In case you were at all interested, here is a pic of Maggie and Megan 2 days old.

Mine love Romaine lettuce, frozen thawed peas, what's left in a melon rind, corn on the cob. They go nuts over French sorrel which we grow for blood purification for us after Winter. We grow a lot of food for our Bearded Dragons and the ducks benfit, all organic. Throw a JB in the water bowl you have out for the wild ducks and watch what happens. Mine fight over them. Also my slug problem is gone. This is what Welsh Harlequin females look like when grown, though Maggie is much whiter. She is my fav and jumps into my arms.

So cute !! I love how gentle they are and the lovely way they walk around the yard. The ducks in my yard are wild with bright green patches on their wings. That's the first time I see a duck with white/light brown feather, so pretty !!

I have plenty of melon rinds (eat 3 cantaloupes per week), plus lettuce in my compost, I really should buy some ducks to raise if my yard is larger !!

Are they Mallards? Female Mallards have bright patches on their wings though the body and head is streaks of brown. We have a male Mallard, Oliver. He is smaller than the girls by half, though that does not stop him from trying to breed them. He is captive bred, not wild. His mate was killed by a Hawk. The year after that we got the girls. And learned a lot about how to house and care for them easily. I wished I could have found someone to share their knowledge then because we made a lot of expensive mistakes. I do not mind sharing at all! And that is why I appreciate you and other posters on this particular forum. You guys are great!!!

Yes, it's a couple of Mallards ducks (male & female) who come together in the spring.

I'm so sad to hear that your duck's mate was killed by a Hawk. We have a Hawk that comes to my garden everyday, perching on the fence post. That hawk built a nest up the tree. Thank God for the mischievous squirrels who destroyed the Hawk's nest.

For 3 months with the Hawk nest up on my willow tree: zero birds, and I miss the golden finch, and the red cardinals. Now the birds are coming back, but the hawk perches on top of my compost pile daily.

I feed the birds in the front of my house, so they can be safe from the hawk (backyard). I'm going to leave out some melon-rinds & lettuce by the water-bowls for the ducks. It's right below a tree, so if the hawk fly down, the ducks can run under the Norway Spruce for hiding.

I like my hedge of Norway Spruce, birds can fly inside to hide from that hawk.

I would do the Romaine and thawed frozen peas first. Ducks are addicts about peas! I do love hawks though. I was a wildlife rehabilitator for 20 years and specialized in raptors. The Redtailed hawks are big babies, crying and following you around. I had a kestrel that was imprinted so she could not be released. We used Gypsy for educational programs. She had a weird love thing with a male cardinal. They would splash around the bird bath together. ??? Too funny. But in nature, there is a food chain and sometimes sad things happen from a human perspective. Still, all God's creatures, right?

Oh, those ducks are so cute! I would love to have some but never thought that they could survive here. You said that they were quiet unless a cat walked by. How do you keep the cats from getting them?

I'm fairly sure you can in zone 8. The cats cruise around in Winter looking for a meal but Oliver who is out side of the girls' huge Winter pen, goes right after them. For a little 2.5 pound duck, he is sure protective. Oliver is a Mallard. Mallards are loud. Ollie's mate Mimic was really a quacker. So when she was killed by a hawk, we researched all duck breeds for these characteristics:

1. Great forager of bugs and weeds

2. Quiet

3. Eggs (little known fact that chickens only lay well for the first few years. Ducks can lay well for up to 8 years!)

4. Medium to small size

5. Friendly. Some duck breeds are mental and would have me on nerve meds.

Also chickens get mites and get sick a lot. Ducks rarely if ever get anything. This saves me on vet bills and no need to medicate.

The only breed of duck that met all of these requirements was the Welsh Harlequin which, in the States, is listed as a rare breed. If Ollie ever dies, we will likely get a male WH to help perpetuate the breed. These ducks are really the best and I have had quite a few breeds in my life.

I should explain about Ollie and why is camped outside of the palace. Mallards breed for life. He is a one woman man. So when Mimic died, we got the girls. He called for Mim for a few weeks and then noticed the new comers. The girls grew up and now it is a war because Oliver cannot decide which new girl is his mate. He goes from one to the other depending on something known only to him but Maggie (the really white, really sweet one) gets attacked and her feathers pulled. It is not Ollie's fault. Mallards are wonderful mates and their job is to protect the girl, chase off intruders and such. He is basically a little deranged from the whole experience. But we love him anyway.

I love the idea of ducks! But I've seen the cats drag in rabbits that were bigger than they are and I know that they get birds all of the time based on the offerings that they leave on my doorstep to share.

Would your sweet ducks be aggressive enough to keep them away? Or are there much larger duck breeds with a similar lovely temperament to yours that might be more intimidating to cats?

Can cats, dogs, and ducks coexist? If so, I would love to have a nice surprise for those cucumber beetles, LOL!

It has been my experience that every animal his a unique individual. I have never heard of a cat taking down a full grown duck but the ducks sure do hate the wild cats around here. I am on a chicken /duck forum, too so I think I would have heard. Check out this really cute vid of a cat and ducklings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJOtGx5ue40

As far as other duck breeds, they are sweet ones but either not great foragers or really loud quakers. Trust me, you do not want that. I had Pekin ducks several times and they can wake the dead. Muskovy ducks will attack your UPS guy and anyone else.I could go on.

For the ducks - check out http://www.metzerfarms.com/DucksForSale.cfm Metzer farms is where we get our poultry. Have fun!

Thank you, adorable video!