Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk in the park, and was surprised to see the amount of ducks resting on the lawn.

Never had a duck this close to me before. I was with my boyfriend and really we did nothing to get his attention, just sat on a bench and this cutie pie approached! I guess he's still young, his head is not fully green yet.

!!THIS IS NOT MY DUCK!!

I went to an Amish farm today (chose this place based off of there amazing reviews) to purchase a few more Buff Orpington ducks to even out my drake-to-hen ratio, and I have to say, I left pretty heartbroken.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have a ton of experience raising ducks, but what I saw really upset me. They kept bringing out ducks that were absolutely filthy, which honestly wasn’t even my biggest concern. Almost all of them had extremely puffy, crusty eyes that looked irritated and possibly infected. On top of that, these poor ducks were absolutely PETRIFIED.

I asked why their eyes were in such bad condition, and their explanation was, “We need to fill the water trough up today, and we haven’t yet.”
But to me, this looked like something that had been building up for much longer than a single day without fresh water. I ended up handing this poor duck back because I can’t afford to take home an animal in that condition. They eventually brought me two that appeared healthy, but I would honestly say 8 out of 10 ducks I saw had eyes like this.

What shocked me even more was that this farm has such good reviews. People getting these ducks as pets and I’m getting them for egg production

I completely understand that livestock is livestock. I’m not against raising ducks for meat, eggs, or breeding. But surely being livestock doesn’t mean they don’t deserve basic care, clean water, and humane living conditions?

Ducks need access to water deep enough to properly clean their eyes and nostrils. Seeing so many in this condition was genuinely upsetting. I’m so confused because the reviews were amazing, people talking about how friendly the ducks are, how clean and taken care of.

Am I overreacting, or would this concern other duck owners too? Has anyone seen ducks develop eyes like this simply from not having their water refilled for a day? This is just a rant I guess.

Those following Knight Bundty’s and Lady Lemon’s day to day trials and tribulations will know that they have a new home to move to abroad soon. They are so excited that they were partying from 3 until 5 this morning, and when I finally go some sleep, Bundty flew up to the couch, did a small poo, and promptly left again. Lovely to wake up to and clean up.

Their (and our) lovely new landlady has already arranged for someone to lend us their old duck house while look at other options for the longer term.

Part of relocating these two, and perhaps their siblings, involves a lot of bureaucratic wrangling, vet visits, and health sign offs, not to mention registration of the receiving address and someone to act as the importer, and a particular kind of vet to approve the whole box and dice 24 hours before we all hop in a truck.

We had been told the importation permission in our new home was likely to take 6 or so weeks and we got on with that last week as soon as we knew our new address… instead, I opened my inbox this morning to discover my permit has been granted already. So far, so good.

We still have to wait for the domestic registration of the new house to be transposed into the import registry, but things are happening and we may be on our way sooner rather than later.

I updated each of these two lovely babies on today’s developments, both were much too busy napping to give me or these developments much attention.

Volume up for cuteness overload. My babies are playing in their first fall leaves.

Found this duck on the sidewalk while walking today. I don't know ducks well, but it seemed unusual. Might this be an abandoned pet duck, or is it likely wild?

Edit: Thank you for the quick responses! I am hoping it belonged to a house nearby where I saw it. I went back and did not see it, nor did I see anything in the road. Hopefully it found its way back home.

I’m currently in the design phase, no ducks yet but i’m planning on a small flock of four. I hear mixed opinions on whether a heater or lamp is necessary if you have a well-insulated coop. I was planning on putting a thermometer in the coop when it’s done and monitoring to see if they’ll need supplemental heating.

Any advice or knowledge on keeping ducks warm in a Massachusetts winter?

Hi all! We’re new to backyard ducks- we have five now! What are some things I can do to check them regularly? There are a few vets in town who will see ducks, but I know that there are things I could be keeping an eye out for.
Tia!!

I moved into my house a year and a half ago and have had my 4 ducks in their current run for about a year. I'm hoping to put in a fence soon and want to section off a bigger area for the ducks to roam (green box). In their current run size, they trampled the grass in like a week so now it's all pine shavings. The question is though, will they trample the grass in this big of an area? If so, I need to figure out a grass alternative if one exists for ducks.

I breed muscovy ducks and I am looking for a safe way to band ducklings. I want to hold some back for breeders, but I need to mark them based on parentage so no inbreeding occurs. Thanks in advance! Video included of this year's flock for the duck tax :)

On Columbus Day, Oct. 12th, Baby Duck flew away to discover new worlds.

Baby Duck (real name Slow Poke, so named because he was long delayed in hatching) was born on June 11th. He was tiny and was a bra baby in the NICBU™ (neonatal intensive care bra unit) for several nights until we were sure he'd make it in the brooder with the others that had hatched before him. He sat with us many nights watching movies on teevee sitting in our laps. As he grew, he had a bed on the floor beside our bed at night.

From a couple days old, I would take him with me when I went to work, which involves driving all over to do electrical inspections. I had a cat bed with bath towels stacked up on the passenger seat. Feed and water nearby. Often he would sit on my lap and look out the window at passing trees and cars as we zoomed along. Once, while he was still small, he climbed up on the back of the back seat and spent about an hour just sitting there like a prince looking out the window as I drove.

He was an instant hit with the bank ladies when I went to the teller window and pulled out a tiny duckling from my pocket and placed him on the counter. The lady that works the counter at Southern States made a fuss over him every time I stopped there for feed and straw. She watched him grow into a full sized muscovy duck. He would walk around the warehouse and pick up errant pieces of corn.

I would get him out to walk around while I looked at electric meters and he was a great conversation starter with customers. He was the duck ambassador and many people learned for the first time about muscovy ducks and their friendly personalities. Many people had heard about that guy with the duck and were disappointed when I showed up and had not brought him along.

I took Baby Duck to one particular inspection and while the customer and I were admiring him standing there, he spread his wings and just like that (snaps fingers) he was GONE! I was dumbfounded and distraught and spent the next four hours traipsing over hill and dale, down into a large hollow in the wilderness of West Virginia, following streams and hidden places calling 'Baby Duck, where are you?' No response.

I put up reward posters at a couple local businesses, and people were concerned, but I got no response on sightings. People said the area was thick with coyotes. Several more trips to the hollow over the next few days calling and looking. Followed a stream down into the woods for almost a half mile, tripping over moss covered rocks. Up the hill on the power line right of way, snagged in blackberry bushes and tripping over stacked up brush, down the hill to the streams again. Nothing.

We had given up hope. After a week, I removed Baby Duck from our database of ducks and marked him as 'missing, no body to bury'.

Then on Oct. 23rd I found a message on the answering machine that someone had sighted a lone duck swimming on a pond way down an abandoned farm road in the woods. I jumped in the car and headed right out. I grabbed the coffee can of Mazuri and walked, then ran down that road til I found the pond. I called and called but saw nothing. I had turned and was starting back down the road to see if there was another pond further down that he might be swimming in, when I suddenly heard flap, flap, flapping and this large black form flew right past me and landed about twenty feet in front of me. It was Baby Duck!

I gathered him in my arms and hugged him. He was very excited to see me, dipping his head and biting at my sleeve. I opened the can of feed and he nearly choked devouring it, he was so hungry. I wrapped him in my sweat shirt and started walking up the steep hill to the car, nearly losing my breath from fatigue and exhilaration.

He sat on the cat bed dipping his head and picking up and dropping every item in the console as we headed home. The wife was on the porch hoping against hope that it was really Baby Duck that was sighted and that I was able to find and catch him. After a full belly and many loving pets, he fell asleep in the kitchen by the big slider door. He was so glad to be home. He slept that night beside the bed in his usual location and never stirred. A total of 11 days he was gone but Baby Duck was home! I wish he could talk and tell us all about his adventures.

This month USDA confirmed bird flu (HPAI) in poultry in IL, WI, MN, ND, SD, KS, and CA (including backyard flocks in MN and Sacramento County, CA).

Transmission Risk: Wild ducks frequently carry the virus without showing symptoms and can easily contaminate outdoor areas, ponds, or open feed setups through their droppings. Because wild waterfowl are the main carriers, we need to be extra careful right now.

What I'm doing this week to protect my ducks:

• Feeders and waterers moved completely under the covered part of the run so wild birds can't fly over and poop in them.
• Keeping ducks off open ponds or shared water sources where wild ducks land.
• One pair of coop-only boots, plus washing hands in and out.
• No borrowed equipment or bird swaps until spring.
• New birds quarantined well away from the flock (UC Davis says 30 days).

Signs USDA and avian vets say to watch for in ducks (they often show neurological symptoms):

• Sudden death with no prior symptoms
• Tremors, head shaking, or loss of coordination (stumbling, swimming in circles)
• Cloudy eyes or discharge from the eyes/nostrils
• Lethargy, depression, and completely stopping eating
• Greenish, watery diarrhea

If you see these signs, call your state vet or the USDA at 1-866-536-7593. The CDC recommends full protective gear if you absolutely have to handle sick or dead birds.

What's your current setup for keeping wild ducks and waterfowl completely out of your duck run?

After months hiding indoors with us to escape an evil neighbour who took their mate, father, and siblings, not for any other reason we can discern than he is pathetic and evil, we have finally found a new home abroad for us and Lady Lemon and Knight Bundty, and if we can swing it through the paperwork war ahead, their other surviving siblings.

It has been a long journey, including months of time wasted by a seller who chose to take a lower bid on a home we chased hard from start to finish than take our money as foreign buyers.

Our new landlord has been incredibly welcoming of the babies and has said that she went with us as tenants versus quite a few other potential tenants because of the love of animals she was seeing with us.

They will have their own set up beside the house with a heated pool on the deck nearby before long.

For now, I have to navigate the export process from the UK, the import process in their new home, and balance the rest of what needs to be done as we move overseas and start on the road to buying a forever home.

We are all finally close to resting easy. It has been a very long and sad process but it feels like we could be spending Christmas safe and sound somewhere new.

I’ve always noticed she doesn’t go in the pools nearly as much as the others but she still does. She generally seems to have a lower feather quality than the others, but it’s never really worried me. It’s raining today and I just noticed she is SO DAMP. She’s not shivering or acting strange at all, just seemingly soaked.
She has angel wing, but that’s the only thing I know of. She is also unfortunately a little inbred, but not terribly so.

Hello duck lovers! I got ducks for the first time in my life, and they are now 2 months old. So far, I have given them powdered feed, egg, cucumber, fish, etc. Now that they are growing, I have switched to pellet feed, but I have concerns about whether this will be enough. They also forage in the garden for plants, bugs, snails, etc. I wanted to get your advice as well. Thank you very much in advance!

We’ve spent our weekends the last few months fixing up a large shed to be the duck house for the winter. We sealed it up, insulated the roof, and added electricity. It’s been a labor of love, to say the least, but I’m so happy to say we’ve finished. We’re in NH where winters can be brutal, so we wanted a place for them that they can stay in the event of a nor’easter or a cold snap.

Please send help