Duck Breed questions again?

nao57

Crowing
Mar 28, 2020
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So I'm curious to pick your minds on duck stuff again?

Is it true that every duck breed has some kind of advantage compared to others? What do you think about this?

And question 2; which ranking order would you put duck breeds in, in terms of 'mothering' ability? (Its clear that some have less mothering instinct than others. For example, some people will say runners are harder to get to care for eggs.)

And is there any reason to keep flying ducks? (I noticed that some people do have 'flying mallards' marked on certain poultry farm stores, where they are selling flying types (non-muscovy, non-call duck varieties). (And if they can fly is that a problem with 'retaining' them, from them trying to fly away?)(I wonder also if you could breed the flying ability back into some of these non-flying breeds? Oops, this is more of a side tangent.)

This is all so fascinating and interesting.
 
1. Yes, some differences. 2. I mostly have Khakis and hatch my eggs in an incubator so I am no help. As for the last question, the way I understand it, the reason most breeds cannot fly is because they are bred to be too heavy for the size of their wings. The small ducks are the ones who can fly. So, trying to breed a large meat duck down for flight doesn’t really make sense.
 
1) there is some differences. some are better egg layers, flyers, mothers, etc. in terms of friendliness i would say it depends on how you raise them. khaki are suppose to be a skittish breed but mine comes right up to us for cuddles and love to go on walks.
2) breed factors into it but i think it also depends on the individual duck. generally though i would say if you want them to hatch babies, get mallards or muscovy.
3) people who have lots of space may want flying breeds so they can free range fly around all day. people who don’t have a safe space for their ducks to fly will want unflighted breeds
 

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