take em Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 I've got a fairly decent secure pond in my garden and am thinking of getting some ducks to put on it.fancy either pintail, shoveler or some pochards.does anyone know if any of them breeds would live and mate as a trio(a male and 2 hens) or any other advise for me. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berettacocker Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Think they would all mate. Don't know how pochard would fare on a small pond as they are diving ducks and live on large lakes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich1985 Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 I have kept all the above and I have found it can be a pain in the **** to get them to breed, it does depend how much cover and how big the pond is though, some pics would be great. I would recommend mandarin or Carolina, they need a nest box but should breed no problem. Rich1985 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
take em Posted July 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 pond is about 15 metre by 8 metre with plenty of cover,want to be able to put some of their eggs under a batham or in incubator thats why i wondered about a trio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Tufted and pochard both need a pond more than 3 feet deep to be kept successfuly. dabbling duck are much better for a beginer to start with as they thrive on shallow ponds and perhaps when you have some experiance try the divers. Wigeon , pintail and gadwall are easy to keep and provided you have captive bred females easy to breed. Teal are great , but can be shy and are great escapers. Shovellers are ok , but do best on a natural pond where they can get some natural food ( water shrimps and insects. If you can always startyour collection with captve bred birds. It can take a long time for wild caught birds to tame down and they are never as tame as captive reared birds , but they are expensive. Do a web search and there plenty of breeders , but expect to pay £40-50 plus a pair for some species. Stear clear of mallard that will be a lot cheaper. They are bullies if you want to keep other ducks and will trash a garden very quickly. Keep your birds in pairs rather than trios and try not to have odd males of different species or you are likely to start getting crossbreds. . Before you start get a good book on keeping wild waterfowl , ie " the pratical guide to Ornamental waterfowl and exotic garden birds" . The last two additions of the New Wildfowler also has a useful chapter. These will answer and further questions you will have about keeping ducks , fencing , food , breeding needs and so on. I used to keep a collection of ducks and geese ( and later went on to work in one of the biggest waterfowl collections in the world at Pensthorpe ) and they gave me huge pleasure and for anyone who has the time and space I recomend keeping them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewluke Posted July 6, 2014 Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 . Wigeon , pintail and gadwall are easy to keep and provided you have captive bred females easy to breed. Teal are great , but can be shy and are great escapers. Shovellers are ok , but do best on a natural pond where they can get some natural food ( water shrimps and insects. If you can always startyour collection with captve bred birds. It can take a long time for wild caught birds to tame down and they are never as tame as captive reared birds , but they are expensive. Do a web search and there plenty of breeders , but expect to pay £40-50 plus a pair for some species. Stear clear of mallard that will be a lot cheaper. They are bullies if you want to keep other ducks and will trash a garden very quickly. Keep your birds in pairs rather than trios and try not to have odd males of different species or you are likely to start getting crossbreds. . . is it legal to keep wild caught birds??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 (edited) Not if they are winged when shooting , but you cant catch them for your collection from the wild. Only attempt to keep ducks that have been wing tipped. Birds with broken wings high up near the body are best despatched at once as are any shot elsewhere andnever try to keep birds with dammaged feet. Winged birds need to be pinioned as quickly as possible after beeing shot ( best done by a vet ). If there is a delay leave them feather cut. But this will mean you will have to catch them up to recut the flight feathers on one wng every summer or they will fly off. The problem with this is that catching them up will frighted them and all the other duck in your collection and thats not a good thing to do if you want to keep your birds tame. Edited July 7, 2014 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 (edited) This link will give you some idea about prices http://www.ukwaterfowl.co.uk/category/bird/3/ You can often get ducks cheaper from the magazine " cage and Aviary birds ". Edited July 7, 2014 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arley Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 I think only a Vet can Pinion a bird? I know a certain animal rights charity ran a campaign on the practise of pinioning birds last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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