The Biggest Mistake We Made Raising Ducks

Are you wondering if you should add ducks to your backyard homestead? Maybe you are thinking about starting with ducks over Chickens?

Here are a few quick reasons I recommend adding ducks to your flock:

• They get along with chickens. Our ducks were raised in a smaller chicken coop with four other hens who were three years old, and there weren’t any issues.
• Ducks are a chatty bunch, but it’s more of a whisper. Although, you know those hens can get pretty mouthy with one another.
• They are beautiful on the water.
• They are the cutest things as ducklings- much cuter than chicks!

Read or Pin for Later: 6 Things You Must Know Before Getting Ducks

If you are thinking about getting started with ducks, there is one major mistake we made.

We have a half-acre pond and thought, why not get some ducks who can enjoy our beautiful pond.

We even thought about building them a pretty floating little house out there…

Good thing we didn’t get started on that while they were ducklings.

Our Kahki Campbell ducks are terrified of the pond. Several times we have tried to walk them toward the pond, and as soon as they hit the water, they come right back out.

They are scared. So I was the sucker that kept filling up those plastic $10 pools from Walmart. Daily because they dirty up the water so quickly, and every other animal wants to take a sip of it.

Some friends suggested not filling the pool, and they will eventually go to the pond.

Then a puddle that is big enough for the ducks became their home. I was disappointed but glad I didn’t have to fill the pool anymore.

It was just a few days past the first day of spring, and the girls and I had been walking up more toward the pond. The ducks have been quite curious waddling behind us.

Since first writing this post, we’ve incubated ducks and have had our share of wins and losses. For example, when we cut back a lot of the brush to the pond and gave them easy access to it, they all ended up doing it with no problem now.

The biggest tip is if your ducks won’t go in the pond, give them time and be sure they have a nice clear path to get in and out.

I find in the summertime, the ducks want to stay out at the pond, and this is when we lose some. I haven’t found a solution to that one yet. It’s pretty hard to get ducks to return to the barn if they are out in our pond at night.

I prefer to keep my ducks in a fenced-in area because it seems that as soon as they can pasture range, we lose them at night to foxes and coyotes.

Sure enough, after a couple of days of walking around the pond, they were right at the edge with three of them on the actual water! Then, of course, our dog came over and scared them out, and it’s been a couple of days, and they are back to their puddle, but I am confident they will venture back out.

So if you plan on having ducks at your pond, be sure to raise them near the water source you want them at. When I stopped filling the pool, I found the ducks in the water buckets. They will get to the water as long as you provide it.

UPDATE: We have had our ducks for a year now, and they finally dipped into the pond. I am pretty sure it was due to the females losing their fight to a predator. Our two drakes, Harry and Jerry, now go into the pond. The first few weeks, they wouldn’t go very far. They were scared of the Koi fish. After a couple of months, they will go from one end to the other now. 

Hey, at least they aren’t destroying the lawn with their beaks in the puddles anymore. 🙂

Please do yourself a favor, and as ducklings, have them near the water source you want them to stay at!

What tips do you have for raising ducks? 

Don’t Forget to Pin It!