Posted: 2/10/2011 6:18:22 PM EDT
| Last year the squash bugs and stink bugs killed my whole garden. Anyone use runner ducks successfully for insect control? |
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I don't know about runner ducks specifically, but I can tell you regular "farm" ducks (don't recall exactly what breed we had) will do a number on flies, ticks, and others. Squash bugs and stink bugs? Maybe, though not much seems to find those palatable.
Best all-around bug control fowl we've had are guineas, but they can be pretty noisy at times. |
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I am speaking parshally form studying and parshally from experience. I had 3 ducks last year. A buff, a blue sweedish, and a flying mallard. The buff duck was the only one that was seriously interested in forraging. the mallard and blue sweedish where more interested in running the chickens out of their coop to eat their food, and EAT they did, by the bill full...
I have done a good deal of research and from what I understand the runner ducks are among the best foragers. This year I will be fencing my garden in and the runners will be permanent inhabitants of the garden. You do NOT want to put chickens in your garden. you will get nothing out of the garden other than fat chickens. |
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Chickens are bad for a garden, they eat your crops.
Squash bugs are nasty I guess but I'm hoping that the ducks will learn to eat them. I don't know how many are actually stink bugs since they look similar. I know that I had beautiful vines with hundreds of pumkins, butternuts, acorns, cucs, growing 20' in every direction out of their beds and a week or so later they were all dead and these bugs were running all over the place. I abandoned my organic methods and plastered the whole area with Sevin when I noticed the wilting but it was too late. 
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Chickens are bad for a garden, they eat your crops. Squash bugs are nasty I guess but I'm hoping that the ducks will learn to eat them. I don't know how many are actually stink bugs since they look similar. I know that I had beautiful vines with hundreds of pumkins, butternuts, acorns, cucs, growing 20' in every direction out of their beds and a week or so later they were all dead and these bugs were running all over the place. I abandoned my organic methods and plastered the whole area with Sevin when I noticed the wilting but it was too late. Yeah, organic gardening is a bitch. We've been growing that way for the 12 years we've been at this location, and I'd judge our success rate at maybe 65-70%. It's kind of tragic that, for whatever reason, we seem to have almost lost the ability to grow food without massive chemical inputs. That's the main reason we work so hard at it... aside from the fact that I just don't like my family ingesting all those chems if there are alternatives, if the day ever comes where we're forced to do sustenance farming without the chemicals, I want to have a head start. What's helped us the most is: - heavy mulch. The weed control and water retention leads to healthier plants which fend off bugs/disease better. - diatomaceous earth (DE): helps with soft-bodied bugs like caterpillars, etc. - rotenone: a natural poison that we've had some (limited) success with on the tougher ones, like squash bugs We still frequently end up losing the battle towards the end of the season, but usually the methods above help us get enough frozen and canned up to consider the season a success overall. |
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We had some Pekin ducks and those bastards pillaged my garden. Are they just omnivores moreso than runners or other breeds? I actually had to fence them out to keep them from stripping my pepper plants, etc.
The chickens that get out don't seem to hurt much other than pecking at my tomatoes. Mostly just scratching around. We were organic gardening for a few seasons and had poor yields. Now we use some Sevin and fungicides. BC and insecticidal soap round out our treatments. We're careful of application rates and washing. |
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my runners had genetic faults (from McMurray) and they get bullied by the other birds. Khaki Campbells do better at foraging and don't take no guff. Could you give some specifics? Weren't any runners at last week's auction either (TONS when we aren't looking!), so wife was thinking of ordering, or ordering hatching eggs, and we usually go with McM. |
well the bullying is bc they were teh smallest ducks I had. the medical faults were with teh legs. I think all ducks can get a niacin deficienty but the runners may (or may not) be more sensitive to deficiency. You will see backyardchickens.com referenced here. if you can get past the spinsters that keep their ducks in the house, in diapers, and name them like people....
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Quoted: Quoted: I have some khaki campbel ducks, y'all feel its self to allow ducks to run through your garden without destroying it? qué? Just wanted to make sure that y'all feel comfortable allowing ducks run through your garden. I would be a little worried that they will plow my garden with their large feet. |
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I have some khaki campbel ducks, y'all feel its self to allow ducks to run through your garden without destroying it? qué? Just wanted to make sure that y'all feel comfortable allowing ducks run through your garden. I would be a little worried that they will plow my garden with their large feet. Ah, that makes a little more sense. I am doing raised beds this year and this will be our first attempt trying to keep runner ducks in the fenced in garden area. I am going to build them a duck house with 2 doors, one into the garden one to the outside. If they start damaging the garden I will just let them out to free range. |
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http://bonniesgreenhouse.com/default.aspx This lady uses Guineas, but keep in mind she doesn't grow any finished fruit or vegetables. To H*LL with a bunch of guineas! I tried to keep some last year just for fun. They where very hard on the chickens (picking on them) and absolutely obnoxious with the noises. They where so obnoxious that the wildlife around my house (in the middle of the woods) started disappearing. I was glad when they just disappeared one day. I suspect that one of the neighbors shot them. |
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LOL, I never said let ducks in your garden....so feel free if you want to try it, but remember don't blame me!!! It is supposedly common practice among organic farmers. At least mother earth news wants you to think so... I just don't know about them hippys! Link to mother earth news article about runner ducks in your garden |
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LOL, I never said let ducks in your garden....so feel free if you want to try it, but remember don't blame me!!! It is supposedly common practice among organic farmers. At least mother earth news wants you to think so... I just don't know about them hippys! Link to mother earth news article about runner ducks in your garden not reading the article (time) but after your harvest, sure let the ducks in there, but prior to harvest I would not. |