Will My Mallard Ducks Fly Away in the Winter?

[CrazyDuckLadyBlue]

Hello! I am not new to having ducks but I have never had mallards. I know they are a migrating bird and I am worried they will fly away once it gets cold. I also worry they will find my neighbors super awesome and HUGE pond that's behind our property. We have a pond that is about a third of an acre so they do have a nice living space but it doesn't hold a candle to our neighbors lol. Would you recommend I clip their wings?

Thank you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

If you want to keep them home yes.

Domesticated Mallards won't fly off to migrate but ducks love to fly if they can so better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Nyla]

I've had Mallards from Metzer Farms. Some of my mallards grew up with one of my Muscovy's as a Mama, and some grew up with me as their mama. The ones I raised would fly away all the time. They seemed to always come back to me, until a raccoon tried to attack them. After that encounter, they flew away and never came back.

So I suggest clipping their wings once every 2-3 months.

 

[CrazyDuckLadyBlue]

We have definitely had some bad experiences with raccoons and/or coyotes. The other ducks I have (and had) were not very tame and I could not get them to go into the coup or barn at night. It's a sad situation... We also got them as adults. These new ones are just about a week old and we are doing our best to tame them. Thanks, all!