Duck-Supportive Permaculture System Recommendations

Hello Permies,

I am currently in the process of establishing a permaculture system to support my flock of 18 Silver Appleyard ducks. I have a five-acre property in central VA, zone 7b, with one clear acre and four wooded. My soil is predominantly heavy clay.

A significant portion of my clear acre is a septic/leach field area, which limits the types of plants that can be grown there. I'm looking to transform this area into a duck forage meadow, filled with species that perform multiple beneficial functions.

I've defined some critical criteria for the plant species:

Septic-friendly: They must have non-invasive root systems to avoid disturbing the septic field.
Low-maintenance: The species should require minimal care and be able to thrive with limited human intervention.
Soil Compatible: The species should be adaptable to, or prefer, clay-heavy soil.
Easily Propagable: They should be able to establish from seed broadcasted into undisturbed soil, supporting a hands-off approach to cultivation.

In addition to these, the following attributes are desirable but not essential:

Insect attracting
Duck edible
Low growing ground cover
Perennial/Naturalizable
Human edible
Valuable/tradeable
Providing shelter/nesting opportunities for ducks
Wildlife attracting
Having medicinal or crafting uses
So far, we've considered species like White Clover, Chickweed, Self-heal, and more. Each of these species meets most of the critical criteria and possess a number of the optional attributes.

I am open to all suggestions, insights, and experiences. If there are attributes I haven't considered that would be beneficial in this system, I'm all ears.

I'm very excited about this project and look forward to creating a vibrant and productive environment for my ducks. Thank you in advance for your wisdom and support!

Best,
Ryan

Howdy, Ryan and welcome to Permies!
Really, we love people with such an optimistic outlook. That's wonderful!

Congratulations on your flock of Silver Appleyard Ducks. I've heard good things about them, ducks in general, and people who have ducks seem to be a creative sort. I have chickens and geese which makes me pretty ordinary, so I try to rebel in other ways.

Other than a good native grass, overseeding with birdseed (something I did when we moved onto our place, which had been bulldozed for the convenience of the septic installers, the well installers, and the mobile home folks), I don't have any truly specific recommendations. I'm pretty sure you'll have a lot of advice from others about Good for Ducks types of things. My geese do really well on the odd mix of native grasses and assorted plants, builder scattered typical suburban grasses (we're trying to replace it but...) and the remnants of assorted seeds that have ended up in our yard over years of "what's the worst that will happen?" tossing seeds around. That's how fenugreek, "feral" wheat, sorghum, millet, goldenrod, mulberry (kind of. It was purposely planted and then birds spread it.) Maximillian and Swamp sunflower, and a host of other interesting plants have ended up in my yard.

If you want things with "non-invasive to septic pipes" roots, stay with grasses. Shrubbery and trees will gleefully do what they can to move pipes and things around. I have managed to make it through 20 years with a Live Oak planted right over the septic tanks and only needed some work done last year, because the tree had pushed a pipe *just far enough* that it no longer connected like it should have. No roots getting into the pipes or tanks that we're aware of, even with the mulberry and live oak in the perfect positions to do something nefarious.

Otherwise? If you have one of the old-style leach fields, don't plant root crops there.

That's it. That's all the advice I have for now.
Take care of yourself and your ducks. Be good to the land and try a few experiments. Watch some David the Good videos about growing things, in a general sense. Have fun. If you aren't having fun, in kind of an overall general way, you aren't doing it right. Do what you think is most enjoyable and keep doing that.
I guess that's more generalized advice for living.
Best thoughts!

Ryan, your plans sound good to me.

I also like Kristine's suggestion for native grasses and birdseed.

We have bird seed sprout under our feeder so I know that birdseed is easy to care for and the roots are not invasive.

Do you have plans for a duck pond?

Those are great ideas! What grasses in particular would be tender enough for ducks to graze? I have some tough ones now that grow untouched by them.
I love the birdseed idea too. I found one with White Millet, Milo, Cracked Corn, Wheat, Black Oil Sunflower for example. Everything but the cracked corn in that mix could sprout right? So I should plan for the area to have some tall vegetation?

I have a small hand dug mud and allege "pond" that's around/under 20'x15' that is well positioned is fills whenever it rains. When filled it holds probably an average height of 1.5 feet of water which is held well but there is a high evaporation rate (pretty low in a couple days). I am letting it drain now so I ask one of my neighbors with a digger to help me expand it. Once expanded I will try to incorporate more small scale features to protect the pond and its other hopeful residents from the ducks like rocks, logs, and plants to encourage more life. In particular I would love to encourage dragonflies to help with mosquito control.

There is also a natural low point further into the woods that is a recent wetland year around with a bunch of trees falling in that area due to waterlogged roots I guess. I have thought about clearing that area and making a larger pond but that seems like a scary project to take on right now so I will start with my first small pond haha.

Digging out the pond you have in a good area is probably a good first and early step. There's very little that isn't "fixable" in some form or fashion, and working with nature and aiming for permaculture just seems to mean that you can try a thing and try a different thing if the first thing doesn't work out well.

There's always a tomorrow. It might not look like today, but it'll be there.

As far as grasses? I'll share what one of my old agrarian professors told me in the long ago dark days - If it's green and sheep will eat it, it's a tender grass. That means it's good for everything that grazes. If it's not low and soft, it's too tough and you should mow and/or reseed depending on where you are. Height-wise, graze horses, then cattle, then sheep, then poultry. That keeps things regenerating and means the land has a chance to recover.

Every critter will have favorites. One of my current geese loves (LOVES!) sorghum seed heads and will knock down a plant to get to them. Another goose likes the young, soft grass (some sort, no telling what.) that sprouts up around the garden edges. She likes to "help" weed by cleaning up what I pull. The third goose just wades right in to the mint patch. She once ate a whole pot of peppermint, including the roots, so I am letting it spread right now in hopes it can survive her.

Basically, try your ducks out on the easy and short stuff first. If I remember from my various reading, ducks like water plants and bugs/snails and such. Maybe put a board or flat surface down in a damp area so you can flip it over once every few days for a buggy treat? Quick sprouting rye, wheat (you can get a bag from your local feed store and just scatter it out), or whatever you find locally that isn't treated with anything. As long as you stay away from grass seed soaked in some chemical or additive it should be safe for your birds.

I haven't had any cracked corn grow, yet. I keep wondering if it might considering that some of those kernels aren't very cracked.
As far as potential problems with things sprouted out of the birdseed? Yeah, the millet and other grasses will grow pretty tall if you let them. They also mow pretty well as long as you don't let them get too high first. The sorghum we have is allowed to set seed, to humor the geese, so it easily hits 8 feet more or less. Sunflowers can get pretty tall, but they're pretty and fun bright spots, plus the chickens like to eat them when they're young.  Wheat is just a nice tender grass that everyone seems to enjoy. The milo and millet grow well and mow well.

Our working theory on grasses is that if it's green and you can mow it, it's a grass. If it's not green and you can mow it, it's still a grass but not a young grass and it might resprout. This covers everything from wild fenugreek and wheat grass to sunflowers, small mulberries, wild mints, native grasses, and very small trees. Obviously it's not any sort of scientific declaration, but more for ease of care. If it can be mowed and is somewhere where it will get mowed, it's allowed to be there and get mowed. That keeps the plants that don't do well with mowing from being in places where they aren't as appreciated, but means that I don't fuss much about what goes where.

To get native/wild plants for your property, I really advise driving around. If you have a drainage ditch that's filled with water most of the year nearby, you can harvest some of the tougher local plants from that. Or talk to your neighbors. They may be planning on dredging a water tank, redoing a ditch or otherwise disrupting something watery and might like a helping hand that can be bought with cattails or reeds, or a bucket of water hyacinth, duckweed, or hydrilla.
Your pond isn't deep enough or established enough to have it's own system going, yet. If you can get it a good 3 feet deep and good sized then it can easily handle an ecosystem that will build up over years. Right now it's pretty much a scrape or wallow, which is great for what it is, but not something stable. Where you decide to go with it is up to you and how you plan to keep your ducks. Water sources are great for encouraging wildlife and native plants, but are also a problem because they encourage wildlife and native plants.

Whatever you decide to do, you can always change your mind later. There's nothing as exciting as moving to a new property and getting to start making plans. You can always change your mind and redo things.
Best thoughts!