Ducks at My Pet Chicken

[1goose2ducks]

Runner ducks are terrible moms, but they are smart. Mine lay their eggs in the gooses nest so she can hatch them lol

 

[RodNTN]

Pekin ducks rarely ever go broody and if you do end up with a broody duck all you’ll have to do is destroy the nest and remove the eggs. I’m the opposite, I love having broodies especially at this time in the year. It’s nice to see the mother birds taking their babies out and about exploring the world

Pekins sound nice Just kidding, I would love to see a mother duck raising her ducklings in my backyard one day

 

[RodNTN]

Yes but that will be EXTREMELY LOUD they love talking to each other

Haha, don't all ladies?

Khaki Campbell’s
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Pekins
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And Indian runners
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All rarely go broody and the khakis and runners lay a good amount of eggs.

Aww!! The Pekins are so cute!

 

[RodNTN]

The mess is just different than chickens. Chickens scratch their waste into the ground, ducks make everything wet and their poop tends to form a layer on top of the ground. Because they are wet, they tend to smell more. With more land and free range time I don't think it would be an issue the way it is in a pen.

Sounds gross! I'm glad I won't have to worry about that if I ever do get ducks.

 

[RodNTN]

If you have 23 acres, I wouldn’t worry about the mess.

Pets- I would choose a larger breed.
Pekins- Mine are really calm. They love food, so it’s easy to make them friendly with treats. They are cute, big, and squishy. They are pretty decent layers, with most laying double yolkers on a regular basis. Cons are they can be loud if you have to worry about neighbors. They are heavy, so they are even less able to run from predators than most breeds. And with being heavy, I would highly advise giving them poultry vitamins to protect their growing legs until they are adults.

Black Swedish- They are calm and friendly. They are a large breed, but not as big as Pekins so less leg problems. They also lay a little less eggs than Pekins.

Cayugas- Large breed that are calm and friendly. Beautiful ducks. Decent mother’s. Also less eggs than Pekins. I love mine. Very quiet.

There are some other large breeds that I don’t have experience with.

Eggs-
Khaki Campbell’s are going to be the easiest to acquire. They are also excellent layers. Good mother’s. They can be nervous, so more for eggs than pets.

Runners- Excellent layers. Nervous type. I’m not sure on mothering.

Okay, that's settled!

If I ever do buy ducks, I would probably have, at the most, just 4 or 5. So I really just want them for pets, and it would be nice to have some ducks with pretty plumage.

I wouldn't breed them, so I wouldn't want to keep a drake.
Would a drake still be necessary if I don't want them hatching their eggs?

 

[RodNTN]

I used to skip through the duck threads (so boring ) but now I am actually reading through them all!

 

[CayugaJana]

Okay, that's settled!

If I ever do buy ducks, I would probably have, at the most, just 4 or 5. So I really just want them for pets, and it would be nice to have some ducks with pretty plumage.

I wouldn't breed them, so I wouldn't want to keep a drake.
Would a drake still be necessary if I don't want them hatching their eggs?

Absolutely not. They will live happy lives without a drake. I’ll post some of my pics here in a second.

 

[RodNTN]

Absolutely not. They will live happy lives without a drake. I’ll post some of my pics here in a second.

Okay, that's great!

 

[CayugaJana]

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

If you want pet ducks get one male pekin and he will fall in love with you. Indian runners are great egg layers you will get about 300 eggs a year

I have to dissagree. My duck only laid 197 eggs last year, and that was her prime year.