What's in your garden?

[tagalong]

I decided to go with a natural predator for my snail and bug situation and I purchased three ducks. They are a year old and so they are already laying eggs. I picked them up on Sunday and they have the run of the back yard area (about 1/2 acre) which is fenced in. I have a crate I put them in at night to protect them from predators.

I was worried that there would be an adjustment period for them but they are very happy to be at my house. They went from a dirt pen to my yard and they went wild for the bugs. It was like watching people gorge at a buffet!! I also thought that the move might stress them so they wouldn't lay eggs for a while but I had one egg on Monday morning and two this morning.

It has been fun to watch them in the evenings as they graze on weeds and bugs. It is much more entertaining than TV!! This morning when I let them out it was damp so the snails were out and those two female ducks went on a frenzy of eating snails. One would get a snail and the other would try to take it away. The snails would be flying around the yard as the ducks toss them around. Quite funny! :roll:

As I really know nothing about ducks except what I read on the internet in the last week, it has been interesting to see their habits. The females seem to eat twice as much as the male (I assume because they are producing about an egg a day) and the male watches over them. Trying to herd them into their pen (a dog carrier for a Great Dane) at night is an adventure too. The first night was hard and it took two of us to accomplish the task. Last night I was able to do it myself in about half the time. I hope as time goes by they will know what I want and just hop on in without much effort!

I was looking forward to eating the eggs but after watching the fight over the snail and seeing how much they liked them it kind of made me lose my appetite for eggs. But I will get over it and try them out this weekend!

I grew up with both ducks and geese in the garden area, eating both the bugs, plus the grass and weeds. One thing I remember was the eggs were rubbery when eaten fried or sunny side up, so Mom used them to bake with. Scrambled with a couple drops of milk and some ham or bacon wasn't bad. We used a little grain to cox our fowls into a closed area before nightfall. Chickens that roast seem to go in on their own, without any problem. Remember to have lots of fresh water for them. Since we let them nest and sit, it was fun to sneak peeks when we thought it about time for the eggs to hatch. You'll never know how hard a duck can pinch a little girls butt or how fast they half run and fly holding on. Didn't try that with the geese thinking they could pinch a hunk right out.