Wife needs to stop sending me to town

[CrealCritter]

Is that an island in the pond? If so, nests will be there....then only turtle and snake to take eggs, but ducks safe....put a little 3 sided house out there. Small, short one.

Did you get the barn red paint for your wife --- so she could watch you do that job???

Well I just informed the boss that her duck house is going to become a chicken coop, she agreed. So yeah, I'll be painting it.

No island in the pond. But all 9 are swimming around in a group now. I guess the lone duck figured out overnight that there is safety in numbers. Momma duck is now very happy

Light in the coop is a really good idea... I might try and see what solar powered light I could put in there. Stay tuned...

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

Wished I knew more but what's your thoughts on this solar light strip for inside the coop?

Amazon.com

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Lazy Gardener]

All you need for light in that coop is a window. Natural light is sufficient, unless you intend to supplement the natural light to increase winter laying. As for trying to round the ducks up with boat and net, I laugh in your general direction... Of course, I do so with the greatest invite for you to join in the yuk-yuks! You could sell tickets. Trying to catch a duck with boat and net would be like trying to catch a dragon fly with a pair of chop sticks. Since those ducks are meant for harvest, I suggest that you train them to come in at night for some scratch grain or pellets. What ever you can entice them with. Good luck. I do wish I had a little duck pond! Actually, I'd rather have a BIG duck pond with plenty of s.f. so I could stock it with good eatin' fish.

 

[CrealCritter]

All you need for light in that coop is a window. Natural light is sufficient, unless you intend to supplement the natural light to increase winter laying. As for trying to round the ducks up with boat and net, I laugh in your general direction... Of course, I do so with the greatest invite for you to join in the yuk-yuks! You could sell tickets. Trying to catch a duck with boat and net would be like trying to catch a dragon fly with a pair of chop sticks. Since those ducks are meant for harvest, I suggest that you train them to come in at night for some scratch grain or pellets. What ever you can entice them with. Good luck. I do wish I had a little duck pond! Actually, I'd rather have a BIG duck pond with plenty of s.f. so I could stock it with good eatin' fish.

Well there's always Winchester .

I still need to berm up the drainage end of the pond from where horses from the previous owner, trampled it down. The water level in the pond could stand to come up about a foot or so before it would overflow the bank. Ofcourse I need to make my life more difficult and am planning on a 6" PVC pipe in the berm to supply a watering through in the pasture. I guess I'm just trying to use what I have available in a smarter way. There's a lot of water in the pond and it's a live pond with all kinds of critters. I used it to water and ferment feed for CCX and they are delicious. We've eaten a few of those CCX and we are still alive, so I guess the water if good for animals. I would drink it if I had too, after proper filtration.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Alaskan]

train them to come in at night for some scratch grai

Yep... that... train them to come to you.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Yeah... I had thought of that. But... I know that I would not be accurate enough to get the job done, and would not want to gut shot or ruin the breast.

 

[farmerjan]

They will get over the "freedom" and start coming to you for feed.... this is all new and WONDERFUL to them. Train them to come for a feeding of cracked corn or something similar , follow whatever routine you used to have with them and they will get back to it . Then you can make a little pen on the bank of the pond, feed them in it regularly, and be able to catch them that way. We had wild mallards on out pond when I was a kid and they got the routine down getting fed a certain time and place everyday, and were much tamer than you would have thought. We never closed them in anywhere, and they left in the late fall, but they would come everyday when my mom would go out and holler....Come on quack quacks... quack quack quack... they really would come after a few weeks of regularly getting fed some. She just liked to feed them.
So ducks that are used to being fed, will get right back to it because you are familiar to them. And it will be a lot less strain on the feed bill with them out there rustling up their own grub.

 

[CrealCritter]

They will get over the "freedom" and start coming to you for feed.... this is all new and WONDERFUL to them. Train them to come for a feeding of cracked corn or something similar , follow whatever routine you used to have with them and they will get back to it . Then you can make a little pen on the bank of the pond, feed them in it regularly, and be able to catch them that way. We had wild mallards on out pond when I was a kid and they got the routine down getting fed a certain time and place everyday, and were much tamer than you would have thought. We never closed them in anywhere, and they left in the late fall, but they would come everyday when my mom would go out and holler....Come on quack quacks... quack quack quack... they really would come after a few weeks of regularly getting fed some. She just liked to feed them.
So ducks that are used to being fed, will get right back to it because you are familiar to them. And it will be a lot less strain on the feed bill with them out there rustling up their own grub.

IDK FJ... All those crazy ducks do is swim in the pond. We had big huge rains yesterday evening. Grand daughters wanted to go see ducks. So paw paw got on his rain gear and in our muck boots we went to the pond in the pouring rain.

Where were the ducks? In the middle of the pond sleeping. We quacked at them, they woke up and quacked back but just swam around in a big circle. I ain't fed them, since we turned them loose and they found their freedom. I guess there's enough for them to eat in the pond, because they ain't come out yet. Crazy ducks are probably eating all my catfish

My wife informed me they have ducklings at Rural King. She said different kinds like black ones. I said oh that's nice maybe someone else will buy them. Then I said I don't ever want to brood another duckling, those things make such a mess, It's crazy.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

If they don't have a routine, try to start one. Find a treat they like, and toss it on the bank and yell "here ducks" or whatever you want as the magic words. Just be consistent. Don't try to get them to come close right away, just get them used to coming to treats when called, and then gradually work them closer as time goes on.

 

[CLSranch]

Yeah... I had thought of that. But... I know that I would not be accurate enough to get the job done, and would not want to gut shot or ruin the breast.

I had the neighbors call the sheriff on me for shooting a .22. The next time we butchered chickens I used a .22 rifle with nice clean head shots. Then it was simply more work and I went back to the axe.

I ain't fed them, since we turned them loose and they found their freedom. I guess there's enough for them to eat in the pond, because they ain't come out yet.

They may have enough to eat but, there's always a but. A handful of corn or scratch is like a treat and will help the other food last longer AND be a starter for training them to go into what ever duck house you build, and the grand baby's can have fun feeding them it they learn to come up to the bucket or call.

If they don't have a routine, try to start one. Find a treat they like, and toss it on the bank and yell "here ducks" or whatever you want as the magic words. Just be consistent. Don't try to get them to come close right away, just get them used to coming to treats when called, and then gradually work them closer as time goes on.

Ditto.