Jay Angler wrote:Hi All,
Has anyone got any more experience with ducks to add to this thread? Has anyone used a rotating paddock system with Campbell/Runner- type ducks and can identify some successes/failures of their system so that I can learn from that? My friend is hassling me because my duck habitat lacks good swimming facilities, but we have heavy predator pressure (flying and land-based) and I hate to loose more of my feathery friends through the learning-curve while I figure it out. I've got 3 birds in what is essentially a portable cage on grass that moves twice a day but they only get buckets of water - no swimming pool.
Thanks
We have 8 Khakis on 1/3 acre, and use a paddock system that I have been putting together with a bit of trail and error. For fencing, we finally figured out that 1/2 cattle panels for a foundation are easiest to use, durable, and work when the sun doesn't shine or the power goes out. they are too high for the ducks to easily fly over - though if they felt threatened by something inside the enclosure, they could fly over it - and too rigid at the bottom for them to be able to push underneath. The overall strength of the panel makes it impossible for them to pile up on it at one spot to push it down and climb over, World War Z style like they can with one of those portable electric fences that are so popular with the homesteaders these days. I stretched poultry wire across the lower 3/4 of the panel, so they cannot 🦆 between the wires. Each 8 foot section is easy to move to where you need it, ties together with other panels utilizing a bit of baling twine, or wire if you need something a little more permanent - or need to turn a panel section into a gate.
We use these panels to move the birds around the garden, and take advantage of their eating habits. There are several plants that we have found so far that the ladies will either not eat, or will only eat conditionally .. and I am always eager to experiment and find another plant that they don't care for. To date the list includes: Corn and wheat, once established. They may eat emerging plants, or nibble the tips When they are still tender, but once it has gotten started, they are not so interested in it. They enjoy taking shelter in our corn and grazing weeds, and hunting grasshoppers. They ignore violets completely, as well as some black lovage that was growing wild in their enclosure. They will ignore ragweed and poison ivy, and any woody vine. When there was nothing for them to eat aside from peanuts and sweet potatoes, they did not eat peanuts, or sweet potatoes. I have seen them eat some morning glory leaves when they were very hungry, but I do have to hand weed those, for the most part: If they can have access to them when they are emerging, like many other things, they can keep them under control. Peas, beans, and cowpeas can be grown with ducks, provided that the tender bits are above duck height. They love the leaves, but wont eat the vines .. so train them up, and they will weed around your plants for you. To date, NO cucurbit has survived their attention. Grow your melons, pumpkins, cucumbers and squash AWAY from your duckies. I managed to sneak a tromboncino squash up a trellis last year, and they did not consume the vine .. it is worth further experimentation. Alliums seem to be mostly safe - a duck may take a nibble to find out if they like them or not, but the interest ends there. About the only hazard onions and garlic have is being trampled - so space them wider than normal, and they should survive. The mulberry trees that you are planting near your alliums (or was that the other way around?) will be OK so long as they are established, and the tender bits are above duck height .. the birds will appreciate the shade and the opportunity to bug hunt .. and your alliums will appreciate the sulfur content of the leaf litter.
I just planted our second crop of corn for the year, and have put some of our generic cover crop mix in, in the interest of 'picking my weeds': Daikon radish, sugar beet, sunflower, safflower and buckwheat. By harvest time, I should have an idea about which of those plants are on the menu as well.
How effective are ducks ate eliminating grasshoppers? Watch a feeding frenzy here:
I tried some other things before hitting on cattle panels with poultry wire .. observe how quickly and easily ducks can bypass obstacles here:
Even before the cattle panel fencing, we knew that we were on to something, using ducks to weed among certain plants. Here they are working a small patch of garlic, and you may note the spacing. Provide more spacing, to allow chubby little waddlers to get between your plants: