Considering ducks

[Doorsopenat5]

For those of you who have backyard chickens and ducks, which do you find noisier? We have chickens, thinking about getting more chickens or a few ducks. Also, I know ducks are messy…how much time per day/week extra do you feel they require over chickens? If you have a picture, can you share your duck set up?

Thanks!

 

[Callender Girl]

My runner ducks aren't necessarily overly loud, but since they are housed very near my living room windows, I can hear them talk a lot more often than the chickens. My chickens seem to quiet down and roost for the night. The duck shelter sounds like they party the night away -- lots of "laughing" by the girls and "mumbling" by the boys, long after I'm ready to go to bed.

Yes, ducks are messier, in that their messes are soggier and in my opinion, much smellier. Don't know that I can estimate how much more time they require. I only have one pen of ducks and I have seven coops of chickens (housing from two to five each), plus a shelter with two geese.

Would post photos if I could, but the duck shelter is a modified chicken tractor that someone built as a 2-foot high, 3-by-10-foot rectangle, sturdily constructed of 2-by-4's. It was covered in chicken wire, which has now been itself covered with hardware cloth. It has two solid doors, one that lifts at one end and one lifts up from a side at the other end. In the winter, I attach tarps to keep the snow and wind out of most of the shelter, but leave plenty of open space for ventilation.

Because ducks don't seem to mind snow, wind or cold (until it gets totally frigid), I think they are easier to keep than chickens in many ways -- except, of course, for their innate messiness.

 

[fatty and friends]

if you are worried about noise, just have an all drake flock! they don’t lay eggs so they have less health issues, they only make a very quiet sound so no quacking, and they make great pets. i personally have 3 drakes 2 hens (seperate of course) but knowing everything i know now i would only ever adopt drakes again

 

[bhaugh]

Muscovies are very quiet but ALL ducks are messy. I was talking to someone today about telling people how much more work they are but I like them better.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

I would say chickens/roosters sound is louder, but ducks make sound more often. From my bedroom to the coop I could clearly hear a hen clucking or rooster crowing. I can hear my ducks too but they aren’t as loud (most of the time), we have one sassy one that will quack if their door gets closed and when she does this it is pretty loud. She has no problem letting us know when she needs something . Ours free range almost all the time and when sassy pants doesn’t have any demands I hardly hear them unless they’re right outside my door/window.

Like @fatty and friends said drakes are much more quiet. I don’t ever hear my drakes unless I’m outside with them and they’re close.

Ducks are so much messier than chickens! Do I feel like it’s extra work? Not really, the mess is usually where there’s water so just don’t keep water inside the coop. Just the run or outside.

I’ll see if I can find a photo of our set up but it’s just a chicken coop and run, we don’t have anything special for ducks besides a pool for them.

 

[Doorsopenat5]

My runner ducks aren't necessarily overly loud, but since they are housed very near my living room windows, I can hear them talk a lot more often than the chickens. My chickens seem to quiet down and roost for the night. The duck shelter sounds like they party the night away -- lots of "laughing" by the girls and "mumbling" by the boys, long after I'm ready to go to bed.

Yes, ducks are messier, in that their messes are soggier and in my opinion, much smellier. Don't know that I can estimate how much more time they require. I only have one pen of ducks and I have seven coops of chickens (housing from two to five each), plus a shelter with two geese.

Would post photos if I could, but the duck shelter is a modified chicken tractor that someone built as a 2-foot high, 3-by-10-foot rectangle, sturdily constructed of 2-by-4's. It was covered in chicken wire, which has now been itself covered with hardware cloth. It has two solid doors, one that lifts at one end and one lifts up from a side at the other end. In the winter, I attach tarps to keep the snow and wind out of most of the shelter, but leave plenty of open space for ventilation.

Because ducks don't seem to mind snow, wind or cold (until it gets totally frigid), I think they are easier to keep than chickens in many ways -- except, of course, for their innate messiness.

Thank you for the info! It’s so hard to gauge these things until you actually do it. I’ve been reading so much about the pros and cons of each. I feel like ducks would be so fun and they are too cute (and from what I’ve heard, a lot less sassy regarding pecking order etc).

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Everyone pretty much touched on on the subject, but I want to add that while ducks are messy, the muscovy are less messy than mallard based ducks. I think chicken messes are easier to deal with when you've left for a few days or can't clean for whatever reason. Ducks have wetter areas which increase the smell. They also filter their food in their water, so water needs refreshed daily. During the summer, it can need to be refreshed a few times a day.
Which is noisier depends on your chickens and breeds of ducks. My runners only quack when they get separated or it's past time to be let out of their coop.

 

[3bird]

Our two cents: Our ducks (we have silver Appleyards) are louder than chickens. As you probably know, it's the females who make the noise when we're talking ducks. If you had all drakes, it would not be an issue....but then no eggs.

If you are set-up for ducks, we don't think they take anymore time to care for than chickens. We have a covered run, and that makes a huge difference in terms of mess. We also use the deep litter method in the duckhouse, and we NEVER put food or water in the duckhouse. Depending on the breed, ducks need 3.5-5 sq ft per bird. They don't roost, so that's all floor space. You must have great ventilation--ducks exhale a lot of moisture.

In terms of chores, we spot clean the duckhouse in the morning (toss out the biggest most obvious poops and fluff up the bedding). That takes ~five minutes (our duckhouse is 4'x8'). We rake the cobbled area of the run, dump the five-gallon water bucket and refill, and feed them "soup for ducks" (peas with green and a mealworm crumble). All told, it can all be done in 15 minutes, but we usually have our coffee with them and do supervised free range time for ~one hour. In the evening, it's a repeat of the morning, except we also top off grain in the evening and add additional bedding material if necessary. 2x/year, we clean out all the old bedding and start from scratch. Again, evening chores can be done in 15 minutes, but we take our cocktails and do another hour of supervised free ranging. Before avian flu came to our state, we let them spend their days in two fenced pastures surrounding the duckhouse. With avian flu, they are now largely confined to the predator proof, covered run and duckhouse. That will mean more chores in terms of cleaning.

We're in Maine, and we appreciate ducks being cold hardy and less susceptible to disease. We appreciate their foraging ability in the garden, and we LOVE their eggs. They are personable and real characters! Go Ducks!