smartrus Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Hi all, recently joined the forum, I actually joined on the duck forum, already have chickens who I love to bits! I decided to add ducks to the flock as I love my chickens so much, they are totally full of character not to mention eggs, they are quiet, happy to potter, not fussy about what they eat, just let you pick them up, lovely! So, ducks seemed the next obvious choice, we had a pond and plenty of room. Simple you would think. Not so! We were sensible and did the research, not call ducks, too loud, not too big like runners. Decided on mini appleyards. They had some at a local garden centre, we went twice, asking questions, until we happily brought them home. 3 cute lovely 10wk ducklings. They had been raised by a family and were very friendly. We bought a house and put it by the pond idyllic you may think, and so did we. Well, here ends the happy part of the tale. When we were with them they chirped happily, swimming and foraging, but as soon as we went in or moved away from them they quacked very loudly and followed, if we left them any longer they just quacked and quacked!! This was the start of the end! It got so bad that I phoned the place we got them from and asked for advice, they said not to worry and that they were imprinted onto humans and would settle quickly. OK! We thought and gave it a few more days, but this time they were louder than ever and we had to apologise to the neighbours saying all would be sorted soon. Also our pond was devastated!! We took the decision to move the ducks to the end of the garden with a tub of water, plenty of food and give them attention little and often until they settled. Well, all I can say is this continued for another few days but the noise continued to escalate At last we all confessed to each other that it was really stressing us out, and were at a loss at what to do! So after researching and getting advice, we took the decision to return them (that's another story!) We were all very sad. Meanwhile the chickens were minding their own business, no trouble at all, laying beautiful eggs, so ducks or chickens, my advice? No contest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Hey, guess what, you now have a spare house for more chickens All you'll need is a perch for that duck house. I'm sure you could make one but if you are not the making sort (like me) then these work rather well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartrus Posted August 24, 2012 Author Share Posted August 24, 2012 Good thinking batman!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitewestie Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 It's a shame you have had a bad experience with your ducks. It would seem that the ones you had, had been brought up in close contact with humans and thought they were part of the human flock. Not all ducks are like this. My two Pekins, who I had from a lovely children's farm have been no trouble at all. First we had them in an eglu at the bottom of the garden but they have just been moved to a lovely new duckhouse in a large walk in run built by my husband (this shows how smitten my OH is with the lovely ladies). I can honestly say they are no trouble at all. Pekins have a very loud quack but we only hear them occasionally (I have just been home for six weeks so I have been monitoring them as I wouldn't want them to be a nuisance to anyone). They are happy to be with us out pottering in the garden when we are at home but are equally happy in their run where they have 2 large tubtrugs of water and space to forage around. I was considering adding a pair of miniature appleyard ducks but maybe it would not be a good idea to risk upsetting the peace we have at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coppers Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I had bantam silver appleyard ducks many moons ago and the female was quite noisy though not as loud as call ducks. I now have two chiltern whites. Could you perhaps get some more ducks that haven't been imprinted on humans and see how you get on with them? I think you have had quite an unusual experience with your ducks tbh . My chiltern whites are not noisy, very occasionally they quack loudly but mostly just chatter away quietly as they investigate things. They are a hybrid, pekin crossed with some other breed (I have been unable to find out what breed though). They are about the size of my hybrid hens and are pure white. They lay well (if you want eggs). I would investigate other breeds maybe and have another go as you seem fond of ducks and have set up things to enable you to keep them? Just my thoughts... xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartrus Posted August 25, 2012 Author Share Posted August 25, 2012 Hi, thanks for your comments. Just a little update, I went to the garden centre today where we took the ducks back, they would only give us a credit note so we had to spend it there. As we drew up in the car park, we could hear the distinctive quacking! The ducks were in a pen at the far end of the centre and we could hear them from outside!! I felt awful, we popped to see them and they were in a decent size pen, clean, fed and watered (so no worries there) and were going mad! In some ways I felt that at least it wasn't just us they were quacking for, but the centre owners were none too pleased. I'm glad that there are others out there who have had good experiences with these loveable creatures and maybe one day we will be brave enough to have another go, but right now I feel a bit of a failure and a bit raw from the experience. Its a real shame. I hope they find a good home as they are lovely. For now we are enjoying our chickens and the peace! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
