. The Runners are 4 months old in a couple of days, but no eggs yet. I think it takes 6 months for them to lay. I keep them in the coop with the chickens. They stick together, they are not friendly, look at me like I am the booger man, and are trying to figure out how to get into the dog's bathtub.

Duck eggs are good, you will like them. I have read, but have no personal experience, that a duck's laying life is somewhat better and longer than a chicken.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I don't think that I would recommend letting the ducks in your garden (although we've only tried it once). We let a group of about 20 Peking ducklings in the garden the first year we had them - two large squash vines were stripped of their leaves... completely. Maybe with taller crops such as corn or tomatoes, a few leaves may get eaten from the bottom of the plants and the rest would be too high up for them to reach. The ducks don't scratch but they will root around in the soil. They may go for low-hanging fruits or veggies.

(This could depend on how large of a garden you have - if it's fairly large will plenty of weeds to keep them busy then I'd say that it might be worth trying, I'd only keep them in there for a little bit though.) Your experience with ducks in the garden might be completely different from mine.

Duck eggs are much better than chicken eggs - thicker richer bigger yolk, for the most part thicker shells, bigger eggs, and the eggs are easier to wash than chicken eggs due to the kind-of waterproof shell (you will have to wash the duck eggs, they usually come out dirtier than a freshly laid chicken egg). They do have a longer laying life than most chickens - we have a few hens that are about five years old and still going strong.

Bay, will your runners go for scratch/corn if it's thrown at them? Our ducks started out exactly as you describe yours, after a few years that got much more adventurous, now they'll hand-feed (still don't liked to be picked up).

Something to throw in here - in time (usually a couple of years) Pekings will become broody. Pekings are said to not get broody at all, most people just don't keep them long enough. I don't know how this is with other duck breeds listed to be non-broody, but my guess is quite similar.

 

[Carol Dee]

Hey @peteyfoozer here you are! Looks like the MAC is behaving tonight. I have no duck or chickens so I can't give my 2 cents worth.