Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Letting domesticated ducks forage on the pond

Greetings!
I live on a 3 acre pond and have been thinking about building a coop for 2-5 ducks, primarily for egg harvesting. I was thinking I could just let them out in the morning to forage all day on the pond and train them to come back in the evening by feeding them when its bed time. Does anybody have experience with this? We have a few Canada gooses that take up residence every year, I am a little worried about them being jerks to my ducks. Other than that, I am trying to figure out if there is anything I might not be thinking about. I live in the Atlanta area so temps are pretty mild. Thanks in advance for any advice/input.

I personally would not recommend it based on my experience. I have two ponds, one about .6 acre and that is the one I have the ducks on. I will not be putting ducks on the other. I have 5 Silver Appleyard ducks that I hatched and who live 24/7 on the pond. They are pretty amazing in that they have escaped predation for several years from a variety of threats, including, foxes,raccoons, coyotes, dogs etc. We actually enjoy having them around. The problem, however, is that they constantly eat all of the vegetation along the inside of the banks and so the pond edges are always crumbling and falling into the pond. I estimate that I have lost close to 4 feet of bank already. Fortunately, there is room for "expansion" so I haven't worried too much about it but it really is pretty amazing how much damage they have done. Something to consider anyway.

Thanks for the reply. I actually plan to house and feed them, just give them time to forage on the pond as opposed to walk around in a caged coop like a chicken. I really just want the eggs, they seem a lot cleaner than chickens, especially if I can let them out on the pond all day.

Sounds great. Good luck, you will enjoy them.

Lando,

I see nothing wrong with a few ducks on a pond that size. We raise both ducks and chickens for eggs, although the ducks are far more sloppy/dirty than chickens. Thanks.

Bryan

I agree with Bryan. To me the key message he provided is "on a pond that size." I don't think a half dozen ducks on a 3 acre is a big problem. Now if your pond were a tenth acre, I suspect you would end up with some pretty bad water quality. Ducks don't mind swimming in their toilet!