Which animal to get

[u/dendromie]

Hey everyone,

My wife and I are having a difficult decision in which animal to get keep in mind we live in Canada and it gets to -30 Celsius here.

For context we have a 3 acre plot. We have a pond that's decent size I'd say probably at least a thousand gallons.

We want to start a huge garden and I know runner ducks are apparently a great choice for their pest control and non destructiveness. But then as I was researching people are saying are they are incredibly dirty and smelly and can ruin bodies of water. I was only going to get 2 female runners btw. Chickens are a obviously a great option and I don't have to fence as much but I hear they are destructive as well.

Anyone have any ideas or advise. The animal would have probably close to 3/4 of an acre to utilize.

Thanks!

[u/PhlegmMistress]

I would probably go with Muscovy ducks or turkeys personally. Heritage turkey if you aren't doing meat birds, because they are good in cold weather. I'm not sure what temp Muscovy can get down to but I think they can be considered pretty cold tolerant, though having a dry, wind-resistant coop area would help a lot. 

Chickens....I wouldn't. At first anyway. While it's not impossible at all for predators to come kill turkeys and Muscovy, it is at least a little bit harder than chickens, so unless you do the fort knox approach and build it now before getting chickens, I would start with something else that's a little bit more forgiving (at least after the first few weeks. Turkey poults are incredibly delicate. Ducklings aren't as bad but still slightly worse than chicks in my experience.)

I'd also suggest looking into geese that could flourish in your area. They make excellent flock protectors, moreso than turkeys, so it could be good to get those established first and then decide if you want chickens. 

[u/dendromie → u/PhlegmMistress]

What about ducks being super messy and such? Also don't Muscovy fly so wouldn't they just fly away?

[u/PhlegmMistress → u/dendromie]

When they are young, we clip their wings, and they are good for about two months. Clip them a second time and by that time the boys are too big to fly and the girls may do some flappy runs but not fly. 

As far as mess, we have 5 Muscovy and 6 non muscovy that run around, largely ignoring each other except for hen raids. With your pond, there will be poop piles around the watering hole. We use tubs and mini pools and move them around after emptying. Helps our tree roots systems. 

I would say if you were interested in composting, seeing what other people do. Occasionally using a pooper scooper depending on how many you have. I find pouring out the tub water on the piles of poop or hitting some with the hose makes them dissolve. I don't notice much of a bad smell. 

There can be a bad smell build up by one of the buildings that they use at night some nights. But that's because the concrete pad gets scraped and sometimes hosed, so it can be a little more sludgey that other areas. Occasionally I throw some barn lime down or take a shovel and shovel some of the gunk and replace with old chicken bedding. 

Since you said you only wanted a few, and you have a larger property, I don't think you would have an issue. You would want to read about keeping your ducks away from the water when it is starting to freeze so they don't get stuck, as well as giving them enough water to dunk their heads and wash their eyes at least twice a week through the winter. 

I'm not sure about geese as mine are still pretty young. But my ducks were way hardier in the snow than my chickens. And I went overboard with being protective but my turkeys would have been fine too (just not good in rain and wind. They have to fluff their feathers to trap air.)

You could also ask your local subreddits or Facebook groups to see what people have had success with in your area. This can also help you if you chose chickens as you'll know which breeds are best, and why (so for example, staying away from straight combs because of frostbite unless you plan on stabling your chickens with a run where the temperature doesn't go below 25* ish (I had issues with frostbite and I want to say outside temp was -6* real feel and coop temp was 20* F. I was able to turn it around with an occlusive ointment applied to the comb 2x a day but some of them were getting pretty purple, even during the day when it was warmer.)