GIVEN the right environment, ducks can be low-maintenance mates.

Ducks can be kept for their eggs or meat or just for their plain good looks, friendly quacking and personality.

For people with the space and desire to keep waterbirds, ducks are the most common choice but geese are also popular and the following information applies to geese as well.

If you are thinking of having ducks as pets, the first thing you need to do is discuss with your local council any special issues or rules.

You will also need to think about how you will keep the birds at home as you will probably need to restrict their flight by removing some flight feathers unless you have a totally enclosed pen.

Ducks can be useful grazers in the garden as long as you keep them away from any young shooting plants that you don't want pruned and watch where you step to avoid any unwanted "presents" they may have deposited.

They can also be useful at eliminating pests such as snails, but you have to make sure you remove any poisons used to kill snails and slugs as these will also harm your bird.

You should also check that you don't have any poisonous plants for waterbirds in your garden - check with your vet for local plants that may be poisonous.

It is an excellent idea to have a predator-proof pen where you can lock the birds overnight.

Waterbirds don't tend to seek this protection the way a chicken might, so it is best to train them to go into their shed each night when they are young. This training process can be challenging and may need more than one person, depending on how many birds you have, until they develop a nightly routine.

It is good to have two or three birds so they have company. Ducks can forage for most of their feed in the garden, but usually also need a commercial duck-ration from a farm-supplies store.

How much of their diet they get from each will depend on the area they can graze and the number of birds. It is always a good idea to keep them on some commercial feed along with some grit, as it reduces the chance of dietary deficiencies.

If you want to check the condition of your waterbird, you can feel its keel-bone, this is the equivalent to your own sternum or breastbone. For waterbirds that are in good condition, you can just feel this bone between the chest muscle.

Ducks are called waterbirds for a good reason. They like to spend time in water which also helps them stay clean, so they should, at a minimum, be able to dunk their heads in some water. A pond can also improve the production of fertile eggs if you are trying to breed, as heavier birds will mate while on the water.

However, a poorly constructed or maintained pond can be a danger to both adult and young birds. Any pond must have an edge where animals can easily walk out. This is particularly important for young birds that are still learning to paddle as they can tire quickly and drown if there is not an easy escape.

It is also vital the pond is cleaned regularly or that it is large enough to be "self cleaning". You may have heard of swans dying in public gardens recently due to botulism. The same thing can happen in home ponds if they have too many decaying leaves, faecal matter or dead animals in them.

Similarly, you should avoid feeding wet grain or mouldy feed to your waterbirds as this can cause aflatoxicosis. Both botulism and aflatoxicosis can result in rapid death of your waterbirds.

As with most animals, birds can get roundworms, so may require occasional worming. They can also be exposed to a parasite called coccidia, which is mostly in young birds and results in diarrhoea. This will generally require treatment.

Ducks are also susceptible to lameness as they tend to spend more time walking when they are kept domestically, compared to when they are in the wild.

They can also eat the wrong type of "foods", such as metal or glass, which leads to "hardware disease" as well as eating old fibrous plants which can get stuck in their crop where food is normally stored prior to digestion in the stomach.

The best way to avoid these problems is to make sure they don't have access to any area where they can eat something they shouldn't.

If you can ensure your waterbirds have a safe environment and adequate feed and water, they should live healthy lives and hopefully be a lot of fun to have around.