Advice needed

[GVChickenMan]

OldGal and I just started with ducks last March, and are extremely pleased with our Khaki Campbells. The flock of ten is giving us, on average, 8 eggs PER DAY! They are very social and get along well with the chickens (Red Sex Links), and aren't particularly noisy.

If one of your goals is eggs, OldGal and I cannot suggest letting them run free. You'll never find the eggs. At least ours are very inconsistent as to where they lay.

As for when to get them; that depends on what age birds you plan on acquiring. If adults or adolescents are your plan now would be as good a time as any. If, on the other hand you are going to start out with ducklings I'd wait until spring. Between having to keep them out of drafts, warm and the smell I think you'll be glad that you put it off until warmer weather..

One more suggestion; If you are going with ducklings, if at all possible go and pick them up yourself. We did, and even though the ride home was only about two hours they were extremely thirsty by the time we got them to the ranch. You can imagine how dehydrated they would get if they spent a couple of days in a shipping container.

Warning: just hatched ducklings require a lot of care, but they are worth it. Since I'm retired and home all day this wasn't a problem, but if you are trying to work away from home I don't feel it will go well.

Hope this helps,
Mike

Mike,

Thanks for all the info. That's a massive help. I'm glad that your experience of Khaki Campbells match (and possibly exceed) my expectations.

We keep Aylsbury's, Silver Appleyards, Rouens and Runners oh and a pair of Cayugas. All the ones we hatched off as Ducklings are the tamest. If we were starting over i'd go for the youngest birds i could get hold of. That said adult birds now could very well breed early spring for you and provide some fun for you over the early summer with Ducklings. As for sourcing them have a good look around on the net and find your local poultry auction. Ducks at the moment are the cheapest birds to buy in the UK! We have seen Ducks go for as little as £1 each!!!

Ferdinand, Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try and find a local poultry auction. I'm glad to hear they might not be too expensive. If I can find a nice trio of adult KCs I think I'll get them now, if not I'll wait until Spring and get some eggs/ducklings.

 

[LightningTFarm]

If you want ducks for eggs, Khakis are good but so are Welsh Harlequins and they are much prettier birds in my opinion. To keep them from laying all over, you should put them up and night and not let them out till after 9 am once they start laying, as they will most likely have already laid their eggs by then. If you work and have to be gone by then, an automatic door is a life saver. If you want information on the various breeds plus pictures of what they look like, go to www.holderreadsfarm.com to look at their ducks. Dave Holderread is a duck expert of many years experience who wrote the "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks" book. He also wrote their goose book. I ordered my ducklings from his farm, and was extremely satisfied. I don't know if they ship to the UK, but the website is full of great information.