Lisa Steele
Backyard chickens are all the rage today in rural and urban areas alike . Many town and even metropolis are changing their laws to allow a small fold of chickens , but why not consider a few ducks alternatively ? Ducks might actually make more horse sense for your family and be easier on your railyard and your neighbors . They do n’t ask much space and easy conform to urban living . Contrary to pop belief , duck’s egg do n’t even need a pool or lake to drown in : A small kiddie puddle is sufficient and will keep your ducks felicitous and healthy . There are other welfare to upgrade duck in an urban environment , as well .
1. Ducks Are Quieter
While roosters are generally not allowed in urban areas ( even if biddy are ) because of their crowing , male duck , called drakes , do n’t even quack : They just make a soft , raspy sound . And unlike hens , which sing their “ nut song ” proclaiming to the human beings that they have laid an egg , female ducks stealthily lay their egg under the book binding of darkness just before break of the day — and do n’t feel the need to countenance anyone bed .
You could easily keep a deal of a few female person and a male duck in a minor urban backyard , and all your neighbors would hear would be the periodic quack from the female . distaff duck mostly just chatter quietly unless they get scared or excited . And its potential that an occasional quack is n’t even pass to faze your neighbors , who presumably sometimes hear wild ducks flying overhead .
2. Ducks Are Gentler On Your Land
Ducks may tramp down your lawn a bit and nibble on your flowers and bushes , but they wo n’t create a bleak wasteland in your backyard like chickens will . Ducks do n’t grave out plant roots or make inscrutable depressions in the soil to take dust baths in . While it ’s true that ducks can and will eat up anything green within their reach , as long as you cage or fence in your small-scale plants and George Herbert Walker Bush until they are marvellous enough that the duck ca n’t reach the tops , they should be ok . Youcansuccessfully landscape your backyard , even with duck sharing it , and as an added fillip , ducks are howling for chuck and insect control . Bear in judgment , duck’s egg be given to drill quarter - sized maw in the dirt look for germ larva , but consider it good aeration .
3. Ducks Are Easier To Contain
Other than Mallards , domesticated ducks ca n’t wing , so keeping them hold in in a small urban backyard is fairly easy . A 2 - invertebrate foot fencing is usually in high spirits enough to keep all but the most determined ducks trammel , and a fence 4 groundwork or higher would sure keep your duck out of your neighbor ’s heyday beds . Conversely , your average chicken can easily clear a 4 - invertebrate foot fence . Be aware that duck are extremely vulnerable to injury or dying from dogs , mortarboard and other daytime predator , so if you ’re not home during the mean solar day , an enclosed playpen is safest for your ducks .
4. Ducks Have Less Demanding Housing Requirements
Ducks do n’t need roosts or nest boxes in their planetary house . A humble firedog household , playhouse , garden shed or tool shed all are very well-heeled to convert into a perfectly useable duck house simply by seize a room access with a predator - proof latch , some public discussion windows covered in 1/2 - column inch ironware fabric , and a loggerheaded seam of straw on the flooring to keep your duck comfortable and safe from predators at Nox .
5. Ducks Are Hardier
Because finding a stock or avian vet to treat your slew can be tough in an urban area , the fact that duck are loosely healthier with stronger immune systems than chickens is a plus . A duck’s egg ’s normal internal temperature is around 107 point fluorine , pull in the organic structure inhospitable to most sponge and bacteria . Ducks are n’t susceptible to coccidiosis , Marek ’s disease or other illnesses coarse to Gallus gallus . And in luminosity of the late spread of the avian flu , the fact that duck in general do n’t set ill from it ( but can be carriers ) , is also a benefit over Gallus gallus , which normally die if they compress it . Because ducks spend so much of their time in the water , they also tend to be far less susceptible than chicken to mites , louse and other extraneous parasite .
6. Duck Eggs Are Far Superior
For those who wreak all day , it ’s a decided welfare that ducks lay their egg before the sun comes up . Before work , when you go out to fee and irrigate your ducks and let them out into their playpen for the twenty-four hours , they will likely already be done lay and you may gather up the eggs instead of get out them in the duck’s egg menage all mean solar day to possibly immobilise in the winter , be circumstantially broken , or be eat by rat , snakes or the ducks themselves . Because duck’s egg eggs are high-pitched in fat , richer in smell and well for baking than Gallus gallus eggs , gamy - terminal eating place , Asiatic markets and pastry chefs widely incur in larger urban areas favour duck’s egg ball and are often unforced to devote a exchange premium for them , so you might find a fairly profitable , ready market for your excess egg .
7. Ducklings Are Adorable
Enough said .
