Davy,

My condolences on the ducks. Lot's of discussion in the past on this
subject. Here's a classic "duck" post:

JB

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Ducks and Ponds
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 00:09:02 +1300
From: IAN
Organization: Customer of Telecom Internet Services
Newsgroups: rec.ponds
References:


We have a man-made pond and wondered
if it is possible to buy baby duck to
put at the pond,

Wooah Tina... Don't rush into this duck thing.

I have a Peking, its a beautiful white innocent thing that poops in
unbelievable quantities. Never mind about a bio-filter, you are going
to need a sewerage system suitable for a small town to deal with what
this duck is going to do to your pond.

would they stay or would they leave?

No need to fret on this account - ducks never take the hint. Chuck `em
it in the air and it'll come right back. Sure it will occasionally
wander out onto the highway, but motorists would rather run off the
road and kill all their passengers than hit a duck that's sitting looking
right at them.

Look closely at the general design of your average duck, notice that
the cranium is small. It is my belief that if you could take all the duck
brains in the world and combine them in a sort of super organic
computer you would basically have a machine with a loose bowel and a
vocabulary
limited to: "quack". A duck is a natural born lobotomy.

wondering if the cats if the neighborhood would bother them.

Hell no, the neighborhood cats will not bother your duck, unless it is
a duckling which you have just presented to your young daughter.
Actually you will find the neighborhood cats will avoid close encounters
with
anything that looks like a duck. This is partly because cats dislike
stepping in duck doo to get to their prey and partly because the duck
thinks any passing cat must be its mother/sister/brother/mate. Even
the staunchest Tomcat finds it unnerving to have to deal with this sort
of thing and will generally go to extremes to avoid an embarrassing
encounter.

Would we need to
put a fence around it?

Sure, fence your duck, but it won't do you any good. You will still
hear screeching tires on the road and the neighbors will still phone you up
to say your duck is harassing their cat again.

If you do get a duck be sure to turn on the lights at night before
your walk across the lawn. One of the most unforgettable experiences you
can have is tripping over a sleeping duck in the dark.

Regards Ian Gill Westland New Zealand



"Davy" wrote in message
. 109.145...
Its the time of year again when a pair of mallard take up
residence on our pond. Looks very charming but they
vandalise all the plants in baskets and eat all my frog
and newt spawn.

I am thinking about running a single strand of electric
fence across the pond - they are certain to bump into it
frequently - especially at night and this may deter them
from visiting.

But I dont want to find a dead duck in my pond. Anybody
any experience of doing what I propose. The system I am
interested in is described as " this unit will produce a
pulsating, High Tension, low energy voltage of approx.
1000 Volts for up to 100 Metre spans. For electrically
operated fences for smaller animals, poultry fences, pigs
etc, or to keep foxes out".

DAvy