Which Breed for Our Backyard?

[badgerstew]

We are looking for breed advice. My husband and I have no experience caring for birds of any kind, and our first attempt will be with ducks. We are considering Runners, Welsh Harlequins, or Muscovy. Our goals are finding a breed that is relatively: safe/social around children; quiet or calm so as not to become a nose disturbance with our next door neighbors; good layers; unlikely to fly away. We are committed to daily care, socializing the young, and clipping flight feathers if necessary. We live in semi-rural Alabama, but technically inside city limits so one of our top priorities is choosing a breed that won't upset the neighbors. What would y'all advise selecting?

 

[Pyxis]

Well, if you want quiet, muscovies are the way to go. They are very quiet ducks. You would have to clip feathers though because of your choices, those are the only ones that can and might fly away if not clipped. They are also very large, and a big drake could be dangerous around children. They have substantial talons and powerful wings, so if one ever got aggressive it could certainly hurt a child. I raise welsh harlequins, and they are the calmest breed I have ever had. They are mostly quiet, too, but when excited the females can be loud. When they see me coming they quack very loudly, and then settle down and I mostly never hear them besides that. Runners are a more nervous duck, so if you want a calm breed they might not be right for you.

 

[Oklahoma Ducks]

Runners are really noisy but lay lots of eggs and are kinda skittish. Also they don't fly and be really nice if raised right. WHs are big so they don't fly and are calm. They also lay a good amount of eggs. Finally Muscovites don't quack and can be really sweet but arnt good at eggs.
I hope this helps

 

[badgerstew]

Our city guidelines only state that if birds are to be kept at your residence they can't be so noisy as to cause a disturbance to your neighbors, so some quacking is fine. (I do realize I'm getting ducks, and ducks will be ducks). Neighbors on the right want to get their own chickens, so I'm not worried about that. Neighbors on the left are police officers from a big city who recently moved out to the country so I need to bake them a pie or something before I inform them about the ducks, ha ha. I'm leaning toward WH now for eggs and some Muscovy in a year or two for meat. That will give my 14 month old some time to grow a little bigger and learn to respect the birds before we introduce a bigger, potentially more aggressive bird.

 

[Oklahoma Ducks]

Ok

hope you guys have fun with your ducks! I'm planning on getting blue runners myself!

 

[cstronks]

I have never raised ducks personally, but friends of mine have both welsh harlequins and muscovy ducks. I personally like the look of the muscovy, but would raise welsh harlequin if given a choice. I understand they are just excellent layers! I love egg production, so that is a stat that really appeals to me. I don't know if you're looking for top of the line production but I understand these birds are it. I don't think you can go wrong with either, and I'm sure you'll like both, but in the end I guess I cast my vote for Welsh Harlequin!

 

[Pyxis]

Good luck! Tell them the next time you bake something for them, you'll use the eggs from your ducks. Ducks eggs are just amazing for baking

 

[suzy4027]

My neighbor has a Muscovy female and she's the sweetest thing ever! She's the only one I've ever met so I can't really speak to the breed in general. She great though. I have 2 welsh harlequins and unless they see me through the sliding glass door or hear my voice, they're pretty quiet. They're only supposed to be 5-5.5lbs by the breed standard and considered a lightweight bird. I definitely wouldn't call mine laid back, but I wouldn't ever worry about them being aggressive with anyone. Other ducks? Different story! They are pretty funny and I love having them around. Not old enough for eggs yet. I'm hoping they're nice enough that when we have ducklings I can donate to the local 4-h kids and get more of them out there. The breed is on the critical list.

this is Tater and Tot.

Tater is pretty sweet. They hang out right next to me but they're sure I'm shifty and waiting to eat them. They're too vigilant about birds of prey to be laid back when we let them out to forage, but they don't bite and are good about putting themselves to bed, back in their run, that type of thing.