I used to have a lot of ducks when I lived out in the country in Oregon. I had Pekin (all white) and mallard. After a while they interbred and the unusual mixed coloring were the most desired ducklings that I sold each spring. I would only sell to people wanting them as pets. I really loved them and they were great fun.

My huge pen had chicken wire even on top to prevent hawks and other birds from picking off the babies. I had a lean-to that I put straw hay in, and the babies usually stayed in there with the moms. I always wanted to build a cement pond with a drain on the downhill side, but never did. In the spring and summer when the babies came, I would buy a new kids swimming pool and had a makeshift wood ramp so they could reach the water. When they tired of swimming and running in the yard, and I went inside I always had to lock them up because there was no way to prevent them from being taken by animals because my acre was not fenced in.

One spring a sudden storm came up, and a bolt of lightning struck a tree right behind their pen, while I was filling their pond. I do not remember sprouting wings, but suddenly I was up the hill at the front of my house, plastered against the wall, heart pounding. Happily the ducks were fine, but I was shaken.

Because of no fence, when we had heavy rains I had to lock them up also, for they would head for the road where the worms would crawl to, escaping the water. Yum, yum, but since logging trucks traveled through there at top speed, it wasn't a good idea.

When I was leaving to move back to Hawaii, I gave some to a friend with a small farm, and the whole rest of them went to a family with several acres and a pond.

In a housing area with a waterway here there are many different kinds of ducks that the public sometimes feed. I have fed the ducks there but it's just not the same as having your own. After we mowed in the summer our ducks used to come sit in the cool shade with us.

Miss those little green droppings all over the yard and walkway, and their quacking sounds. And the raspberries, after the ducks were gone and I went back one summer to paint the house, they weren't big and good and sweet like before. No duck fertilizer.

Have fun with your ducks when you get them. I always loved them, and still do.