Last Saturday morning I noticed two Mallard ducks (male and female) swimming around in my pond. I thought oh my, this is neat. The only thing is, they're not leaving, and seem to have taken refuge in my yard.

They seem friendly enough. Putzing around my patio doesn't seem to bother them much. They swim for a while, waddle around a bit, then sit/sleep in the grass under my gazebo, then back in the water. They're lazy; they sleep more than anything else. Yesterday I was home all day, and they were too, sleeping.

Much like the old saying, build it and they will come; three years later I have ducks.

I don't know much about ducks; other than Grandma used to dry out old bread to feed them with. I hope they are not like pelicans, and eat fish!

Check out the pictures.



Off to sleep!


She hears something .....

I bet they think they are in heaven.
I don't think malards will catch a healthy fish, I often thought about getting a duck for my pond, but was concerned about their poop fouling( excuse the pun) the water and surrounding area. You have noticed they are not real discreet about were they go.

I have had people tell me that ducks have eaten fish. I expect they'd only go for the slow, smaller fish. Ducks mostly eat plants, including the pond plants you don't want them to eat. They do make a lot of waste too. If they build a nest, they'll probably stay around. There are pros and cons as with most things.

do you want to trade your visiters for mine.ha

I'll take more of the pro's that go with the ducks and deal with the cons. But I have a fake duck, does that count? lol Our pond is just too small to catch their eye, even though I know there's waterfowl living within 5 miles of us.

how could you turn down a face like this

I think it'd be fun to have the ducks! (But who knows about the poop and so forth.) They are good at getting rid of snails... if you have any left after your salting misfortune. ;) (I love the rocks around your pond, by the way!)

We have a flock of pheasants that come through our yard on a regular basis - but they don't stop for a long time. Just long enough to eat some bugs and head through the hedge to the small orchard on the other side.

Thanks Spiffspond; it's Rainbow Granite if you're curious; 14 ton of it.

I dunno about trading, Wayne!!

These guys are a hoot!

My ducks still come in everyday. The male must be building a harem, he now brings two females. They're the craziest things; they sometimes fly in and sometimes walk in. Seems they to want to walk more than fly, they even walk to cross my busy street. They'll sometimes stand on the side of the road 30 minutes watching the cars; waiting until they think it's safe, I guess. Cars even stop for them; they act like no big deal, they just look and take their time. I've never seen anything like it, I have no idea where they go other than between the two houses across the street and down the ravine. I guess I could follow them but that could take hours. Many times they get across the street then stop and sit in the neighbors grass for a while. It's like ingrained in them to walk.

I'm wondering since Duck eat snails, if they also eat tad poles? I had tons of tadpoles underwater all over my rocks, hadn't started developing legs yet, but became less and less of them and now I don't see them anymore. I wonder if the ducks picked them off. Maybe the koi eat them too?

I think ducks would eat tadpoles. Koi will eat smaller tadpoles but not the big ones.

How cute! (The ducks, not the snapping turtle. :o ) We had some visit our smaller pond before we moved it to the backyardyears ago. They did make a mess, just lots of poop! They ate the little feeder size goldfish too.
They made a nest under my forsythia, but the eggs never hatched.
I would love to have ducks, but fear the water fouling up. I have thought of having a few ducks and guines hens many times. Enjoy!!
catfish

They're a hoot to watch, catfish. I haven't found their poop to be a problem, but I don't feed them either. Only what they find on their own, includes fish food scraps fallen on the ground from me feeding the fish. And and they can eat all the gold fish babies they want, I give them away otherwise.

I'm having a ball watching/learning their behaviors.

At first it was just the two, male and female. You can set your watch by the times they come and go. I try to be out by 5:30 every morning just to watch their splash landing!

Then there were three; an added female. I thought what the heck, he's building a harem of women, this is getting a bit much. Plus talking to friends find out they usually only pair.

The male and two female only lasted about 2 weeks; then a gang of 4 males started showing up! Together, that's 7 ducks!!! Eeeeeek! So I then started chasing them off. My pond is only so big.

Next thing I knew I was back to the original pair; the odd female was gone. I recognize her by a white mark on her neck.

As of late, the odd female has been returning; sometimes by herself, other times with a male (not my original male). And if my original male is in the yard, and other males show up he now chases them off. At least that's what it looks like.

I'm getting the impression the odd female has found a mate, and now they want to take the pond over, thus running off the original pair.

I'm beginning to wonder, are the quantity of ducks determined by the size of a pond? In other words; if a pond is "X" big, does that mean it will only accomodate "Y" amount of ducks?

At this point in observation I'm thinking I may have a two duck pond. Does anyone know??

I've always wanted ducks. I think they're neat. But, they're not neat in the clean sense so I don't want them in my pond. The raccoons make enough of a mess. I think that mated pairs of ducks need their own little territory. So, I'd say that you'd need a few thousand gallons per pair at least but it's more a matter of surface area. I don't know what densities they can take, maybe four pairs per acre? If there's enough food, they may be more tolerant of other pairs near them.