anyone here have any experience raising backyard ducks on an urban lot?
I've had friends who raise chickens with minimal fuss, but I don't know anyone who has raised ducks. They seem cute as hell.
Any advice for someone doing early homework about how to care for urban ducks?
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Seems like there are a lot of takes on here already, so I'll try to just add on. Main Considerations- space(LxWxH, distance from your house); local predators(what kind of protection do they need esp. at night); climate/weather(temps, precipitation); budget(enclosure + feed).
Ducks are happy and cute little monsters, and people generally like them as companions more than chickens. People generally don't like ducks cause they/their habitat can smell. Ducks love water(will touch on more) and they poop a lot, this make for a smelly habitat if not kept clean or kept in the right conditions. They need to have access to drinking water at all times but esp. with meals(important for their digestion and health). Ducks are both individuals and members of a community so they'll need a flock, keeping less than 3 birds seems cruel to me for their social health and always keep extra birds(minimal extra resources to provide for them, better for their collective health and enrichment, expect predation). If raising from hatchling expect a 10-15% mortality rate before adulthood, after adulthood it'll be because something gets into their coop at night and this will happen no matter how hard you work to prevent it. Ducks also need daily access to baths with clean water- a kiddy pool can work fine for this. People generally only get female ducks and chickens, esp. in urban/suburban environments, those birds produce eggs, and are better behaved and generally make less noise) Hope that help, open to slowly responding to questions!