Pet Ducks

Ducks. You can see them in the park, in the wild, on ponds. Maybe you sometimes feed them or watch them. But did you know that you can actually have ducks as pets? OK, I admit, it's not easy, but once you're willing to do the work required to keep ducks, you'll be rewarded with the funniest, cutest and sweetest pets ever: pet ducks.

Pet ducks are for you, if...
First of all, you should absolutely LOVE ducks before considering them as pets. You can't just "try ducks out" for a while. Once you bought a duck and started caring for it, it'll attach itself emotionally to you. Dumping your duck would be cruel and just a very bad thing to do. Pet ducks are NOT easy to care for and you'll need patience and time to cope with their less attractive qualities (they make a mess all the time - especially when eating, they are noisy and they poop everywhere). Also, you need to make sure that you can provide your ducks with enough space to live in, preferably outside.

Having said that, once you still really want pet ducks, you're probably passionate about them. And they won't disappoint you. If you go out and buy ducklings, make sure you buy them from a respected dealer. You definitely don't want to buy a sick duckling. Do some research on your local duck dealer and ask him for tips on caring for ducks.

Baby pet ducks
Baby ducks will consume a lot of your time, but they're relatively easy to care for. Most of all, they need warmth. You can get this from a good heat lamp, which has an infrared bulb in it. If you have just a few ducks, you can put them in a cardboard box for the first few weeks. Make sure you cover the floor with fresh stray or hay. NEVER put blankets of anything like that into their box, they can easily suffocate in those things.
You can feed your ducklings with duck starter or chicken starter food from your local pet shop. If you really feel like it and want to play "mother duck", you can go out into your garden and look for worms and slugs to feed them.

Grown up ducksOnce your pet ducks are older, you'll need to make a special shelter for them in your garden. This shelter should really be a safe place for them, so make sure no dogs or predators can enter it and that it's a warm and dry place. You can ask your pet shop whether or not they sell specialized duck food. If not, you need to obtain it from elsewhere (always check this before buying your ducklings!) Ducks need a special protein diet that is different from a chicken diet. Some pet shops advise chicken food for ducks, but this is simply NOT a good idea.

Your ducks also need a place to swim. Ideally, you should have a small body of water in your garden. Make sure that their swimming water is clean! Always remove dead leaves from it and keep the water fresh.

Enjoy your ducks!
The best way to enjoy your ducks is to build a good relationship with them. This is actually very easy to do. If you raise the ducks yourself they'll think they're part of your family. It's your job to make them HAPPY to be a part of you family.