In December 2001 I started a collection of exotic ducks. I surfed the Internet and information was very difficult to come by. The little bit I got was either not relevant to my situation or it was such a little tidbit of information that did not help at all. I had so many questions.
Because of my own frustrations and also to help others – I decided to add this page with information specific to those within South Africa (SA) who want to keep or breed exotic ducks and do not know where to begin. Just one comment: Many people ask me, “Aren’t duck messy and stinky?” Well the answer is yes and no. Certainly messy if you see how they can make a ‘mess’ in a mud puddle but having a bad odour ALL depends on how you, the owner, handles your duck pen!
Ducks do mess in their water. They also pick up all sorts of things on the ground like sticks and stones which they carry to the water and rinse to see if it is edible. If they do not like what they see they just drop it to sink to the bottom. If you clean the dam regularly and either use the ‘dirty’ water in your garden or drain it into a man made wetland there is really no mess or bad odours.
Unfortunately people mostly see ducks at a pet shop where they are totally over crowded and the water is not cleaned regularly and are put off by that. Trust me ducks are fantastic birds and I have had NO problems with a smell or an increase in flies or the like. And remember, I stay in a suburb. The neighbors will complain very quickly if it was smelly and messy.
So if you plan to start with ducks my advice is – prepare everything properly before you bring home your first pair. Build your duck pen, build your dams, plant non toxic plants and make sure they are well established before you let your ducks into the pen because they devour everything small and green.
Consider the kind of ducks you want matching your own needs. If you have a very small space but still want to have a pair of ducks that look beautiful and breed easily then consider the Mandarins or Carolina ducks. Remember that these are NOT domestic ducks. They will probably never be tame enough to eat out of your hand. They are wild species and will remain so. My experience so far was that the friendlier species are Bahama Pintails and Ring Teals.
Also take into consideration the noise level of the ducks especially if you stay in a susburb or small town. I found our indigenous Fulvous Whistling and White Face Whistling ducks too loud to be kept in a suburb. Their whistling sound is sometimes a bit to exuberant . If you stay on a small holding or farm and far from your next door neighbor, there is obviously no need to consider noise unless you are sensitive to that yourself.