I am a kitchen gardener that is looking for a small flock (2-6 per flock)of ducks, chickens, and geese.
I want them for the specific purpose of
1. weeding in general throughout the yard
2. snail/slugging
3. mowing grass (would like to retire my lawn mower) in the dog run AND the fruit orchard
4. eggs
5. other pest removal (bugs)
6. manure (for compost and fertilizing)

I am also looking for a
1. quiet and
2. gentle, nice, personable personality
3. flightless or close to it
I will consider them "part of the family" along with my other pets (these guys will work for housing/rent unlike to my cats)

Any breed suggestions???

I was also wondering about housing.... I was told to use a dog crate with closing doors for all species for nighttime.

Is it neccesary to have separate ponds for the duck/geese???

Does anyone have plans for coops and such??? What is the size required to house a max of 6 ea of ducks, chickens and geese?? Can they all be housed in the same coop??? Do they need a fenced in coop or can I get away with letting them loose in the fenced yard and their housing in a sheltered location??

Any book recommendations?????

What about guinea fowls and quails?? Are there any uses for them as far as weed/pest/lawn control/eggs?

Thanks!!! Reply to this message or direct e-mail to empressikoi@macbox.com will be appreciated!

Ikoi

We love our White Pekin ducks for egg production, general ranging in the yard, and teriffic personalities. We still have to mow, however. We house them in a chicken wire-covered 8X8 pen in the yard which is secured every night. With our cold snap they are in the barn right now. Our hens range out and around with them when it is warm enough for them to be outside. We have no pond, so we water them daily out of a rubber hog pan and a plastic concrete mixing tub. The new ones eat out of our hands. Hope this helps.

Breed suggestions:
Chickens:
bantam Silkies (can not fly over about 1')
Cochins, they are very calm birds
Wyandottes
Plymouth Rocks

Ducks:
Runners (often called the leghorn of the ducks, and they run rather than fly!)
Pekins or Rouens (for meat of course)

Geese:
Pilgrims
Embdens
Toulouse
American Buffs

I have kept all the breeds indicated above with the exception of the American Buff geese. None of the birds I kept ever cleared my 40 inch fence (unless they were scared, then they seem to be able to fly like you have never seen before) I once had a production type Toulouse who was terrified, along with myself (a neighbor's dog got into the pens), who, after it was all over, ended up on the roof of my chicken coop which was about 5 feet up from the ground. Quite an acheivement for a 30+ pound bird. I have only had the birds scared like this twice, usually they dont have a problem staying in the yard, in fact it seems that after awhile they learn they are safer in the pens than out. My current birds will not leave the pens even if the gate is left open. They also like to "tease" the cats by sitting just outside of a paws reach and stare at the cat. As far as flock sizes I would recomend only 3 or 4 geese, the same number of ducks and 6 to 10 chickens. Geese and Ducks when confined to a small area will make a disaster area of it with their bills. A general rule that I have followed is 10 geese per acre of pasture, 10 ducks could also be on the same acre and pretty much any number of chickens on the same acre. Geese are not spectacular egg layers but they are excellent "weeders" however, they will pick out the more tender shoots over "older, coarse" ones. Ducks are great pest eaters, they will clean bugs off plants better than any other species of birds. The Runners are the best egg layers keeping up with some Leghorn chicken statistics. If you want chickens for meat and eggs then the Wyandottes or Rocks are the best choice. If for odd looks and eggs then go with the Silkies, they will hatch and raise anything, duck, goose, chicken, mine have even tried stones and pine cones! The Cochins are pretty much the same, except they draw the line at eggs only. I unfortunalty do not think Guineas are a good idea, they do and will fly, pretty much guarnteed, the same with Quail.

Housing:
The simplest, well the good old fashioned Dog House. For the small flocks that you would be keeping these would work great. Depending on where you live this maybe all the winter protection the chickens would need. The ducks and geese seem to rather be sitting on the snow out of the wind than locked in a building. Mine come in only on the coldest nights here in Northeast Wisconsin and they are free to go in whenever they want.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. The ducks I recommended will probably not hatch their own eggs, I have not had much luck with any of my duck breeds sitting or raising ducklings. The best choices for sitting geese would be the Buffs and Pilgrims with the Pilgrims being more reliable in my mind. My Embdens and Toulouse have also set but not nearly as well or as reliably. All of the chicken breeds I mentioned should set well in the sping, the Silkies and Cochins can be talked into setting at just about anytime of the year.

sorry to be so long, hope this helps you make a choice.

we were given Toulouse geese ( a gander and a goose) 4 days ago and with the help of neighbors we have a great pen and a nesting area.
We know NOTHING about geese and need all the help we can get. This information has been an assistanse. So far I have found The Coop to be the best place on the net for information. Thanks

I have a layer duck that has recently developed black spots on her bill, that look like mold. Does anyone have a clue to what it is?