Two white ducks with orange bills standing face to face on straw-strewn earth beside a white rail fence

What keeping waterfowl involves

Twenty minutes a day, most of it water

The daily work takes about 20 minutes, split between morning and evening. In the morning you let the flock out, dump and refill the water, top up the feed and collect eggs (ducks lay before about 9 a.m., usually on the floor). At dusk you count heads and lock the shelter. Once a week you fork out wet bedding and add dry. The real difference from other poultry is water: ducks and geese splash everything they drink, so most of what you learn in the first season is how to keep the pen from turning to mud.

Ducks, geese, and where to begin

Duck KeepingThe usual starting point. A good laying breed gives 200 to 300 large eggs a year, and ducks hunt slugs and insects without scratching up garden beds. They are small enough for a suburban yard and happy with a tub of water.

Start here

Pick a calm, flightless breed and order three to six ducklings, females only if your town bans noisy birds (it is the hens that quack). Three is the minimum, because a lone duck is a stressed duck.

Poultry Extension: selecting a duck breed

Goose KeepingGeese live mostly on grass, so they suit a larger lawn or small pasture. They bond closely with their keeper, sound the alarm when anyone arrives, and can live 15 to 20 years. They are also loud and can be pushy in spring.

Start here

Measure your grass before you order. Plan on a pair or trio of a medium breed and at least 200 square feet of lawn per bird, then mark out where a movable fence will let you rotate them.

Poultry Extension: raising geese in small flocks

Raising From HatchlingsMost people start with day-old ducklings or goslings because hand-raised birds grow up tame. It adds six to eight weeks of indoor brooding and a few pieces of gear. Skip it by buying grown birds from a local breeder.

Start here

Set up the brooder in a draft-free room and run the heat for a full day before the birds arrive, so the bedding under it is already warm. Have feed and water in place when you open the shipping box.

Poultry Extension: brooding poultry hatchlings

Open a card for the first thing to do, then add its gear to put those lines in the kit. Ducks and geese each bring their own shelter, and the hatchling gear goes with either.

Five white domestic geese with orange bills standing in long grass, necks raised — Geese on grass

How to get started

Tick these off as you go

Checking a hatchery

National Poultry Improvement Plan The disease-testing program to look for when you choose a hatchery

Three white geese with knobbed orange bills walking in line across a dirt and grass yard beside a metal fence

Housing, space and water

A dry bed, a wet bill

Shelter

Allow at least 4 square feet of floor per duck and 6 to 8 per goose. Waterfowl sleep on the ground, so they need no perches and only a low ramp, but plenty of ventilation up high because their breath and droppings are very wet.

Run

Plan 15 square feet or more per duck. Geese want far more, ideally grass they can graze.

Drinking water

It must be deep enough for the bird to dip its whole head, which is how waterfowl rinse their eyes and nostrils. A shallow dish is not enough.

Bathing water

A tub or small pool they can climb into keeps feathers waterproof. Dump it daily or every other day onto a different patch of ground or straight onto garden beds.

Mud control

Stand the water on gravel, pavers or a wire-topped frame so the splash drains away instead of pooling.

Rules, wild birds and hygiene

Keep domestic breeds only. Wild ducks and geese are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and keeping them takes permits a beginner will not have.
Avian influenza is carried by wild waterfowl. Keep your flock away from ponds wild birds use, cover the run where you can, keep feed where wild birds cannot get at it, and use one pair of boots only for the pen.
Report sudden deaths or several sick birds to your state veterinarian or the USDA hotline at 1-866-536-7593.
Healthy-looking poultry can carry Salmonella. Wash your hands after touching birds, eggs or bedding, keep birds out of the house once they leave the brooder, and supervise young children.
Never release domestic ducks or geese on a public pond. They cannot fly or fend for themselves, and abandoning them is illegal in many states. Rehome them through a rescue or a local poultry group.

Biosecurity and safe handling

What trips beginners up

The mess is real. Expect wet bedding and a muddy patch around the water until you sort out drainage.
Ducklings grow startlingly fast and outgrow a small brooder in about two weeks.
Sexing day-olds is not perfect, so you may end up with an extra drake or gander. Decide beforehand what you will do with him, because too many males injure the females.
Do not raise ducklings on standard chick feed without added niacin. A shortage shows up as weak, bowed legs within weeks.
Do not use medicated chick starter or feed bread. Waterfowl eat more than chicks and can overdose on some medications, and bread fills them up without feeding them.
Do not give young birds swimming water unsupervised. Without a mother's oil on their down they get soaked, chilled and can drown.
Do not trust chicken wire or a simple hook latch at night. Raccoons tear the first and open the second.

Two yellow ducklings paddling in a galvanized metal wash tub — Ducklings in a wash tub

Where to learn more

University extension services publish the most reliable free care guides, and your county extension office can answer local questions about climate, predators and zoning. A veterinary college's duck research program covers nutrition and health in detail, and heritage breed organizations describe the temperament and size of each breed so you can choose birds that fit your yard. Find a vet who sees poultry before you need one, because many small-animal practices do not.

Free care guides and breed profiles

A huddle of downy yellow and brown ducklings packed together in warm light — Ducklings huddled together

How the shopping list is built

The shelter is the biggest single cost and the place not to cut corners. It differs for ducks and geese, so it sits with the duck or goose items: add the set for the birds you chose. A converted garden shed works as well as anything bought, as long as you add hardware cloth and solid latches. The base list is cheap and plain (feed, bedding, grit and tubs) and covers adult birds of either kind. Add the hatchling items only if you are brooding day-olds. The birds themselves usually cost less than a bag of feed each, and three ducks eat about one 40 to 50 pound bag a month.

A pile of large pale blue-green and off-white eggs seen from above — Pale green and white eggs

Set up the yard

Compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the cart. Clicking a card selects it there. The first line, the birds themselves, is not something you buy online: they come from a hatchery, a farm store or a local breeder. The shelter and the other bird-specific gear join the kit once you switch on Duck Keeping, Goose Keeping or Raising From Hatchlings.

Ducklings, goslings or grown birds

essential · Birds

The flock itself. Waterfowl are social, so start with at least three ducks or two geese.

Not sold on Amazon · hatchery or local breeder

Not sold on Amazon. Order from a hatchery that takes part in the National Poultry Improvement Plan, or buy from a local breeder or farm store in spring. Day-old ducklings run about $6 to $15 each and goslings $15 to $40, and mail-order hatcheries set a minimum order so the birds keep each other warm in transit.

Waterfowl feed pellets

essential · Feed

A complete pellet made for ducks and geese carries the niacin and protein level they need, which ordinary chicken feed does not guarantee.

budget

Purina Duck Feed for All Life-Stages, Nutritionally Complete (10 lbs)

4.6(4.5K)

$22.99

Waterfowl Keeping

What keeping waterfowl involves

Ducks, geese, and where to begin

How to get started

Housing, space and water

Rules, wild birds and hygiene

What trips beginners up

Where to learn more

How the shopping list is built

Set up the yard

Ducklings, goslings or grown birds

Waterfowl feed pellets

Deep rubber water tub

Trough feeder

Half-inch hardware cloth

Straw or pine shaving bedding

Wading pool or bathing tub

Insoluble poultry grit

Predator-proof locking latch

Duck house or low poultry coop

Oyster shell calcium

Jumbo egg cartons

Extra-large dog house as a goose shelter

Electric poultry netting

Solar fence energizer

Brooder heat plate

Unmedicated starter crumbles

Brewer's yeast niacin supplement

Brooder waterer