Quackington Haven Ducks

Ducks ducks ducks ohhh duck! One day, about a year ago, my lovely wife said "shall we get some ducks?" Naturally without thinking about it at all, I replied "Yes OK what a great idea". So off we went to A and J Poultry in Somerset and purchased 6 young ducks. I believe they cost us about £5 each as they were only 5 weeks old.

Oh how that decision changed Quackington Haven for ever! In many ways it was the birth of Quackington Haven, in name at least.

We soon realised Ducks cause carnage! They eat just about every plant they can lay their bills upon, churn up the grass and turned the whole lace into a mud bath. Drastic action required.

Firstly we dug a pond, that should keep them happy we thought. Hmmm Within two weeks the water stunk, the surround was a quagmire and out poor Pekins were getting their leg feathers clogged up with mud.

So, in went the fencing. We surrounded the pond with fence and segregated the ducks. I built them a house.

We still had the stinky pond to deal with. Emptying and refilling it every week was out of the question.

I have always had an interest in Hydroponics and Aquaponics. Indeed I had set up a hydroponic system in the greenhouse and had very successfully grown tomatoes, chilies and Tomatillos. I wonder, Quackaponics? Hmmmmm.

This spring I set about building a Quackaponic pond filter. For more information visit the Quackaponic page, all I can say is so far so good. Two months in, I have not had to change the water and no smell. I do have an algae issue, not major, but I am currently working on dealing with this.

The impounding of the ducks has also given us a chance to try and let the rest of the garden recover.