Ducks and geese

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Have just met a nice lady who is trying to find a new home for her father's ducks and geese (he is ill and not expected to recover).She knows nothing about them.....Our property has a pond site, but no water (guess it ran dry)...Can I have them without a pond? This is Alabama and very hot in the Summer.....thanks!

-- Lesley Chasko (martchas@gateway.net), June 14, 2000

Answers

Yes, Ducks and Geese will do fine,, if you get them a childs swimming pool. Can get them at Walmart & Fred Myers for not too much money. I use one of those super large black rubber ground feed buckets they sell for large livestock,, and it works well. Good luck!

-- Bergere (autumnhaus@aol.com), June 14, 2000.

Lesley, ya know those baby geese & ducks I bought --they are now full grown! They have a portable pen about 50' around & we move it around our yard where we want them to eat & have shade. They have a large wadeing pool---buckets of water--granite dish pans with water! And in a few minutes they have it terrible looking(dirty-dirty)! They don't need as many containers as they have --but they are spoiled!!!!!! The fawn runners (ducks) like the wadeing pool the best---the African (gander) likes the bucket---the Chinese Hen) likes to sit in the granite pan. We fill them several times a day--when they get yucky-- we put the water on our garden--and pump more water out of the well for them! Each time, we give them fresh water they show off for us! It doesn't take a lot to entertain hubby & myself so sometimes we get our lawn chairs sit next to each other with a glass of cold herb tea & watch them play! We do so enjoy them!!!!! They are part of our family! I hope one day to have all the property fenced & be able to let them roam--as we live in a very, very, small town! The chickens roam--but seem to understand where their boundries are & stay in our yard! Best wishes--keep us up dated! There are some great people on this forum who have helped me with mine, since it had been so many years since we had raised geese & ducks! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), June 15, 2000.

Lesley, you don't have to have a pond for ducks and geese. They love ponds or wading pools or whatever, but as long as they have a water source that they can dunk their heads into, they'll do fine. I have black rubber hog pans that I change a couple of times a day. They'll get into them to bathe. When there are little babies, I put out a big galvanized chick waterer so the babies will always have water, and I also give them a big plastic plant saucer to get into. When it gets really hot, some of the geese appreciate a quick hosing off while I'm changing their pans. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), June 15, 2000.

Lesley, I am over 50, I bought my first ducklings a year ago. I had them in a pen in the open hot sun, my kind neighbor told me they would die, and he placed some paneling over a swing set to shade them. My White Peking ducks are real funny about the water in the kids pool. When the water is fresh and clean, they will jump in and have a ball thrashing around, just acting nuts. Like kids in a swimming hole. I just sat and watched (I lead a dull life). However, after they have murked up the once clean water (it is a duck thing), they will not swim in their dirty water, although they will drink it and use it to preen. But maybe they only do those things because there is no other choice for them. I like clean water, maybe I would act the same. Hey, I just thought of something, when MY water is clean I am happy, but if it becomes tainted, I use it only for survival. Call me nuts, but I have just been shown an analogy. Our well has been pumping powered sand for several weeks. I have not been a happy camper, and I have been very stingy about water. Water is our survival, go with me on this, water rationing has become my fixation. There is no pleasure left about water. My greatest hope was to grow beautiful grass on 1 acre of sand. But because of the severe lack of rain (drought), coupled with with da well showing signs of going dry,I had no pleasure about the subject of water (Like the ducks have no interest in swimming in the partially dirty water.) They are finicky, so am I. My firm belief is there was no more water in the well when it ended, then there was when it began, is firm in my mind. The bottom line, guess I will be cleaning out their pool every day, and pouring the Texas Tea Water (as some kind soul told me), on all the other trees and plants. If da well goes dry, don't I have 99 bottles of water on the wall in preparation of Y2K?

-- My Story (andi@stickingtoit.com), June 18, 2000.

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