How to Raise Ducks for Eggs in Your Backyard

[00:00:00] John Moore: Do you know that you can successfully keep ducks in urban and suburban spaces? If raising ducks is your dream, our guest today is here to show you that it’s possible. In this episode, editor Jessica Mitchell chats with fellow podcast team member Kenny Coogan, who’s spent years raising backyard ducks. We’ll be learning about the benefits ducks bring, equipment to have on hand, and things to consider when raising them in towns, cities, or suburbs. This is Mother Earth News.

Brinse: Incubation Specialists

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Kenny Coogan and His Backyard Ducks Experience

[00:01:19] Jessica Mitchell: Good day everyone, and we appreciate you for joining us on another exciting Mother Earth News and Friends episode.

[00:01:27] I’m Jessica Mitchell, and joining me today is fellow podcast team member Kenny Coogan. At Mother Earth News for 50 years in counting, we’ve been dedicated to conserving our planet’s natural resources while helping you conserve your financial resources. And today we’re gonna learn about keeping backyard ducks in urban and suburban spaces.

[00:01:51] In addition to being a podcast team member, Kenny has been keeping backyard ducks for years, and he’s here today to share his expertise. He’s also a food, farm, [00:02:00] and flower columnist; he leads workshops on all kinds of sustainability and homesteading topics; and he’s the owner of a carnivorous plant nursery.

[00:02:09] So, I’ll say, welcome to the podcast, Kenny, and welcome to being on the other side of the podcast, Kenny.

[00:02:16] Kenny Coogan: Oh, it’s so exciting. Thank you so much for inviting me. Oh, and I also might have, uh, pushed you into having me on.

[00:02:26] Jessica Mitchell: It really didn’t take that much arm twisting at all. Well, we’re so glad you’re here and I can’t wait to hear just your wealth of expertise on this topic. So before we jump in, is there anything else you wanted to share about who you are and what you do before we get into today’s topic?

[00:02:41] Kenny Coogan: I recently, uh, published my third book, which is called Florida’s Carnivorous Plants. And when I was interviewing some people about that book, I interviewed the person in North America who keeps winning like the best Venus flytrap. She has the biggest. And I asked her what her secret [00:03:00] was, and she told me that it was that she grows them above the garbage cans where she puts her dog waste. So then I said, oh, well I have ducks and chickens, and that is where I will be relocating my carnivorous plants to.

[00:03:16] Jessica Mitchell: That is perfect. I love that.

[00:03:18] Kenny Coogan: And, and I have a small chicken flock and then I, I’m currently raising runner and Pekin ducks as a hobby and egg source within the city limits of Tampa.

[00:03:29] Jessica Mitchell: That’s awesome. Well, I can’t wait to learn more about this. So you touched just a little bit on your experiences with raising ducks, but can you tell us a little bit more about that? Maybe how you even got started into raising backyard ducks?

[00:03:42] Kenny Coogan: I think I was in fourth or fifth grade and I went to the local fair and we just fell in love with all the ducks on, on the exhibit row and we took some business cards. And then I do know for a fact that for my fifth grade graduation [00:04:00] we upgraded from, you know, goldfish and cats to my first poultry, which were three English call ducks, which are very tiny little bantam ducks. And they were perfect for, uh, my backyard in Niagara Falls, New York.

[00:04:16] And for enrichment or you know, just something to watch them, we would go to the local pet store every Saturday and I would buy 1000 feeder goldfish for like under $10. And we, they had all these little, we only had three ducks and we had all these little kiddie pools. And I would kind of separate all these little feeder fish and within three minutes or less, the water would just have little scales floating around. And this just fascinated me so much.

[00:04:47] And we would go to the pet store multiple Saturdays a month, and then the, the fish keeper, Angela, she, you know, after maybe two months, she goes, what are you feeding? Because [00:05:00] people who you know are buying it for other fish or turtles come way less frequently. So we told her that we were feeding them to our pet ducks.

[00:05:09] And she said, I have another customer who also comes, you know, on a weekly, biweekly basis for fish for his ducks. And this, uh, other customer who I never met, he gifted me the Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread through Angela. So one week I went to go pick up my fish and she said, hey, a customer left this, you know, brand new book for you. And I still have that book whose spine is broken and the pages are crispy from spills and heavy references. So I still have that book after 22 years.

[00:05:44] Jessica Mitchell: Wow. I love how it’s, this has been such like a huge part of, of your life just growing up and, and growing and changing with these backyard ducks. That’s so cool.

[00:05:57] Kenny Coogan: As a middle schooler, I had [00:06:00] a, I had my business cards. I printed, you know, a hundred business cards. And on my motto, my slogan was like, “Look what three little ducklings started.” Because between fifth grade and, uh, college, I had about 400 birds: ducks, chickens, uh, pigeons. And during that time, I had raised, in addition to the call ducks, Australian spotted ducks, magpies, runners, Anconas, crested Dutch hook bills, Silkie, and Silver Appleyards.

[00:06:32] Jessica Mitchell: You had like a full blown operation. I think I had one fish in fourth grade.

[00:06:41] Well, this is gonna be perfect for our topic today cuz we’re really gonna be talking about how can people get into raising ducks, especially when they live in urban and suburban spaces, and maybe they don’t even realize that they can do something like this.

Why Raise Ducks

[00:06:55] Jessica Mitchell: So to really kick off the discussion today, I would love to ask first, [00:07:00] why would someone want to keep ducks, especially if they live in the city or the suburbs or small towns? And what, what are the types of things that they could provide for the people who are raising them?

[00:07:13] Kenny Coogan: Well, just like, um, the chicken love affair, people love ducks. Ducks are cute. They have those cute little cheeks. They’re fluffy. They’re a little more shy than a chicken. So once you befriend a duck, you really feel you have this connection. They’re easy to raise. They’re resistant to wet areas, unlike chickens. And they’re also really good for cold and extreme hot weather. They’re also easier to yard in or to keep in your suburban, urban backyard. They usually just need like a two to three foot high fence compared to a chicken where you might have to trim their wings or you might have to have like a six foot fence.

[00:07:57] And they’re great at eating [00:08:00] insects like snails and slugs. Or Backyard Poultry magazine, when I went to South Africa many years ago, I purposely visited a vineyard that was utilizing 1500 runner ducks and a hundred geese as to limit their, uh, pesticide use. So they were having the ducks and the geese kind of rotate through the vineyards. So you can see that article in Backyard Poultry magazine.

[00:08:25] And then just seeing 1500 runner ducks, which look like bowling pins, you know, they’re so upright, they’re marching, they’re just so comical. And if you could have a couple in your backyard, I think that would bring you a lot of joy. And just like chickens, ducks are great at eating kitchen scraps and waste. Their manure is similar to chickens. They’re just so entertaining. And to be honest, I I, once these chickens are gone, once they naturally leave my farm, I just wanna have ducks.

[00:08:56] Jessica Mitchell: Yeah. I can see how ducks, like, they have such a great [00:09:00] entertainment factor and they’re so fun to watch and explore.

[00:09:04] Kenny Coogan: And I guess I, I, I skipped this part. The reason why I want to wean out the chickens and only keep the ducks is because both are free range on about a half an acre, which is permaculture. So I have fruit trees and shrubs and edible things, and the ducks are so gentle on the landscape. They’re not creating those craters that you can twist an ankle in. They’re just like gently dabbing in the mulch. And yeah, they’re, they’re just so much fun.

[00:09:36] Jessica Mitchell: Right. Yeah. No big, big pits for dust baths and stuff like chickens do. So what makes ducks a good pairing specifically with an urban or suburban living situation?

[00:09:50] Kenny Coogan: So their fencing or their coop requirements are kind of similar to a chicken, but the fence probably could be lower.

[00:09:58] And then their quacking is [00:10:00] tolerated more than a crowing rooster. So if you have males and females of the ducks, you’re good to go. Muscovys, which are kind of different from all other domesticated ducks, they’re almost silent. And a lot of people raise them for meat and eggs. And then call ducks, which is what I started with, and then Pekins, which are those big, beautiful white ducks, are the most talkative. But even, you know, when they’re talking gently quacking your, your neighbors will probably think it’s scenic compared to a , compared to a rooster crowing.

[00:10:35] And, uh, just like how there’s lots of different breeds of chickens for different purposes, there’s lots of different breeds of ducks. And there’s lightweight ducks and also bantam ducks that are good for smaller spaces. Like the Muscovy, even though that’s a very large, heavy duck, and also Pekins. Both of those are great for small spaces, but you could also choose smaller breeds like call [00:11:00] ducks, East Indies, or Australian Spotted, if you’re limited on space.

Do Ducks Need Water?

[00:11:05] Jessica Mitchell: Okay. Now, and I know we’ll touch on this a little bit later, but I thought maybe I could prompt this question first while we’re in this topic. I think maybe one of the reasons someone who doesn’t know too much about ducks would be a little, a little hesitant to raise them is because I think sometimes for people who don’t know ducks, there’s this idea that all ducks need a big pond or lake or something like that to be available to them.

[00:11:31] What would you say to someone who feels like, oh, I don’t have that type of area for ducks, you know, so I can’t raise them.

[00:11:38] Kenny Coogan: They need water to eat. So when you’re giving ’em like the dry crumbles or the pellets, they do need fresh source of water to eat, but that shouldn’t be different than your other livestock or poultry.

[00:11:51] And they do not need to live on a pond or a lake. They usually do need something like a kiddie pool or larger to breed. But [00:12:00] just like day-to-day operations, you do not need to provide them a large source of water, you know? A bucket of water or just a water bowl is good enough for the day-to-day operations.

[00:12:11] So for me, I have an acre, but the poultry have a half an acre to, to free range. And then in Florida from maybe June through September, it’s the rainy season. And they, during the rainy season, they get a 15 by 30 foot pond that’s maybe a foot or a foot and a half deep just because it’s naturally raining all the time. And then this low area fills up and they do love it. They’ll, you know, the, the ponds are a foot and a half deep and the ducks are like 18 inches tall, but they’ll be diving underneath it and they’ll be swimming and they’ll be splashing. They’ll have so much fun. But the other rest of the year, I’ll, I’ll give them literally like a kiddie pool, and they’re equally happy with that because most of the time they’re just walking around foraging for earthworms.[00:13:00]

[00:13:00] Jessica Mitchell: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I had this flash of a memory as you were talking about this. I’ve never raised ducks before, but the closest I’ve ever been to was when I was probably like six or seven. We were living in this one house and we, we didn’t have like a pool or anything, but we had this yard and there were these big evergreen trees in the back of the yard, and one day these three ducks, like wild ducks, just showed up and just decided to hang around for a while.

[00:13:28] And I remember sometimes it would be rainy and those ducks would be out, and sometimes they’d be out by the evergreen trees, or sometimes they’d be like, right on our stoop on the back porch. And we just thought it was so funny, like how they just kind of camped out there for a little bit and how much they, they seemed to enjoy the rain too, like when it was raining.

[00:13:47] And I remember we named them Huey, Dewey, and Louie when we, when they, when they were around. They only stuck around for a few days, but, but they were very entertaining just to wake up, be like, oh, where are the ducks?

[00:13:58] Kenny Coogan: When I was giving you that long list [00:14:00] of, uh, duck breeds that I raised as a middle schooler and high schooler, more recently I was raising some Cayuga ducks, which are like these beautiful black ducks. And when I had my ephemeral pond, some wild mallards visited and almost all domestic, pretty much all domestic ducks are descendants from mallards except for the Muscovy. And these wild mallards came and they bred with my Cayuga, and then we let her incubate and raise those eggs, and then they were half Cayuga, half mallard.

[00:14:31] Jessica Mitchell: Wow, that’s, that must have been interesting.

[00:14:36] Kenny Coogan: Yeah. I don’t know if they’re show worthy, but they were fun.

Can You Keep Ducks in Your Town or City?

[00:14:38] Jessica Mitchell: They were fun. All right. Well, let’s say someone does want to get started into raising backyard ducks. In your experience, as we know, sometimes, depending on where you live, there might be some rules to follow concerning what types of pets or small livestock you can have in your yard.

[00:14:57] So in your experience, do most [00:15:00] towns and cities have allowances for ducks? Or is it kind of a mixed bag across the country?

[00:15:06] Kenny Coogan: Yeah. Right now it’s kind of a mixed bag and people don’t even know how to classify if the ducks are livestock or poultry. So you do have to do a little bit of research. A lot of times they’re not even mentioned in bills or laws, so if you, if you have friendly neighbors, you might be good to go.

[00:15:25] Jessica Mitchell: So they, they could be classified as like an under the radar pet if it’s not even specified. What was it like in Florida? Was it pretty clear when, when you started having ducks down there, what you could do? Or was it kind of that same thing where, you know, it wasn’t really specified in the state and so it just was kind of a touch and go thing to experiment with?

[00:15:48] Kenny Coogan: It wasn’t specified in my city, but when I moved into this current house, the backyard neighbor already had like eight chickens, a rooster, and [00:16:00] a Toulouse goose. And because geese are much louder than ducks, I knew that the other neighbors would not notice if I added a handful of ducks. So I was not concerned.

[00:16:13] Jessica Mitchell: Have you heard of any examples of people if of, of people even just trying to change any sort, or specify, any sort of rules in their town or getting into a situation where they would have to kind of explain that ducks would be fine to have as a backyard pet?

[00:16:30] Kenny Coogan: I do know of another person who’s, who’s also in the city limits, but they’re in a smaller suburb, urban area, and they were raising, um, some ducks. And because all of their neighbors were okay with it, they never felt the need to go to the city council and argue one way or the other.

[00:16:50] So, and in Tampa, um, you are allowed to raise backyard chickens. So I think that already gives the neighbors like an [00:17:00] idea of, all right, well, if, if we are going to argue the city commission’s probably gonna go in favor of the people with the ducks because they’ve already have been so lenient with the backyard chickens.

[00:17:10] Jessica Mitchell: Mm-hmm. Got it.

[00:17:12] Kenny Coogan: Are you, have you heard of anyone having to argue for in favor of ducks?

[00:17:17] Jessica Mitchell: You know, not argue, but I do. You know, I live in Lawrence, Kansas, and I feel like, I don’t know the specifications for like poultry and stuff in town, but I do hear of just people just trying to make it work in their backyards.

[00:17:33] I think there are allowances because I see so many people with chickens in town, but I don’t see as many people with ducks. I see people with quail, chickens. There’s, there’s someone who has almost like a, a tiny little farmstead property, like three blocks from downtown and they have little ponies and stuff.

[00:17:52] So yeah, I think it’s a lot of people just trying to make it work in their backyards and just be like making connections with the [00:18:00] neighbors and just making sure everything’s cool. But I’m assuming if someone could have a little pony in town, then ducks would probably be okay.

[00:18:11] Kenny Coogan: Every Monday I go to the post office and I ship out plants. And the cashier, she’s always surprised that they survive during the shipping process. And then she goes, well, somebody also comes every Monday and ships out live quail. So I guess, um, obviously the post office has been shipping chickens for like over a hundred years. But I guess somewhere in the city of Tampa, somebody is breeding quail and shipping them around.

[00:18:40] Jessica Mitchell: I love that.

[00:18:41] Kenny Coogan: So people love their backyard poultry, including me.

Types of Duck Breeds: Eggs, Meat, or Plumage?

[00:18:44] Jessica Mitchell: They do. Well, we talked a little bit about how you can kind of choose the breed that works best for you, so can you give a few more examples of maybe how someone can determine what type of duck would be best for their [00:19:00] situation, and also if there’s any sort of an idea of how many ducks are ideal to have just for the wellbeing of the ducks themselves?

[00:19:08] Kenny Coogan: To answer the second part of the question, I would think of them like a chicken. If you’re starting from scratch, I would get four or five, and then one of them might die and one of them might turn into a male if you’re, if you’re aiming for females. So I, I, I wouldn’t go under three birds because they are a flock animal, and, and they’re gonna be a little nervous if you only have one or two.

[00:19:33] So at least three. When you’re determining the breed of duck, I would think about like, what purpose are you trying to fill? Do you want pets, eggs, meat, feathers, decoration, or do you wanna show them? I remember I wrote an art, I think I wrote a different article for Backyard Poultry about runner ducks. I listed that they can lay about 300, 320 eggs a year, and a lot of people were commenting [00:20:00] like, my runner ducks lay 20 eggs a year. My runner ducks lay 50 eggs a year. Well, the, the problem is, “the problem” is where you’re getting the breed stock from. So are you getting it from a pet catalog who are, you know, where, where those, where people haven’t been breeding them for egg production? Or are, are you getting them where the, like the runner duck, for example, they’re supposed to be standing like perfectly straight, like a perfect like 90 degree angle. Like they’re kind of on the back of their heels all the way up. Or, or is your runner duck more horizontal, which means that, you know, they’re just kind of breeding willy-nilly.

[00:20:44] So my Pekin ducks. I think they’re between like five and eight years old. I get an egg from each of them every day in spring and summer, and they’re way out competing the chickens that are the same age.

[00:20:59] So you have to, [00:21:00] and also, but there’s also two strains of Pekins. There’s a meat Pekin and then an egg production Pekin. So do you want meat? Do you want eggs? I mean, I love the idea of people showing ducks. When I become rich and I retire, I wanna only breed and raise Dutch Hook Bill ducks, which are a rare breed. And they’re not part of the American Bantam Association or the American, uh, Poultry Association because in order to do that, somebody has to show 50 of them, like the same color, like the same variety in one show. And then the judge has to score all of those, and that’s how you get ’em into the standard.

[00:21:43] And most of the people who are raising them have 10 or 20. And then they can’t keep up with the demand. So they’ll hatch, babe, ducklings out, but then they’ll ship ’em away. So you need to have like 50 of one color in one city. And then you have to take ’em all to a [00:22:00] show and I think that would be so much fun.

[00:22:02] Jessica Mitchell: That would be cool. I could definitely see you doing that, and I don’t think it would take very long.

[00:22:07] Kenny Coogan: Yeah.

How to Raise Ducks for Eggs: Shelter and Supplies

[00:22:09] Jessica Mitchell: That is awesome. Well, before we take a break, I thought let’s jump into a little bit about the practical planning and logistics for preparing for backyard ducks. So what should someone know about their environment, maybe their backyard, their neighborhood, before buying ducks? And should they have any sort of equipment on hand before the ducks even arrive?

[00:22:34] Kenny Coogan: It’s gonna be different if you wanna start with ducklings or mature ducks. For ducklings, you’ll need a brooder, just like chickens or other backyard poultry.

[00:22:42] Ducks and ducklings, a lot of people say are messier than chickens. And that’s certainly true if they’re in confinement. Once you start free-ranging them, I, I find them to be less messy than a chicken because the chickens are [00:23:00] knocking down pots and creating those craters.

[00:23:02] For ducklings, you’ll need a brooder. You have to keep ’em warm. Same temperature as a chicken, you know, the first week, maybe 90 to 95, and then you can drop it about five degrees every week until you’re about 10 or 12 weeks out. For adult ducks and the babies, you definitely have to be, uh, cognizant of predators. I have lost a few ducks to raccoons, maybe a neighborhood dog because they were on that, uh, ephemeral pond that I was talking about, and they were being stubborn and they wouldn’t go in to the coop, you know, right at dusk. So if they’re a little too slow, predators can get ’em. So you have to protect them.

[00:23:44] And, uh, make sure you have the adequate food. My all, I only have female ducks luckily, but yeah, so that was on purpose. And, uh, they just eat the same, uh, laying formula that my [00:24:00] female chickens eat. Fresh supply of water. Because they bring the food into the waters to help them swallow, you might have to change their water more frequently. And then you can, uh, yeah. House them on kind of the same substrates as you would a chicken. But I, other than like a structure, like a coop, they’re really, I, I don’t think there’s other equipment that you would have to have.

[00:24:26] Jessica Mitchell: Got it. Now, for someone who’s really new to raising ducks, do you recommend that they start off the bat with starting at the duckling stage, or do you recommend they skip that stage and start raising ducks when they’re a little older, if they have that option?

[00:24:46] Kenny Coogan: Another uh, “problem” with ducks and geese is that it’s a little more difficult to sex them as day old. If you really only want females, yeah, you should get teenage [00:25:00] teenagers that are, you know, between like 16 and 20 weeks old. But if you don’t care, if you have drakes or ducks, I think the duckling stage is great.

[00:25:09] I just adopted a maybe, uh, six month old chicken that was found on a golf course and I’m having, it’s only been about a week, but I’m having a little bit trouble getting her used to the flock, my existing flock. I was thinking about like, oh, this is the first time I’ve done this cuz all the other chickens I had as chicks. And then they kind of grew up with the older chickens. And if you start with older ducks, you have to like really train them to go into the coop at night and like befriend you. But if you have ducklings, they’ll just imprint on you. They’ll eat from your hand, they’ll follow you, and they’ll just know all of the, the steps and all of the things that you want them to do.

[00:25:54] So I think you, you might as well start with those cute fuzzy ducklings. And since this is [00:26:00] being published after Easter, I do not feel any concern that people will be buying a little baby duckling as a Easter present, as like a throwaway present. Because just like chickens, they live eight to 12, 18, 8 to 14 years old.

[00:26:15] Jessica Mitchell: Yeah, that’s a really great point.

[00:26:17] Well, we’re going to take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsor, and when we return, we’re going to dive deeper into how to care for backyard ducks, and also address some challenges that may arise if you’re living and raising ducks in urban and suburban settings.

[00:26:32] So we’ll be right back.

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[00:27:02] And now back to our conversation with Kenny.

Shelter Needs for Backyard Ducks

[00:27:07] Jessica Mitchell: All right, we are back with Kenny. We are talking on how to raise urban and suburban ducks in your backyard. So we had a great discussion earlier about some of that preparation, why someone would wanna raise ducks. And now we’re gonna jump a little more into the details of when you have the ducks, some different things that might arise.

[00:27:26] So, uh, before the break we touched a little bit on general food, water, shelter, cleaning needs that you’ll have to keep up with. Did you wanna elaborate on any of that a bit more before we go into the next subject?

[00:27:41] Kenny Coogan: Um, for the shelter, what I have is, like a shed. Yeah. So for the past like 25 years, I’ve kind of had them in a shed where I put a plastic tarp down and then I’ll put maybe some layers of like newspaper, and then you can , what I’ve done is shavings [00:28:00] or straw, and then I’ll clean that out on a weekly basis.

[00:28:03] Or you could do the deep litter method just like chickens, or because they’re free range, they’re really just on mulch during the day and they’re only in their, in they’re night quarters at night, so they keep it pretty clean. And every time I freshen their straw and hay, they make these cute little noises and they’re just so excited and they dabble in there looking for little worms and little bugs.

[00:28:30] So for, yeah, so shavings, hay, straw, you could use that, but you should not be using like a metal grid or a grate, or you shouldn’t like be keeping them in a cage with a, a cage bottom because of their webbed feet.

[00:28:45] Jessica Mitchell: Yeah, that’s a great point. And I also really like how just kind of like chickens, someone doesn’t need to go out and get some big, elaborate, fancy type of shelter. You can really see what’s already in your backyard, like a shed or something, and, [00:29:00] and utilize that to save some money.

[00:29:02] Kenny Coogan: Growing up for maybe my sixth or seventh grade birthday, you know, when I was 12 or 13, I got a 12 by eight foot shed. And then my dad installed, I think four stalls. They were each like two foot wide, six foot deep. And then, uh, we trained the runner ducks to go in one, the Silver Appleyards to go in another stall, the chickens to go in one. You know, so we. They would all kind of put themselves to sleep. Yeah, and that was the, that was the same setup, a tarp with some straw shavings, and it was very easy.

Selecting Duck Breeds for Eggs

[00:29:39] Jessica Mitchell: Oh yeah, definitely. That’s so great. Well, we also talked a little bit on egg production and, and what we can expect from ducks and how it depends on the breed. Um, maybe if we say compared to chickens, how prolific can ducks be in terms of laying? And what’s kind of the range, you know, versus, you know, going from [00:30:00] a duck that will give you a lot of eggs to a duck that if you do choose it, you know, you’re not really gonna get like a ton of eggs and they would be around for another purpose.

[00:30:10] Kenny Coogan: The worst egg layers are gonna be the ones that also lay tiny eggs, like the Australian Spotted, the English call duck, the East Indie duck. And then the mallards, we, we kind of forgot about them, but like the grandparents of all the domestic ducks, people do raise mallards and all of those are really seasonal. They’ll lay in the spring and they’ll lay between 25 and 50 eggs. So that’s a very small amount compared to a chicken. And then the number one, um, are definitely the Indian runner ducks. They can lay between 150 and 300 eggs, depending on the strain. So you gotta talk to the breeders. It’s gonna be difficult if you’re getting ’em from a generic catalog. And then Pekin ducks can also [00:31:00] lay between like 125 and 225 eggs. And then some of those like heavier weighted ducks, like the ruins, how do you say that? Ruin? R-O-U-E-N.

[00:31:12] Jessica Mitchell: R-O-U-E-N. Roh-en? Roon?

[00:31:14] Kenny Coogan: Roh-an, you’re right. Just like those heavier ducks, the Rouens, they’re so big, they only lay a couple dozen eggs a year. Kind of, kind of like a heavy weighted goose, except they’re a duck. So they only lay maybe like 35 to a hundred eggs.

[00:31:32] Um, Muscovy ducks, maybe 50 to 125 eggs. But if you get like a light breed, which are considered the runner ducks and Campbells and Magpies, they can be around 200 to 300.

[00:31:49] And I don’t know if we mentioned this in the other podcast about eggs, but I am currently eating six eggs a day. I’ve been doing it for about a year and a half. Some of the eggs are [00:32:00] from the ducks, which are huge, rich, they’re huge compared to the bird size. And then I also have like Polish chickens and uh, you know, just a handful of backyard chickens. And their eggs are so much smaller, so, I would, I would imagine six eggs a day is like four large grocery store eggs a day because the duck eggs are actually large. And then my chickens are pretty small.

[00:32:26] Jessica Mitchell: Yeah. Well that’s a good reference to have depending on, you know, if someone wants to raise these ducks for eggs.

What Should You Feed Ducks?

[00:32:32] Jessica Mitchell: And I, I actually had a, a thought going back to, uh, food for, for ducks. Um, can ducks be kind of used like with chickens if you have some kitchen scraps, things like that, that you want to give to the ducks? Maybe you want to kind of have the ducks be like a natural composter kind of thing or just to, to give them scraps. Is that something that you’ve done? Are there types of foods that you would definitely tell people to stay [00:33:00] away from?

[00:33:01] Kenny Coogan: For foods to avoid? It’s, I keep saying it’s just like chickens because I assuming that people are more familiar with chickens.

[00:33:08] You wanna avoid foods that are like fatty, alcoholic, salty, junk food, human junk food. Avoid that. Almost all vegetables and fruits that I can think of are safer ducks. They also like to eat grains. I just fed some of them, like two cups of barley that I found in someone’s pantry that I thought was a little too old for human consumption, and they enjoyed that.

[00:33:31] They’ll eat cereal grains. The smaller bantam breeds of ducks, they’re excellent foragers. And then, uh, the Muscovy is also an excellent forager. The light breed ducks are excellent foragers. And then the medium and the heavy, generally speaking, are not that great at foraging. The ones, when I say they’re excellent, they can get 50% to 100% of their food just by foraging.

[00:33:56] So yeah, they, you can consider them like a kitchen [00:34:00] garbage disposal. But in the yard or in a pond, I grow aquatic carnivorous plants. But on top of that, sometimes I get like duckweed and Salvias, and when it becomes too thick, the, it’s in a protected area, I remove all of it and I put it in the ducks’ kiddie pool or in the ducks’ ephemeral pond, and they just think it’s a treat and they’ll just eat all of it.

[00:34:26] They can also eat the invasive, um, water hyacinth invasive to Florida. It’s from South America. So they like to eat aquatic vegetation and also, your kitchen scraps.

How to Keep Ducks Safe In Your Yard

[00:34:38] Jessica Mitchell: That’s great. Some challenges that could come up with backyard ducks are, like we had talked about before, some environmental factors just in the neighborhood or even in your own household.

[00:34:49] So one of the things I was thinking about was, uh, maybe you have some other pets, like a dog, that lives in your house and naturally you would need to take the [00:35:00] dog out to go to the bathroom or just to give that, give it room to, to be out in the yard and stuff. If you have other pets like that, are there are some recommendations that you would want to give as to how to work around that and make sure that household pets wouldn’t clash? Or even young kids in your household and stuff, just knowing that they might potentially not know how to interact around ducks.

[00:35:25] Kenny Coogan: Yeah. Ducks are more shy than a chicken. If you want them to be producing high quality meat and a lot of eggs, you wanna keep them calm and tranquil. Allowing them to escape or you know, recede into the water to protect themselves would be a nice benefit.

[00:35:43] But if you’re like truly in a urban situation, you wanna be sure that they can maybe even have like a visual barrier to a semi aggressive or scary looking dog until they get used to it. If you’re starting with ducklings, they might just start sleeping on the duck, on [00:36:00] the dog and you know, just think it’s their mother and befriend it.

[00:36:04] You have to know your pet and your children. I never pick up my chickens or my ducks and then they’ll be around my feet and if I need to pick them up, I just bend over and pick them up on the opposite side. My neighbor who’s been raising the goose and the chickens for like 40 years, she every day she like grabs them, picks them up, snuggles them, holds them.

[00:36:28] But every time she reaches for one, they all go running because they’re not really into it. So when she comes over to my house, she’s always so surprised how easy it is to pick up the chickens or the ducks. And that’s because I’m not chasing them and I’m not picking them up.

[00:36:43] So they’re not a pet, you know, they’re not, they’re not a fluffy cat/dog pet. They’re, I think of them as like beautiful ornaments in my backyard. And two of my Pekin ducks I got, because [00:37:00] I was on like Craigslist or Facebook many, many years ago, and I was looking for female ducks and a couple messaged me and they said, hey, we have two like 10 month old female Pekin ducks. They lay eggs every day and we would like to gift them to you. And I said, great.

[00:37:16] So they came over with these beautiful female Pekin ducks, full grown, they were very docile, they were very friendly, and this couple had bought them for a Valentine’s Day present as ducklings. And they had them living in their apartment bathroom for the past like eight to nine months. And when ducks go to the bathroom, it’s explosive and messy, and I could not imagine giving up an indoor room to the, you know, they’re 12, 14 pound birds.

[00:37:51] Jessica Mitchell: Oh my goodness.

[00:37:52] Kenny Coogan: So I’m glad that they have a forever home here where they can forage These ducks also had never gotten dirty before. [00:38:00] But they enjoyed the muck and the mud and the chickens and yeah. So don’t think of them as a indoor pet.

[00:38:06] Just like, um, I, and I think this was only five years ago, or seven years ago, but they even referenced the TV show “Friends” where Joey and Chandler had a Pekin and duck and some type of chicken in their apartment. And it’s like, yeah, that was not realistic.

[00:38:22] When I was working at the zoo, we would say like ducks or chickens, they would go to the bathroom every like 10 minutes, every 20 minutes. That might be an exaggeration, but it, it’s, it’s close to that. They do go to the bathroom a lot.

[00:38:34] Jessica Mitchell: Yeah. That’s definitely not an indoor type of pet. Well, we also talked a bit on knowing the types of threats, other, other threats in the environment like local predators, or even just knowing your weather when before you get ducks. Are there any other types of precautions that you would want to recommend?

[00:38:57] And one of the other things I was thinking of in terms [00:39:00] of protecting your ducks is, especially maybe in a suburban neighborhood or something like that, there could be a chance that the, the grass or anything around it could be treated with some sort of chemicals. And I was curious if you’ve run into those instances where you need to keep an eye out for that, to protect ducks?

[00:39:22] Kenny Coogan: Yeah. I would definitely avoid feeding them grasses or food stuffs that have been sprayed by herbicides or pesticides. Both my neighbor and I, who I keep referencing, we both have an acre and she gets those 10×20 trays. They’re for like greenhouses where you can put like 18 three inch pots in there and she’ll, because both of us only have, our, both of our acres are all mulch. So because she wants to give her chickens and her goose and the ducks greenery, she gets the 10×20 trays and she seeds them with like rye grass or barley or you know, [00:40:00] grasses or grains that are good for ducks and chickens. And then she’ll put, uh, like a one inch by one inch grate over those feed, over the 10×20 greenhouse trays. She’ll grow them up to like 10 inches. Maybe, maybe even five inches. And then she’ll offer the birds the trays. And because there’s a grate on top of it, they can’t dig into it. And this really works well for the geese and the ducks. The chickens are so destructive, they just pulled the whole plant out from the roots.

[00:40:28] Or if you have time and you only have a couple of birds, you could easily just take scissors. Trim the greenery, and then give them as like a little treat.

Benefits of Ducks on the Land

[00:40:38] Jessica Mitchell: Well, we touched on, I had a question here about neighbors posing a challenge. I think we’ve kind of covered that earlier in the episode. Um, so my final question is if ducks live in your backyard, we talked a little bit how they, they won’t tear up the ground as much, uh, as chickens do for dust baths and such, but are there any other ways that they [00:41:00] may alter the landscape in both beneficial and maybe unexpected ways?

[00:41:05] Kenny Coogan: I was definitely thinking about the beneficial ways they’re gonna be, uh, fertilizing your yard by foraging around it and then going the bathroom. If it’s really rainy or wet where you live, they’ll be dabbling on little, just be looking for a little slugs and insects in it. But yeah, they’re very, in my experience, they’re very, very gentle in the landscape.

[00:41:29] And I would encourage you to add a few to your backyard.

The Importance of Heritage Breeds of Ducks

[00:41:32] Jessica Mitchell: Well, are there any other points that I may not have touched on in my questions that you wanted to share with our listeners before we wrapped up?

[00:41:40] Kenny Coogan: Just like chickens, there are rare heritage breeds of ducks, and if you’re going to order some ducklings or even adult ducks online, might wanna take a moment and think about those rare ducks.

[00:41:58] You can go to the [00:42:00] Livestock Conservancy and see which breeds are threatened or endangered and which ones like really need your help. Because a lot of these heritage breeds, like the Dutch Hook Bill, their egg production, their foraging ability, their meat is just as good as the ducks that are commonly found.

[00:42:16] And if we have more people raising them, sharing information about them, showing them, then we can help save those rare breeds. And we wanna save them because they have nice genetic potential. And we don’t wanna lose those genes out to the common duck.

[00:42:33] Jessica Mitchell: No offense to the common duck. But we like this, we like our diversity of duck breeds.

[00:42:38] Kenny Coogan: Yeah. Because some of them are more heat tolerant. Some of them are better foragers. Some of them lay eggs on less food. So they have a better ratio of, you know, food to meat or food to eggs. So we wanna be promoting those things.

[00:42:52] Jessica Mitchell: And more possibilities for people who have limited space. They live in cities and suburbs. There could be some heritage breeds that just work really [00:43:00] well for you in that situation.

[00:43:01] Kenny Coogan: And like, uh, resources I was mentioning, if you go to the Livestock Conservancy, you can see the breeds that are listed that need help. But the better tool is on when you go to their website, you can search by state to see who is breeding those birds and then you can reach out directly.

Learn How to Raise Ducks for Eggs, Meat, or Plumage

[00:43:19] Jessica Mitchell: Are there any other resources that you wanna share for people who wanna learn more about backyard ducks?

[00:43:24] Kenny Coogan: Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Hoderread is kind of the Bible. The, the addition that I have is from 2001. There might be one more updated addition and sadly, him and his wife Millie just retired from the duck and geese business a few years ago, but he sent specific breeds to different people around, uh, Canada and the North America. So there, those breeds are still out there, but that is such a thorough reference.

[00:43:54] And then of course, Backyard Poultry magazine, a sister of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. I’ve been writing [00:44:00] for about 10 years and we have lots of duck and geese and quail and pheasant articles in there.

[00:44:07] Jessica Mitchell: Absolutely. And we’ll plug all of those in our show notes so listeners can check them out. And where can people connect with you or just learn more about you and what you do?

[00:44:16] Kenny Coogan: My Facebook and Instagram are @CritterCompanionsByKennyCoogan. And it’s mostly about carnivorous plants, but every once in a while I will share pictures of my fancy chickens and my pet ducks.

[00:44:34] Jessica Mitchell: Great. Well thank you so much, Kenny, for being on with us. This was such a great conversation and I’ve learned so much about backyard ducks.

[00:44:42] Kenny Coogan: Thank you so much.

[00:44:44] Jessica Mitchell: We thank you, the listener, for joining our podcast and encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues, and family. To listen to more podcasts and to learn more, visit our website at [00:45:00] www.MotherEarthNews.com/Podcast.

[00:45:01] And remember, no matter how brown your thumb is, you can always cultivate kindness.

[00:45:08] John Moore: You’ve just listened to our episode about raising backyard ducks in urban and suburban spaces. You can reach us at Letters@MotherEarthNews.com with any comments or suggestions.

[00:45:23] Our podcast production team includes Carla Tilghman, Jessica Mitchell, John Moore, and Kenny Coogan. Music for this episode is “Travel Light” by Jason Shaw. This Mother Earth News and Friends podcast is a production of Ogden Publications. Learn more about us at www.MotherEarthNews.com.

Brinsea Ad:

[00:45:47] John Moore: Thanks again to Brinsea, our sponsor for this Mother Earth News and Friends podcast.

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[00:46:27] Until next time, don’t forget to love your Mother.

Meet Kenny Coogan

Kenny Coogan has a Master’s Degree in Global Sustainability and is passionate about Florida’s wildlife and plants. He has published more than 400 articles on pets, livestock, and gardening for publications including Countryside, Hobby Farms, Chickens, Backyard Poultry, and Florida Gardening magazines. Coogan is an active member with the International Carnivorous Plant Society, serving as the Education Director. In addition to a flock of chickens and ducks, he runs a successful carnivorous plant nursery out of his homestead in Tampa, Florida.

Additional Resources

Thanks to Brinsea for sponsoring this episode!

Hear more from Kenny in: Ep. 144 Poultry Eggs

Connect with Kenny on his website, Kenny Coogan’s Carnivorous Plants, and on social @CritterCompanions.

Learn more about all kids of birds on our sister publication, Backyard Poultry.

Our Podcast Team

Carla Tilghman, Jessica Mitchell, John Moore, and Kenny Coogan
Music: “Travel Light” by Jason Shaw

Listen to more podcasts at MOTHER EARTH NEWS PODCAST.

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The Mother Earth News and Friends podcasts are a production of Ogden Publications.

Ogden Publications strives to inspire “can-do communities,” which may have different locations, backgrounds, beliefs, and ideals. The viewpoints and lifestyles expressed within Ogden Publications articles are not necessarily shared by the editorial staff or policies but represent the authors’ unique experiences.