Rural Gardening: Ducks vs. Chickens, 1 by temafilly

temafilly wrote:
Hello All,
I typed in "ducks' for a forum search and was just facinated with the dialog here. I especially wanted to know about the garden aspect because I'm debating on a purchase of Muscovy ducklings, and I'd like to put them in my 1250 sq ft garden as a natural pest control when they are old enough to be out and about. The garden is fenced and our Black Lab has been trained to know he doesn't belong in there under any circumstances.
As for training him to leave birds alone, I am planning to use the same technique I used in getting him to realize my cat isn't a toy. I held Kavyk on my lap and had Rocky in a 'down' about 10' away. Then, when the excitement level dropped, I called him to a 'down' by my feet and had him stay there until boredom set in on his part and the big sigh and roll over to doze occurred. Many, many repetitions, but it works. If he was on his blanket and Kavyk sauntered through, he was reminded to stay put. Praise EACH time the instinct is controlled. Now, two years later, he doesn't even bother to raise his head as the cat meanders by tail-in-air trying to start stuff. I still tell him what a good lad he is to reinforce the idea not to give to temptation. And I'll have a sharp word for the cat as well to knock off growling. It goes both ways!
If your mutt is just as eager to please as my mongrel is, he'll realize that earning a good word and a pet from you is far more desirable that a wap on the butt and a sharp 'NO!'.
Give him a good long walk or perhaps 20 minutes of hard play to wear him out. The for a rest, have him in a 'down' with you in a lawnchair having a lemonade perhaps 15' from the pen. Watching is fine, moving is not. Have him stay there for a while. If he seems OK, pick up chair and glass to try closing the distance by half. Everything good? Give him a rubbing and end the session for the day. Next day to a week or better, repeat the drill untill he's bored with the idea. Next start at the 7' mark, then ask him to lay right next to pen. By now the bitties won't be so facinating, and the birds should be just as accustomed to him. Repeat for as long as needed. When this is old hat, start at the fence in a 'down', then ask him to walk next to you around the pen and down/stay on the other side. Start asking him to lay at differnet points along the fence so the idea that the birds are inviolate from EVERYWHERE, not just in one or two places. I learned this while training Rocky to stay out of my flowerbeds. The whole question on his face was 'I can come in this way, right?'
The scent of your dog hanging around may also keep some predators like coons and feral cats away from the pen at night, and will slowly accustom the peeps to it so they're not frantically running around exciting the chase instinct during the more intense parts of the exercise.
Has anyone else had ducks in their garden with good results? I've read the above posts, and was hoping that by the time the ducks were old enough to be released into the garden, the plants would be big enough to tolerate them. I am growing several varieties of squash, beans, tomatoes and root crops. I can always move things around and make a wall o' squash that they'd not want to travel through, or put all the more vulnerable plants on one area and cordon it off with a low fence. Other ideas? Suggestions?

...the lolloping goof...