Olde Mistick Village Answers Questions on Ducks, Geese

Post from Olde Mistick Village:

With the cold conditions outside, there have been many questions and so much misinterpreted information, I thought it would be best to just give anyone who is interested a brief history, up to this point, of what is happening with our duck and geese population.

When Olde Mistick Village first had ducks, there were only five. Everyone—including the customers, staff, and merchants—enjoyed having them as part of the Village. As the years went by, more and more people came to visit the ducks and fed and enjoyed them.

As the duck population grew and the mother ducks became more creative in hiding their eggs from any predators, our duck population grew and grew. Soon the outer community of shops and stores grew as well; and all the fishers, coyotes, foxes, seagulls, and other natural predators disappeared from the Village and the duck population not only continued to grow but wild ducks started to find their way to the Village.

Although from the outside it looked as if there was no drawback that could come from such an abundance of wonderful ducks, this was not completely a good thing.

One, we needed to make sure we were not feeding the wild ducks. This was not only unacceptable, but also would make the wild ducks stay instead of finding their normal migration and looking for natural sanctuaries to get food.

Two, because we had no control of the feeding, it was impossible to separate domestic from wild. For the average person passing through they would just feed whichever duck wanted food.

Three, to make things even more interesting, two geese were brought to the Village. Everyone loved them and they were a great addition, but they needed to be fed separately and were not owned by us.

After a great amount of research we decided to make some changes. Our pond was being cleaned multiple times a year to keep the ducks healthy. The amount of leftover food at the bottom of the pond after cleaning made us realize our beautiful ducks were not only being overfed but our population was too big for our little pond.

Last year, we encouraged people not to feed the ducks and asked merchants to stop selling food. We took on a twice-a-day feeding regimen and cut back all the shrubs and trees throughout the Village to encourage natural migration of the wild ducks, which move on if they do not feel that they have ample hiding places for their eggs.

The geese, although we loved them, were not our own; and, because we are and will continue to try to adopt-out some of our own ducks, it made no sense to continue to take care of someone else’s geese instead of making more room for our own ducks. The geese going back to their owner also allowed us to have control of our feeding and, therefore, keep our ducks healthy and happy. No more overfeeding, dirty ponds, or wild ducks accidentally getting food with the geese.

So far this system has been successful, with the exception of people assuming we are not feeding our animals. We have receipts of all of our feedbags as well as knowledge of our feedings. We will miss the geese very much and appreciate all the great memories that came from them being here. We also love our ducks and hope that we can have them here for many years to come.

If we can stick to this regimen, and inform others, our pond and ducks will be happy and healthy for years to come.

If you have any other questions feel free to email: ahettick2324@gmail.com.

Caption: Roger, who has been with Olde Mistick Village for many years, feeding the domestic ducks.