You are probably meaning domestic Mallards, thet are sold by hatcheries and are not wild. released they contaminate the wild gene pool and carry their brand of diseases to the wilds which they have no immunity to. I raise bantam ducks(Calls and East Indies) in wire bottomed pens, i keep bathing tubs in the pens for them and they cam become quite tame. I think it is a bad idea to put any waterfowl on a unattended pond, especially at this time. Waterfowl can do well in a appropriatly sized pen in the yard, they are dirty and need cleaned often under these conditions. It sure beats causing any more problems to the wild population tho. I might have some photos at my site of the calls in a pen? try WINDOVERFARM@groups.msn.com

We bought our 2 romain tufted geese when they were a few weeks old and they are now 16 months old. The were about 3 months old when we finished building a 7,000 gal pond for them and eventually the 2 turtles we had. The first day we filled it they were 3 months old, I tried to get them in but they didn't want to go so I jumped in and they jumped in. They loved it, dove way down and popped up beside me. The next day they went in when I went in, the third day the pond wasn't so clean so I didn't want to go in but helped them in, they stayed for a short period of time and got out, showing no interest in returning. Later when they were drinking from it I nudged one in and she stayed a little while but never went back. They love their baby pool but they won't even go near the pond. We upgraded their baby pool when they got older and bigger and they had the hardest time picking their feet up when they got in, as if they would sink or something. We would like to upgrade that pool but afraid to waste the money they seem to be afraid of the depth of the water. I guess like kids they are not all the same. Who would have guessed!!!

Not to cast aspersions on your ducks and their health, but I would be VERY reluctant to spray any animal or bird poopy water directly on anything I was going to eat. Using it as ground watering/drench would be much more to my liking. Using it in the late season, on fruit trees that have been picked, might be OK, but since any bacteria or fungus that landed on the fruit any earlier would be able, given the right growing conditions, to keep on growing, I wouldn't do it. The latest E. coli on spinach scare, to the best of my recollection, came from the run off from a feed lot (which, I grant, has other practices that you don't observe, but even so...) running into a spinach field and splashing onto leaves, so the use of animal wastes straight or diluted with water is probably not a good idea. Using it in the off season, maybe OK, as anything bad that grew might be gone by the time you ate the results. A careful ground drench or using it on ornamentals would be fine, IMHO.

oh come on now! She must've been smokin something. I've seen lots of deer lately on the side of the road and they ignore my car and keep eating except for the babies. We have coyotes and recently spotted Black bear. There are a few deer that cross over each evening from one side of the road to the other every night. They killed one baby oak a couple years ago, but there is so much other land around they moved on, thank goodness. In the summer the dogs would announce their arrival by the neighbors pond before the deer crossed the road as it started to get dark.