# duck questions



## minibarn (Jul 20, 2010)

I've never had ducks but was thinking about it. I've heard they're great fly-control. Is that so? What breeds do you recommend for a newbie? Pros & cons to owning ducks? How many would I need to be effective fly-control? do you eat the eggs? how often do they lay eggs? would they get along with free-ranging chickens, rooster, sheep & goats? All thoughts welcome.....


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## goatfarmergirl (Jul 3, 2011)

We have ducks. My sister takes care of them. if the ducks are laying eggs, she get 2 or 3 eggs a day. sometimes the ducks would be so bad, they would run off and refuse to get in the duck house. 1 out of 15 ducks didn't get eaten.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

We had ducks..... We kept them with our chickens (we had one rooster and over 2 dozen hens) They are kinda messy.... I am not a fan of birds so I won't say much on them LOL! On the flies I am not sure.... We had them awhile ago.... but Mascovey (sp) ducks are spouse to be good for that!


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## apachedowns (Mar 14, 2010)

We have been raising ducks for years, Muscovy and Pekin, the Muscovy are great for flies, beatles, waterbugs, pretty much anything crawling or flying near them is game...LOL They are VERY MESSY ! crap everywhere and that would be my reason for not letting them in goat yards ..they mess up the water buckets because they love water and they can be very nasty with the goats if they have a nest in the barn area. So we have a very big seperate area for our stock and we have a pond and pools in there for them to keep cool. We clip their wings so they cant escape the enclosure but they can free range (some of ours do) and they stay right near the barn area....dont roam around too much...they like to stay close to where they were raised. I don't suggest to clip their wings as they won't be able to get away from predators but we have a few livestock dogs on the property so I have no worries about that...our dogs do a good job keeping an eye on everyone. They do have great personalities and each one is different...but I also try to not get attached to that many as they are for meat...we keep most of the females and sell all the males as food...some of our stock has reached weights of 15 pounds !!! Now that is a duck dinner :leap: 

We have several for sale right now ...shame you live so far :sigh:


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

Big NO on the fly control. Heck, my ducks attract the flies. They constantly hop in the waterer and get the ground wet, plus their poo in that wetness. I don't even think my chickens are fast enough to catch flies, though I think I see them try from time to time.


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

My Chickens do try once in awhile too....


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

I think chickens eat the maggots, maybe ducks do that too?


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