Ducks in the allotment

[pottyaboutveg]

Hi
Does anyone know anything about DUCKS, the question is would they eat my vegetable plants (I have been told that they would eat young shoots) I was hoping to keep them on the allotment, as I have a small pond there and it is fenced off.

Thank you Potty

[Pumpkin Becki]

I don't have personal experience with ducks, but if you read Francine Raymond's (gorgeous) little book 'Keeping a few Ducks in the Garden', it might make you think twice.

Keeping a Few Ducks in Your Garden: Francine Raymond, Gabrielle Stoddart: Amazon.co.uk: Books

[zazen999]

We have our main garden next to the canal and have ducks wandering round all the time...they don't cause much havoc except for when they bury their eggs.

I think if you provide plenty of food that they eat, they should keep away from the veggies.

[Eyren]

How big's your plot, Potty? The one thing I do know about ducks is that they need a lot more room than chickens, and they will soon muddy up your little pond!

[OverWyreGrower]

My ducks have decimated the large pen they are in. They've eaten all the grass and weeds and stomped on everything else. I'm fairly sure they'd eat any shoots or young plants and probably have a go at everything else!

You'll need a way to empty and refill your pond on a fairly regular basis (or a pump and filter system). We clean out the ducks pond 3 or 4 times a week (old kids paddling pool)

They do need more room than chickens, plus a secure house at night. Like chickens, they poo wherever they feel like it, and it's much messier than hen-poo!

Don't get me wrong, I love my ducks, but my goodness, they are llike ASBO teenagers compared to my chickens!!

[pottyaboutveg]

Thank you all for your replies, my plot is about 70ft x 40ft so I think they will be enough area and we are going to cover all the beds with net or chicken wire this year as last year we had a rabbit in the plot which ate everthing overnight.

Regards Potty

[yoanbob]

yes they will eat anything, but they will also eat the slugs and snails, they smell more than chooks and make more mess but they are lovable and great fun, if you can keep them fenced (keep mr fox out) and there is plenty of space they should be happy enough

[Snadger]

We aint allowed ducks or cockerels on our allotments........just chooks!

[Hilary B]

Was gonna say that ducks are about as noisy as a cockerel.....

[chicken slave]

The ducks I bought for next doors kids for christmas aren't that noisy but they have made a mess in the fenced off part of the garden.

[lizzylemon]

Ive just spent the wkend helping my brother build an enclosure for his ducks. This is the 2nd year of keeping and they've totally trashed his garden and the pond. I have 4 chooks but the Ducks are complete hooligans in comparison. The grass is eaten to soil, the plants were either eaten or trampled and the pond is a stinky mess with nothing in it any more. The fish died and the frogspawn's been eaten too. Monsters they are!!! (nice eggs though)

[pottyaboutveg]

Hi Everyone

Well, I think I will have to scrap the idea, you have all put me off. I will be happy with just my hens. I love my animals but this time I will not let my heart rule my head.

Potty

[Eyren]

I have to say that my bantams seem to be pretty good at keeping the slug numbers down in my garden - I can direct-sow most things in my raised beds, whereas at the lottie pretty much everything gets mown down in no time

I do have to keep them out of the actual beds for most of the year - they have been nibbling my spring onions through the bird netting!! - but I think they forage in the surrounding grass and hoover up a fair few nasties in the process. They make smaller poos than full-sized hens as well

[pottyaboutveg]

Eyren

Does that mean that you let them roam around the allotment all day?? I have an allotment at home but I keep the hens in a seperate area, I am seriously considering letting them roam the allotment instead. I have wood chip paths so they cannot damage them and I would cover all beds, the only other thing is my small herb garden I suppose they would demolish that one.

PS

I have a small pond in this area I would have to make sure they did not go near that as well as I know they cannot swim.


Does anyone else just let them roam around their veg???
Potty

[Eyren]

No - my hens live in my back garden (I have a separate allotment about a mile away). They do free range around my garden, but I have bird netting around the veg beds - it's too high to easily fly over, too flimsy to land on and since it is black they can't see it clearly anyway, which seems to put them off trying. The main problem is them finding a gap at the bottom and squeezing through, or just pecking at plants where the mesh has sagged (e.g. under the weight of last month's snow).

I don't know if it would be sufficient to keep larger hens out, but OTOH the chicken fencing I bought from Omlet had mesh too large to keep bantams out. If I didn't fence them out, they would demolish pretty much anything edible. Mine love parsley and chard, and have been pecking at the overwintered spring onions; they will also damage ripe tomatoes and scratch up young seedlings

Yes, you would need to be careful about the pond - depending on how the pond is made, you could put pond netting over all of it except a very shallow area, so that frogs and toads could climb in and out but your hens couldn't get submerged and drown.