aylesbury ducks coming !

[islandman]

My daughter informs me that she will be arriving tomorrow with two aylesbury ducks (1M & 1F) that are adult, tame, clipped wings and are currently no trouble to their current owners !!!!!!!!!!

Secretly I've had to create a "safe area" for thir arrival and once my wife has got over the shock, we will have to somehow provide overnight shed/hutch whatever.

Can anyone PLEASE respond with any information which will be usefull for us.

My concern is, in no particular order, the shi*, noise, food, pool, neighbours, plants, hols, etc.

[lankeela]

This looks like what what you need:

http://www.janescottage.co.uk/keeping.htm

[spudqueen]

You can feed ducks normal poultry (hen) food which you can buy from your local animal feeds or country store. Do be prepared to say goodbye to your lawn though as ducks tend to stamp on it until it's just mud. Don't forget to provide them with clean fresh water (to drink).

[spudqueen]

Oh - regarding holidays, you just need a friendly neighbour. One of my neighbours has a few hens and when they go away I let them out in the morning and shut them away at night, making sure of course that they have enough food and drink. My reward is any eggs they lay!

[WendyS]

Do you live in a country area with any foxes around you.? If so, be VERY VIGILANT because these lovely tame birds could be killed and snatched in an instant.
Do have have a garage where they can be safely housed overnight? If not, maybe you'll have to setle for the kitchen, with newspapers laid on the floor.

If your daughter is planning a longer stay than overnight, if you have any pet shops or garden centres near you who sell pet equipment, they might possibly be prepared to let you hire a secure hutch of some kind for a short period until you can get yourself organised.

If she's planning to arrive, dump the ducks on you and then depart, you might have to appeal to your neighbours for help in getting them housed and cared for when you're on holiday, or alternatively get them rehomed.

[islandman]

Just before the ducks arrived, my computer went down and it looks like it will be diwn for some time. I am using the library comp.

Thanks for the info. Our daughter is with us for a week.

We have provided the ducks with a 22ft long, 6ft wide enclosure. Both ends are 6ft high panels and one side is 6ft high panels. The front is 5ft high trellis with a gate. At one end, they are underneath a large tall conifer. So in essence thay are covererd and protected. In that area we have provided them with a plastic dog kenneal lined with newspaper and straw but may change this to sawdust.We have covered the ground with 6 bags of chip bark which they appear to enjoy foraging in. We have left a few area's of soil, and have introduced a few clumps of grass. Two conatiers of daily renewed water, one container of greens/veg and one of the recommended feed.

We have decided to let them have the freedom of the garden and after a walk round, they tend to return to their pen or even their house, which we are pleased about. We,ve discovered they love slugs and worms of which we have ample. OUR garden is maily lawn and about 80 containers of plants, so they are less likely to be able to nibble at them. As yet there is little or no noise. At the moment we put a board up at night to stop them wandering about, but wondered if this was neccessary. There is no chance of foxes where we are. We do have a dusk to dawn light on the house which illuminates the garden and about 20 solar lights, would you consider this a problem. So far we spent in eccess of �100 on them !!!!!!!!!

[islandman]

I forgt to say that we will be using a plastic underbed box from wilkinsons as a pool. it is about 4ftX3ftX9" so it might be OK.