Mark wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with the kinds of garden veggies ducks
like to eat, and which therefore would need to be protected? I
imagine I wouldn't have much problem with them eating the really
aromatic stuff like oregano and garlic, etc., but I've been wrong
before...

You'll have to fence off your veggie-n-herb garden, and leave the ducks to
roam in your meadow. You know, the part of your garden where nothing you
value grows; just more or less wild greens.

This partly because ducks have an appetite (oregano too aromatic for
ducks? Hah!), partly because ducks leave calling cards (not as bad as
geese, but still).

And you'll have to keep watch over your ducklings, which is nice if it's
sunny ... hawks and cats quite like them. You'll also need a place to
put'em overnight, pretty much the same as for chickens; there's foxes,
too, and suchlike.

Ducks are cool, and 5-6 ducks is few enough that you won't get an
extremely people-shy flock of birds, that yell "fire!" "emergency!" "get
outta here!" whenever they see a human ... fortunately, ducks all run in
the same direction, so you _can_ catch them. Chicken, on the other hand...

Geese are even cooler than ducks, and they will get quite attached to
their keeper. Emden geese are enormous (well, for fowl), and will follow
you around in single file after you've been around them for a while. Then,
if you stop suddenly, there's a chain reaction of geese walking into you -
and each other. Much fun. Geese will also disapprove at the appalling
state of your feathers, and try to yank all and any folds straight - like
they should be - if you sit down with them.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod