Anyone here keep ducks?

Crazy bird lady

New Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2021
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5
Location (City and/or State)
England, Manchester, Oldham
Can we see a picture?

Years ago my husband had his knee fused after three failed knee replacement surgeries. He was confined to the sofa daily for quite a long time during recuperation. I bought him a little duckling as a joke to keep him company. It was yellow, but grew up to be a pekin (white) duck. She was just the cutest little thing. She thought my husband was her mama, and she stayed with him the whole time he was recuperating on the couch. When he graduated to being able to get up and move around, the duck also graduated to living outside. She stayed by the sliding glass door to the house waiting for my husband to go outside.

Ducks have a hole where the beak attaches to the skull on the under side of the lower beak. They filter water looking for food and the excess water goes out that hole. They are quite messy. My duck would take a bite of the chicken mash then go over to the waterer and swish her beak back and forth to swallow the mash. I would find tomato worms and toss them to the duck. And I would dig in the moist earth with the duck right there by the shovel waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting worm that I may turn over.

I was so taken by that duck that I eventually bought more. I had a whole flock of Call ducks (a bantam breed). I was thinking about getting some indian runners, but never did.

I learned the it's the female that makes the loud "quack". The males make a very quiet little growl sound. Also, an adult male duck has one curly tail feather that curls up towards the back while the female's tail feathers are straight.

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/pekinducks.html
Hi,
We have some Indian runner ducks, we got them at the start of COVID-19 to keep us busy while we weren’t in school. We also keep quail in their own little area where they can run around, it is in the corner of the ducks. We also have chickens. We incubated the ducks eggs and they have seen us all since they first opened their eyes, but they are the most untrustworthy things ever! Quail are said to be most untrustworthy to humans but they are better then the ducks, chickens are probably the best. Chickens aren’t dirty, smelly and when you clean them out it is so easy and quick.
With male ducks they all have a “drake feather” which is where their feathers curl upwards, females done have this. But with runner ducks you can’t tell their gender from that because they all have the same look of tail. Male and female. So, you have to tell from their quack, girls make a loud and really clear quack, while the boys make a sound like they are trying to quack but they just can’t. So let’s say it is a “raspy” kind of sound.
we are thinking about re-homing a tortoise, I have been researching and when we think of getting a pet and start researching... we end up having one! The same happened for quail. And the ducks, and the chickens.
I have the job of designing their enclosure, we are thinking that it can live outside most of the summer(because we are in the UK) and come inside for the winter to hibernate, I know it depends on what kind of tortoise you have for if it hibernates or not. But, here in the UK, we can’t leave a tortoise outside for the winter. We learnt that with our 2 outdoor rabbits, they didn’t stand a chance agains that snow, hale, wind and rain. And they were in a clean, safe house that was warm and cosy, so I don’t think a tortoise would be able to survive the winter outdoors. We have a really big garden with a long field that the ducks and chickens live so if a tortoise can roam the garden I think they will love it as well.
what is the best design of tortoise house? Is it best with two levels or just one? Can it go in the back of the ducks pen? Or maybe the back of the chickens where it is more clean? All these things are bothering be and I can’t find the answers, off of google or anyone I talk to. I joined this group to get some answers and learn more about tortoises and what they need.
thank you if you know what I need for a tortoise in a garden like mine.
 
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