I saw a couple ducks in my little pond this morning. Do they eat fish? It
seemed like they were just eating the algae.

On Mon, 2 Apr 2007 17:39:00 CST, "Sheldon" wrote:

I saw a couple ducks in my little pond this morning. Do they eat fish? It
seemed like they were just eating the algae.

Ducks are pretty much vegetarian, they won't eat your fish.
--
Galen Hekhuis
We'll cross that bridge when it rears its ugly head

On Mon, 2 Apr 2007 17:39:00 CST, "Sheldon" wrote:

I saw a couple ducks in my little pond this morning. Do they eat fish? It
seemed like they were just eating the algae.

Normally they don't eat fish. The biggest problem with ducks is they will
quickly overwhelm any filter meant just for fish. Great poo factories ducks
are. So at this time, ....drum roll..... we must run the timely post Pros &
Con's about ducks:

I've had ducks for years.
-----
A side note on ducks since there is no ducks news area.
Ducks are fun to have and take care of but can be messy and troublesome.

Up Side: Eats weeds, grubs, and bugs. Very rich manure and dissolves in
seconds with a little water. Free eggs that are really large and taste
great. Fun to watch fly and play with. (they will even cuddle).

Down side: Makes little holes where ever they look for food, Will not
listen to reason when asked to stay off the patio or mess some where else
in the yard.

Ian from New Zealand's answer to a ponder's question about ducks in
the pond. Reposted from time to time. We wonder if Ian knows that he is a
rec.pond legend..... Here it is ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a Peking, it's 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 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 Tom cat 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 wont 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State

I wonder if Ian, from New Zealand, knows what an
impact he had with his original post. One of my
all time favorites.

k :-)

Galen Hekhuis wrote:

On Mon, 2 Apr 2007 17:39:00 CST, "Sheldon" wrote:

I saw a couple ducks in my little pond this morning. Do they eat fish?
It seemed like they were just eating the algae.

Ducks are pretty much vegetarian, they won't eat your fish.

It depends on the type of ducks, I think (though all of the fish-eating
waterfowl I could actually identify are not ducks). Most of what you'll
see on a pond though won't eat fish (except maybe small fry), but they'll
really load up the fertilizer content of your pond. Expect oxygen
shortages and green water if they stay long!
--
derek
- Unless otherwise noted, I speak for myself, not rec.ponds.moderated
moderators.