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It's no fairy tale and there is a lot of information on the internet. Here is a link to a Mother Earth News piece on the correlation between Muscovy Ducks and Mosquito control:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-ho...3zsie.aspx
From my understanding these ducks are not related to the Mallard species of ducks. The Muscovy originates from the Amazonian Rain Forest. They are a somewhat "noiseless" duck as well. Very pleasant to be around. I believe they are eating the larvae in the little ponds of standing ground water we have. Also they don't "require" a pond. When it gets dry here we have one large wide bucket that they like to jump into just to rinse off a bit. They needs lots of water when eating, so we make sure their watering jugs are full. They also snap mosquitoes and flies out of the air. I've seen them do it plenty of times. My kids have caught cocqui frogs and then thrown them in front of the ducks...the ducks gobble those cocquis right up! No fairy tale! They also eat slugs. I love my ducks!
~Laura (Raye who originally posted above is my partner).
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quote:
Originally posted by becsolar
It's no fairy tale and there is a lot of information on the internet. Here is a link to a Mother Earth News piece on the correlation between Muscovy Ducks and Mosquito control: http://www.motherearthnews.com/modern-ho...3zsie.aspx
From my understanding these ducks are not related to the Mallard species of ducks. The Muscovy originates from the Amazonian Rain Forest. They are a somewhat "noiseless" duck as well. Very pleasant to be around. I believe they are eating the larvae in the little ponds of standing ground water we have. Also they don't "require" a pond. When it gets dry here we have one large wide bucket that they like to jump into just to rinse off a bit. They needs lots of water when eating, so we make sure their watering jugs are full. They also snap mosquitoes and flies out of the air. I've seen them do it plenty of times. My kids have caught cocqui frogs and then thrown them in front of the ducks...the ducks gobble those cocquis right up! No fairy tale! They also eat slugs. I love my ducks!
~Laura (Raye who originally posted above is my partner).
Where does one acquire these miracle ducks, and how do you keep them around?
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We found ours on craigslist from a nice man near Ainaloa. I think our ducks are hiding a nest of eggs somewhere, so I may have some chicks for sale in the future. You can clip their flight wings, but since we got ours as chicks they just naturally stay around. I've heard the drakes can/will wander, but our drake seems pretty occupied chasing after the 3 females. Also, have a regular feeding schedule. We like ours to mainly forage, so we have one feeding time at noon. At 11:30 they start to congregate around the trash can where we keep the feed.
There is a man that works at Dells Farm Supply in Hilo and he has 14 Muscovy ducks. He has been a wonderful source of information for us. There is a bulletin board there where people post misc. farm related stuffs for sale. You might be able to call Dells and ask them if they know. That's where we buy our organic feed. Our ducks like both the "laying" organic pellets and the crumble.
**Edited to include Dells as a possible source site for the ducks**
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One thing that I've found helpful since moving here is to make sure that you keep the area around the house clear of plants and trees. By trimming stuff back you can increase the air flow around and through the house keeping the humidity down, especially if you do this in the directions that the wind blows in from.
http://www.wedekingphotography.com
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Becsolar,
I wasn't implying you were telling tall tales, it just reminded me of the story of the magic duck who to save the hero would swallow oceans and whole nests of stinging wasps.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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I donno why but I just gotta share this story-
http://io9.com/5909846/can-peeing-in-a-l...-kill-fish
My spirit soars when I see wild ducks and just gotta stop to watch them sailing around. My dream is to raise runner ducks and watch them strut like penguins but now gotta add muscovy ducks. which raised some questions.
Do ducks stalk and pick off mosquito fish?
Do they have mosquito fish in the rivers from Hilo going to Laupahoehoe as well in the big pond by Hilo Bay?
It's frustrating to swipe for mosquito fish wading in the streams with a net- they are too slick and wary like trying to tag Bruce Lee of "Be water my friend" fame. So I got a fishing pole and line but instead of a hook attach it to circular metal frame with fine mesh netting. Tie down bait in the middle and settled the net in the stream 15 minutes. Then came back and finally came up with 5 fish but couple were nice 1&half inch with rainbow stripe on the scent line. So I went home and tossed couple chicken chips in the bucket with the fish. But couple days later the fish died. I thought they were supposed to survive nucler war. Are chicken chips poison? wish I had a pH meter.
a
Other pond fish also eat mosquito larvae. Mosquito fish are just really cheap and reproduce scary fast, so easy to give away free in abatement programs.
I have two goldfish and they work fine on my small pond, used to have koi.
If you have a small pond, just get a couple swordtails or goldfish from Stacey's Pets by Ben Franklin's. They have the mosquito fish too, or did.
Obviously they are not going to control mosquitoes breeding in buckets and bromeliads.
Mosquitoes don't breed in running water, and they don't like breezes.
Fish will die if you put them in tap water (County), unless you neutralize the chloramines with pond water treatment (sold at Home Depot, Walmart, Stacey's, anywhere that sells pond set-ups). They will die within a day.
Rain water is no problem and doesn't need to be treated.
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That makes sense but I still suspect my "chicken chips." Gardeners say they are "too strong". So maybe raises the pH so "sweet" it's sickening?
tada, I'd never put chicken chips in a pond, agreed!
Fish can handle ph range quite well, but the other big killer is ammonia, and chicken manure is high ammonia, no? NH4 -- fertilizer and pond fish don't mix well.
I though you meant pieces of chicken in your first post, although it didn't make sense to me
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Chlorine will evaporate in an open container within 24 hours. I use our catchment water for my tropical fish tanks with no problem, I just wait at least 24 hours after the tank has been treated to add any to my fish tanks.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
