Just like any garden, homesteading life never stays the same. There is always some new challenge, right when you thought you were finally getting the hang of things. Change was inevitable for our backyard ducks. Right before the raccoon attack, I realized we had a drake among us.
Drake is what you call a male duck. They are not illegal in the city, since they don’t crow like roosters, but their value in an urban setting is still up for debate. After all, you are working in a limited space to produce food. A duck eating feed but not providing eggs is not really the most efficient use of urban homestead space. Drakes often have a weaker voice than their female counterparts and their tail feathers curl.
Perhaps the clearest sign was watching little Millie try to mount our other girls. At first I saw it happen and just thought, “Oh, she’s trying to dominate them. How cute.” Then I realized HE was trying to make babies. So our little Millie is actually Milt.
With the loss of Bertie to a raccoon, that means we have two females to one male. Not great odds. Milt isn’t exactly going to be earning his keep by producing eggs. And I worry he might hurt the girls if his “love” is spread among just two of them.
Are we eating him? Not sure. Are we re-homing him? Not sure. We are considering adding a couple new girls to the flock and possibly saying goodbye to Milt. Introducing two will spread the bullying out a bit, so not just one gets the brunt of it. After combing online classifieds, it looks like raising ducklings might be our only option.
If this life were predictable, it probably wouldn’t be as exciting, right?
I keep attempting to have ducks on my property as well. We had a horrible raccoon attack with our first pair of ducks, and I had been a little wary of getting any since. I love ducks, but man they are so messy and stinky if confined. And if you have a garden, you have to keep them confined or they will eat all your greens!
I really want to keep them because they are known to eat slugs, which the chickens don’t really care for. But the ducks I have currently are so scared of humans, that I cannot toss treats in their pen for them to eat without them feeling as if they are being attacked. Maybe runner ducks aren’t for me. I really enjoyed my cayugas, but it seems cruel to only have a small kiddy pool for them.
Sorry you are having such bum luck! My runners were really skittish at first too, but with enough food bribing they have finally started coming up to me on their own. I fence off the garden, but they get free-run of the yard during the day. And I think some breeds don’t mind a little kiddie pool, while other breeds are more water-focused. Ours seem fine with it. They use it throughout the day, but not all the time.
How do you get your ducks into the kiddie pool? We tried a ramp but the ducks could NOT figure it out.
Allison, we made steps with stone too, but they have never used them. They get too excited about the water and just push themselves over the sides into the pool. Silly ducks!