Like chickens, they need food, water, and shelter. Even though they don’t need a pond, they need enough water to dunk their whole head in and given the opportunity love to splash in a pond or pool. They also need water when eating supplemental food. And they love watermelon, just like us. It is best if they can have foraging time as about 10% of their diet is protein that they find roaming around the yard: slugs and snails are their favourites, so they are perfect garden helpers, better than chickens who tend to dig up in the foraging.

Ducklings grow faster than chickens and if handled during this time become very friendly pets. Like chicks, ducklings needs warm, heated safe spaces to grow. Niacin (brewers yeast or peas) is very important in their growth for healthy bones and feet. Sprinkling brewers yeast over the ducklings food is the easiest.

They are more prone to predators than geese so a little extra care is needed to protect them. Our dog, Dutch is perfect. He learned very quickly that they were part of our family and watches out for daytime predators. Because they have good night vision, unlike chickens, they are harder to train to go into a safe locked up space at night. I will use food to bribe them into their pen area and then shuffle them all into their coop at night. Locked up safe you can enjoy ducks for years and years.

They need more water than chickens and less food as they are excellent foragers. Do not feed them bread, it can lead to many health issues and deformities. They love vegetation with a bit of protein to mix it up. Niacin, found in brewers yeast is very important in a ducks diet. Foraging usually solves this on it is own.. But if you raise them in a pen, you will need to provide this to them. Free-range chickens and ducks, it can be a bit tricky getting this into their diet. Sprinkling 1 tablespoon of Brewers Yeast on their food is best. Another great way is to give them peas…they love them. Frozen or fresh, toss them into their water dish and watch them go crazy over them.

Their housing needs are different from chickens too. They can not roost but sleep on the floor, so it must be kept clean and dry. Easy walk up is essential too.

And if you want eggs year round, you will need lighting just like chickens. Although ducks tend to lay all over the yard, putting lots of straw, particularly in the corners of their coop will encourage them to lay inside.