I bought four ducks expecting to loose one or two right away. They had never seen water before and refused to go into. I tried to chase them in, but they were too fast for my old, out of shape, fat body. Luckily we have a 5 year old that derived a great deal of pleasure chasing them every time they came out of the water. It was a test of wills between the ducks and the five year old. Guess who won? hahaha
I have a small island on that pond just for this reason. It should offer them some protection from preditors while they sleep. I never planned on the goose joining them. The ducks are rather deep sleepers. I can walk right up to them when they are all asleep and probably catch one if I tried. With the goose there, nothing gets by without it seeing it. It's the most alert animal I've ever encountered!!!
We have coyote tracks all around the pond, but after three months, we haven't lost a duck yet. I just don't see how anything can sneek up on that goose!!!!
When the ducks are asleep,he's standing guard over them. He'll honk to wake them up, or just splash the water. I've never seen the goose sleep.
I also feed them floating catfish food, but haven't tried any other types of feed. When the catfish were still feeding, they had to wait for the ducks to finish first. They only eat for short periods so it's not that much.
Eddie
