# raising wild ducks



## jungmp (Sep 13, 2006)

Does anyone know if it is legal to raise wild ducks in ND? i have heard of people doing it but not sure if there are any legal issues related to it. If it is legal raise them is it then legal to band said birds prior to their release into the wild without a permit?


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## Trapper62 (Mar 3, 2003)

Yes and No!

When I was in HS we destroyed hundreds of duck nest during the spring planting seasons. I contacted the NWS about keeping the unbroken eggs and was issued a permit to collect, incubate and than release back into the wild. I could not band them and had to provide a pretty detailed written description of what I was going to do with them, but I did get a permit.

Not sure now, but I don't see why you couldn't get one now as well? Also not sure what the survival rate would have been but we did hatch out a lot of wild duck over about a 4 year period, until I went to college.

If you are planning on collecting wild eggs for the purpose of hatching and rearing I doubt you could get permission to do that!


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

No, it is absoultly NOT LEGAL to possess any wild migratory birds. When you start messing around with Migratory birds...That's where the fed's come in. As far as getting permits from Fed's...I would check yourself with a warden (Gary Rankin in our area) and see what he has to say.


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## fuzznuts (May 27, 2009)

Hire a beaver.....


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## Trapper62 (Mar 3, 2003)

Do as Rick said and check with the state people first. I was just stating what I was allowed to do (with a permit and proper reporting) back in the 70's.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

You can't raise _wild_ ducks, but with a State Ag Dept permit & approved pen/confinement system you can raise hatchery Mallards (but no other wild species). This is because they are so closely related & sometimes impossible to differentiate from cross-bred Rouens (a kind of domestic mega-mallard) and other cross-bred domestics. These "domestic" type mallards are usually sold as "flying mallards" by hatcheries. http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product ... llard.html

I can advise they usually just hang around the yard, maybe fly from one end to the other, and don't leave. I did one time have a Suzie who left in the Fall for a couple years and came back to the yard with a very suspicious boyfriend in the Spring. Don't know if it was the same drake, but it didn't know what to think when she landed in front of the barn, looking for the food pan. She same back a couple Springs then stopped, I imagine she got shot during season...

Same applies to Pheasants & Chukars. I had to submit an app to the State Ag Dept for the number of birds & species I planned to raise along with a picture & drawing of my pens, which was first approved & signed off on by NDGF. The confinement set up has to be adequate for the number of birds, they will not approve an 8' square pen for100 birds...


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Maybe i'm miss understanding you ND. Terminator but Not true on the "Mallard only species" from the State Ag Dept. As long as they are "captive reared" game species waterfowl, you may raise them as well. It doesn't matter on the species. You must get a health certificate before the bird enters the state unless it's from a breeder in North Dakota. There are only a couple, so good luck with that.
I raise Wood Ducks within city limits and there is a lot of red tape to cut with both the state Ag Dept. and the city of Grand Forks. It's a lot of work but very rewarding. My hen has been sitting on eggs for about 30 days now and should be popping out with little ones any day now.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

You are right & I stand corrected, Rick. The operative words as you pointed out are "captive reared". The red tape to prove & keep captive reared is a total pain and as I imagine you know, getting a species other than mallards is good trick. In my experience, no one cares about hatchery mallards though, and a person can just mail order either eggs or ducklings from a number of poultry hatcheries or even buy them from places like TSC in the Spring, with no issues or paperwork....

I think the original poster may have been alluding to the possibility of getting some orphaned wild ducks and raising them, which of course can get one in hot water fast...

Every Spring, our Community Service Officer handles a good number of "lost baby duck" calls. The usual bit is the concerned citizen finds a brood without momma in view and grabs & puts them in a box to "save" them, then calls us as they think we will raise them.

In actuality, the well meaning but uninformed citizen has just pretty much doomed the brood. Unless the CSO can find momma in the immediate vicinity, the drill is to put them in the nearest slough. This is exactly what NDGF does with the same call, BTW.

Believe me guys, if it were legal, my wife would raise a couple dozen wild ducklings a year that were "found" by citizens in DL... As if we need a few more critters out here!  She works for TSC and as such her bird flocks increase every Spring when TSC starts getting chicks & ducklings in...

BTW, to anyone thinking of raising ducks of any kind; they are without question the dirtiest, messiest, foulest birds you can raise, and are about three times as bad when you confine them to a pen. You think chickens are nasty, you ain't seen nothin' till you've seen a pen with a bunch of ducks that have been in there a couple weeks!!!!

Right now we only have three Rouens, and I'm here to tell you I would more look forward to being responsible for feeding time at the Monkey House in a major zoo, than I do my twice daily trip down to their pen to feed & water those three butt draggers...


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Well, my family just increased by 9 this morning. 9 baby Wood Ducks following around their mother is sure a cute site. I change their pen ponds once a week as it is, I have a feeling it will be more now. Anybody looking to start an aviary? I have some prime Wood Ducks I could gift you in a couple of months!


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