Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Ducks

I was wondering about the advantages and disadvantages of having (tame) ducks in your pond . Hopefully some of you pond bosses can help me out. I found one disadvantage myself in the past two weeks when I feed the fish the ducks go crazy on it, Like they're starving.

Thanks in advance.

Ducks (geese, too) poop...a lot...and where ever they happen to be. Doesn't bother me all that much...wifey hates it.

Not sure about tame waterfowl, but have always understood that the wild variety carry with them the risk of introducing parasites in your fish, as they are part of the life-cycle of some of these critters.

I've got lots of wild geese and (probably due to the RES), so far at least, no sign of those nasty internal worms or "pepper" spots.

lots of poop and they wil eat up tons of fish food. BTW client in Orangeburg will give you his ducks/geese. he hates them. matt they can carry disease but feel herons/eggerts more of potential spreaders.

We had 3 mallards showed up at our pond. They're beautiful birds, so I tolerated them until I learned what a headache they are. They soon learned to associate us with fish pellets, and hung around waiting for us to feed. I would estimate 1 mallard can consume more feed pellets in 10 seconds than 200 BG. They also learn that you have tasty bait on your fishing line, and try to grab it. The final straw was watching them dabble around the edges of my pond, eating up my minnows and shrimp. I began throwing dirt chunks at them, to chase them away while I fed the fish. That became ineffective when they learned what a poor shot I was. 1 day I went to the pond, and was delighted to find they had moved to my neighbor's pond, where they are apparently welcome. Or maybe he is fattening them up for gumbo.

Agreed...but they (H's & E's) are MUCH more sporting targets...

We've had ducks on and off over the years. Usually two or three for our half-acre pond. I think they are great, and they really keep the weeds down around the edges.

As for feeding, we always fed the ducks first, and well away from where we would feed the fish. It would take our three pekin ducks about 20-30 minutes to find a 1-lb. coffee can full of cracked corn thrown in the grass. By then the fish would be done feeding. If the ducks finished the corn early, they would quickly scarf up any fish food floating on the water.

Now that's a great idea...make the ducks work for their supper, and keep them occupied doing it while feeding your fish...

Wouldn't work too good with auto fish feeders, but for those that hand feed, it's a pretty elegant solution.