# Ducks in the pasture - vet said bad??



## dbarjacres (Feb 2, 2004)

We got some muscovey ducks this spring to help with bug patrol around our pastures. They like to spend lots of time in the one goat paddock (think they like the one creeping grass in there) and I thought it'd be okay. We had our vet out last week to do some stuff and she said that's a good way to get salmonella as all birds carry it, including wild birds. Now I'm worried my goats will get sick or even my donkeys when the ducks start venturing out further. I thought lots of people let their fowl roam. Any input? putting this on the poultry forum too. THanks! Jenny


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

I thought alot of cattle farmers let chickens roam in thier pastures because the chickens will scratch up the poo and spread it around... The cows will go back to grazing in that area again sooner because the poo will be gone faster by being spread... Never heard that it was a bad thing... My goats also share a couple fencelines with my chickens, and i know alot of people run thier animals togeather.


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## Milk n' Honey (Aug 14, 2005)

I guess there are a lot of things that, in theory, "can happen" but that doesn't mean it will or that it is even a very large risk. After all, most of these things are already in the ground. I'm anxious to hear what others have to say about it. We just recently put 5 laying hend and 1 duck out with our goats.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Goats wont "get sick" from Salmonella. Its everywhere anyway. Many animals carry it . I think your Vet over exaggerates. 
http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/hb/hbsam.htm


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## Cat (Jun 19, 2004)

A lot of people use water & land fowl to clean up insects such as flies, mosquitos, beetles, slugs, ticks, etc. etc. around their livestock. Chickens also dig through the manure in search of undigested grains...don't think you'll see ducks doing that although they might to some extent. Depends on what goodies they find in there...I wouldn't worry about it.


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## Jillis (Sep 11, 2005)

I'm with BearFootFarm on this one.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Seven ducks here, love um. Like everyone mentioned just eating spiders, flys, maggots, anything that wiggles is great. Another benefit they pickup spilled grains which keeps the barnyard clean and also deters rodents. My daughters ducks stay at the pond 22 hours a day. The other two hours they march up to the barn and work on cleanups...Tennessee John


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

i have about 70 muscovies for parasite control. believe me, they are everywhere. we, including the goats are benefitting from them because we have less flies and mosquitos. make sure they have their own sleeping quarter and plenty of own water. hang the buckets for your other animals hight so they can't spoil the water. i don't see any problems so far


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## ChickenMom (Sep 27, 2005)

The only problem I had was them mucking up the water tubs. Now that I have all the waterers where they can't get to them (except for theirs) I haven't had any trouble.


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## dbarjacres (Feb 2, 2004)

Oh, you people make me feel so much better! We actually went and fenced around the "winter" goat paddock with smaller fencing on the bottom 18 inches in hopes of keeping the ducks out (and in need of keeping the goat kids IN when they start arriving over winter) and some of them darn ducks still get in there. I was getting so frustrated, but now I won't be concerned if I see a few in there. We are flooded with darn sparrows around here and they are always pooping in or drowing themselves in my waterers, so that I clean everyones water every other day for sure, most times every day, and sometimes have to unexpectidly if I find one "floatin" in the water, ugh. If I could only keep those darn dirty birds away.

The vet that told me that is my "good" horse/donkey vet, we only get them out here for a farm call once a year as it's so pricey, otherwise we haul up to them, and she seemed to not like the ducks, so I asked her if they were a bad thing and that's when she told me her opinion. She's young, 30ish, and I won't hold this against her, as she's been terrific and correct on everything else. A few years ago the amish neighbor had a horse fall ill and die a day later with terrible diarrhea, I happened to have the same vet out the next day for something and asked him what happened and if it was anything to be concerned about (the horse is right across the road from mine) and the vet told me that the only way to be safe about anything is to hope I win the lottery and build a glass bubble around my farm!


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## moonspinner (Jul 2, 2002)

Some vets are very cautious and go by the book instead of practical experience. My friend's vet is really out there - like she warned my friend to carry goat kids from one pasture to the other so they wouldn't pick up anything. Come on!


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## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

If you are running a commercial dairy, poultry of any kind in the goat yard is a no no. If the goats are just for family use, the only problem I've seen with poultry in the yard is yucky water and bird lice getting on the goats. I'd just lice dust the ducks right along with the goats.


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## glidergurl03 (Feb 28, 2005)

I know having fowl around can give livestock coccidiosis, but never heard of any problems w/ Salmonella. Ducks are terrible too, because of swimming in stock tanks, but if you keep the tanks clean, then there's no problem!


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## Jillis (Sep 11, 2005)

The poultry cocci is different than the one that livestock gets...


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I don't have goats, but I do have ducks! It would seem that ducks are not prone to Salmonella much at all, I'd say the risk is very small. Ducks are generally a lot healthier than chickens for disease and parasites. Not to say they can't have them, but for a home farmyard, I wouldn't be very worried.

They do make an awful mess of water if they can get into it. Be sure they have their own swimming hole and the rest of the water is out of reach!

~ Carol


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## sancraft (Jun 7, 2002)

At our 1st homestead we had ducks. Started with 3 and ended up with 30 something (Millie Lillie was good at raising her broods). They satyed in the pond until evening feed and would wattle up throughn the pasture and the field to the barnyard. They cleaned up all the spilled grain and the bit of corm we'd throw down for them. Then we'd fill their wading pool and throw corn or dogfood in it the watch them "dive" for it. It was great entertainment. When it was time to go in, we'd turn the pool over and they'd fly back down to the pond for the night. It was so funny that they always walked up and flew back. Anyway, we never had a problem.


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

goatkid said:


> If you are running a commercial dairy, poultry of any kind in the goat yard is a no no. If the goats are just for family use, the only problem I've seen with poultry in the yard is yucky water and *bird lice getting on the goats. I'd just lice dust the ducks right along with the goats.[/*QUOTE]
> 
> Bird lice stay on birds; goat lice stay on goats.....in other words, lice are host specific. If you wish to dust both your ducks and goats at the same time; have at it, but be aware that killing lice on the one species to try and prevent it "jumping" or traveling to the other species is not necessary because those lice won't be there! :hobbyhors


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## dragonfly65 (Sep 29, 2002)

We have goats, ducks, geese, chickens and sheep all happily sharing the same pasture and pens. The 2 legged critters and the 4 legged ones do have seperate areas to get shut up in at night though. We've never had a problem with them. Most vets are fairly ignorant when it comes to poultry - especially waterfowl. I've tried providing seperate clean water for the goats and sheep and they just walk over to the nasty small "pond" that the ducks and geese bathe in. We just dump and clan it every day so it doesn't get too bad.

I've had ducks (including muscovies) for years and never had a problem with them getting lice. But even if they did, lice is species specific. Goats get goat lice, birds get bird lice and people get people lice. One can't live very long on the other kind of host.

Enjoy your muscovies. They are so much fun to watch - much more social than other ducks.


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## dbarjacres (Feb 2, 2004)

Never thought about lice, but I already knew that was species specific.

Our scovies have their own swimming pool, plus they sit in their water dish (ducks are really kinda gross!). Last week was the first time we had a problem with ducks going into the stock's waterers. We have the low stock tanks so the minis and goats can drink out of it and one of those stupid ducks managed to climb in and the had to flop around and throw itself back out. But we fixed that and set the tank on some 4x4's and now it's too tall for the ducks to get into. I was really worried about that when we got them, but they've been really good about that. I haven't seen any of ours fly. The other day DH caught one in the goat paddock that couldn't figure out how to get back out and tossed it over the fence, thinking it would "glide/fly" to the ground, well, um, it just dropped like a rock. Oops. He felt really bad. Guess that says they won't be taking off anytime soon to check out the 'hood! When we had our two big drakes locked in the goat pasture when the hens just came out with their broods, they decided after awhile not to bathe in the goats water, but to dig in the mud they made around it when I dumped every day and then play in the water. That changed real soon.

Thanks again for all the opinions!


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## rranch (May 19, 2006)

For me it's just the opposite. I like the chickens and ducks ok. I let the chickens(10 of them) and 2 ducks run around as they please only locked out of the goat area. The problem I have is keeping the goats from the chicken/rabbit/duck area. As soon as i let them out of the pen they head straight for the hen house.


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## Cat (Jun 19, 2004)

If your ducks have lice you better check your management style! If your duck has any external parasites you better check your management style!


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