Ducks!!!

I looked out my mindow this morinng to find a duck swimming in my
pond... I thought it was very cool to see.. After a few minutes he
flew away.. within an hour he came back with a friend..

Again thought it was pretty cool... then I thought to myself.."What do
ducks eat?" Should I be worried about my koi? As to what kind of
ducks they are, one was brown the other had a green head.

Thanks

I love your post.

I don't know the kind of duck...mallard? wood?

Ducks eat fish that they can fit into their necks. How big are your
fish?

Jim from St Vincent

Here's an interesting read on "Ducks in the Pond" that I saved from the old
rec.ponds. The information is just as true today. Enjoy the read. :-)

JB




>Subject: Re: Ducks and Ponds

Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 00:09:02 +1300
>From: IAN <ian@minidata.co.nz>
Organization: Customer of Telecom Internet Services
Newsgroups: rec.ponds
References: <19990318202821.02673.00000237@ng18.aol.com>


> We have a man-made pond and wondered if it is possible to buy baby duck to
> put at the pond,

Wooah Tina... Don't rush into this duck thing.

I have a Peking, its a beautiful white innocent thing that poops in
unbelievable quantities. Never mind about a bio-filter, you are going
to need a sewerage system suitable for a small town to deal with what
this duck is going to do to your pond.

> would they stay or would they leave?

No need to fret on this account - ducks never take the hint. Chuck `em
it in the air and it'll come right back. Sure it will occasionally
wander out onto the highway, but motorists would rather run off the
road and kill all their passengers than hit a duck that's sitting looking
right at them.

Look closely at the general design of your average duck, notice that
the cranium is small. It is my belief that if you could take all the duck
brains in the world and combine them in a sort of super organic
computer you would basically have a machine with a loose bowel and a
vocabulary
limited to: "quack". A duck is a natural born lobotomy.

> wondering if the cats if the neighborhood would bother them.

Hell no, the neighborhood cats will not bother your duck, unless it is
a duckling which you have just presented to your young daughter.
Actually you will find the neighborhood cats will avoid close encounters
with
anything that looks like a duck. This is partly because cats dislike
stepping in duck doo to get to their prey and partly because the duck
thinks any passing cat must be its mother/sister/brother/mate. Even
the staunchest Tomcat finds it unnerving to have to deal with this sort
of thing and will generally go to extremes to avoid an embarrassing
encounter.

>Would we need to put a fence around it?

Sure, fence your duck, but it won't do you any good. You will still
hear screeching tires on the road and the neighbors will still phone you up
to say your duck is harassing their cat again.

If you do get a duck be sure to turn on the lights at night before
your walk across the lawn. One of the most unforgettable experiences you
can have is tripping over a sleeping duck in the dark.

Regards Ian Gill Westland New Zealand


"Peter Pan" <exar119@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:87b53378-6193-47a6-a080-a05c5582ca12@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
>I looked out my mindow this morinng to find a duck swimming in my
> pond... I thought it was very cool to see.. After a few minutes he
> flew away.. within an hour he came back with a friend..
>
> Again thought it was pretty cool... then I thought to myself.."What do
> ducks eat?" Should I be worried about my koi? As to what kind of
> ducks they are, one was brown the other had a green head.
>
> Thanks
>

"Peter Pan" <exar119@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:87b53378-6193-47a6-a080-a05c5582ca12@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> I looked out my mindow this morinng to find a duck swimming in my
> pond... I thought it was very cool to see.. After a few minutes he
> flew away.. within an hour he came back with a friend..
>
> Again thought it was pretty cool... then I thought to myself.."What do
> ducks eat?" Should I be worried about my koi? As to what kind of
> ducks they are, one was brown the other had a green head.
>
> Thanks
>

Congrats you have a "nesting pair"! The brown one is female and the other
male. Your koi should be pretty safe if a little nervous! Ducks are
generally veggies and will be quite happy feeding on bits of weed and other
vegetation and maybe a few bugs. They are, however, pretty incontinent and
your pump / filter may struggle to cope with all their crap!

Hope this helps

Clive in Kent

"Clive Holden" <cliverholden @hotmail.com wrote:
>
>
> "Peter Pan" <exar119@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:87b53378-6193-47a6-a080-a05c5582ca12@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
>> I looked out my mindow this morinng to find a duck swimming in my
>> pond... I thought it was very cool to see.. After a few minutes he
>> flew away.. within an hour he came back with a friend..
>>
>> Again thought it was pretty cool... then I thought to myself.."What do
>> ducks eat?" Should I be worried about my koi? As to what kind of
>> ducks they are, one was brown the other had a green head.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>
> Congrats you have a "nesting pair"! The brown one is female and the
> other male. Your koi should be pretty safe if a little nervous! Ducks
> are generally veggies and will be quite happy feeding on bits of weed
> and other vegetation and maybe a few bugs. They are, however, pretty
> incontinent and your pump / filter may struggle to cope with all their
> crap!
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Clive in Kent

This brings up the idea of chasing "pests" (however you define them) out
of your pond. I see electric fences, auto sprinklers, nets, lasers,
22's, etc being discussed. Has anybody tried the old timey bamboo tiger
chasers. The kind that fill with water and BANG down on a rock when
over-balanced and then empty and rise to do it all over again? Any luck
with these?

Chip

On Apr 28, 10:04 am, "\"Clive Holden\"
<cliverholden"<rem...@giganews.com>@hotmail.com wrote:
> "Peter Pan" <exar...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:87b53378-6193-47a6-a080-a05c5582ca12@j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
>
> > I looked out my mindow this morinng to find a duck swimming in my
> > pond... I thought it was very cool to see.. After a few minutes he
> > flew away.. within an hour he came back with a friend..
>
> > Again thought it was pretty cool... then I thought to myself.."What do
> > ducks eat?" Should I be worried about my koi? As to what kind o
f
> > ducks they are, one was brown the other had a green head.
>
> > Thanks
>
> Congrats you have a "nesting pair"! The brown one is female and the other
> male. Your koi should be pretty safe if a little nervous! Ducks are
> generally veggies and will be quite happy feeding on bits of weed and oth
er
> vegetation and maybe a few bugs. They are, however, pretty incontinent an
d
> your pump / filter may struggle to cope with all their crap!
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Clive in Kent

Your feet may suffer as ducks walk & crap at the same time. Several
friends who live on a lake say it is a big problem and they have all
stopped feeding the ducks as you couldn't walk anywhere without
stepping in duck doo.No more barefeet.
Good Luck, Nanzi

Another problem with ducks is they carry parasites in their poo. Parasites
that can infect your koi. So yes, they are a danger to your fish. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us