Ducks from Ideal and Holderread

[Roosterboy]

What duck as a pet would be good from one of these website?
I wanted muscovies but i can't find them(With a low minimum purchase)
Is anyone hatching some in the spring?
I was thinking runners because they were my second choice but i didn't know if they were to loud.

How good are the show quality ducks and what are the hatch dates?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

There are only a handful of hatcheries that will sell Muscovy ducklings because they do not ship well. I breed Muscovies & Cayugas as well as silky bantam ducks. I would recommend Muscovies if you're looking for pets. They are VERY hardy, eat their weight in mosquitos & bugs and they are very friendly & personable. Runners are cute, too but in my experience, are not as friendly as muscovies. The other nice thing about Muscovies is that they do not quack, so they are very quiet.

 

[CountryMom]

We got our Muscovies from Country Hatchery. The owner is a sweet man. I had an issue with water at about 2 months old so we lost a couple in the heat. However, all of them arrived very healthy and would be part of our grown herd today. As is we have 10 new ones that we added to the trio of hens we had left. I read somewhere that Country Hatchery was going out of business. That kinda made me sad, but glad I ordered this past year. Our Muscovies are real pets from being hand raised. The hens are quite the flyers though and I am having trouble convincing them the barn roof is better to perch on than my house! LOL Maybe in the spring I will grab some eggs. They were originally for my FIL but seem to have taken over the ENTIRE ranch! LOL

If you can find some of them at another hatchery I would recommend them. They are not noisey at all and really sweet with my three kids.

 

[CountryMom]

Another hatchery I had bookmarked.... Never purchased from them, so I can't tell you if they are good or not...

http://www.jmhatchery.com/White-Muscovy-Ducks-p4.html

 

[raindrop]

I ended up with Dutch Hookbills (search this forum for some of my pics) from Holderread (he was out of Silver Appleyards) and they are very calm, even though I didn't handle them much when they were young. They lived in the kitchen for a while and so got used to seeing us, but I didn't pick them up much. They are good foragers and when the days were longer, I was getting 2-3 eggs a day from my 3 girls.

 

[babyboy1_mom]

I have Runners and they are friendly with me, but I have hand raised them and taken care of them on a daily basis. They are scared of other people though. They will not let me hold them, but will let me pet them and they nibble on my fingers and like for me to scratch their heads with my finger tips.

My females do get loud, whenever they hear me outside and want me to come over to them and pet them and spray them with the water hose....lol

Good luck finding the right duck for you.

 

[muscovy94]

by far, in my opinion, muscovies are the best ducks there are!!! one of my seperate muscovies that i have that i hatched form an egg is always waiting for me on the porch when i get home. and if he sees me get home, he will fly over to the house to geet me. i love him so much!!!! i reccond muscovies all the way!

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
I would agree with that, we have had Muscovies for years. Every year they pay for themselves thru sales of ducklings and older ducks. They are great table birds. Quiet and in our setting they do very good defending themselves. Good mothers and sitters.

Steve in NC

 

[chickygirl2]

Where do you live? Someone near you might have some available in the spring.
I vote for the muscovies. They are quiet, friendly and good at bug control. We ususally get a couple clutches a year per female. Ours have stopped laying until spring.

 

[greyfields]

If you must get muscovies, JM is an all around great hatchery. I get my broilers there and the service has been flawless.

You won't find better waterfowl than what Holderread offers. I went with Silver Appleyards simply because I enjoy the breed, it's performance and I find them pretty to look at.

The breed you choose won't make a difference 5 years from now, so select on the duck you enjoy looking at. For some people, that excludes muscovies.