Do you have a pool in your yard that the ducks think is their personal spa?
I have a friend who's been battling to keep the ducks out of her backyard pool this season and she found a simple remedy that I think is worthy of sharing!
Mallard ducks, as you may know, are beautiful looking creatures -- all well and good when they stay in their native habitat. When they decide to take over a pool, they can, and usually do, leave behind quite a mess. Every morning, my friend and her family were greeted with a pool full of feathers and duck droppings. Needless to say, this required a daily extra dose of chlorine and extra clean-up time before any swimming could take place in the pool again.
After calls to the pool store and garden center, the only advice given was to "get a Labrador retriever" to chase
away 
the ducks. Getting a new dog seemed like an extreme solution so my friend checked Google for a better answer. Found in an obscure article, the solution was relatively simple: ducks and swans are natural enemies (or rather, they naturally compete for territory). So, the advice was to get some inflatable swans or swan decoys for the yard and pool. My friend found what she needed on eBay.com and Amazon.com. Once the swans were installed in the yard and in the pool, the ducks did not come back. The ducks still do fly-bys from time to time but they have not come back to swim as they think the swans have claimed the territory. There are uglier things to put in the yard than a nice white swan decoy!
It got me thinking that this must be an old country remedy that's been lost to the ages. Many times, I've seen vintage swan decoys used in country decor and never knew why. I theorize that this is a age-old remedy for the problem of ducks invading yards. The ducks seem cute at first but they can do a number on the landscaping and not to mention the "mess" they leave behind.
I understand the old swan trick may work for chasing away Canadian Geese too. Certainly worth a try!
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