Great luck with ducks, bad luck with chickens

[SunnyField]

Hello! My husband and I have become avid duck lovers after purchasing 4 straight run ducklings. They were sold to us as Rouen ducks but we’re almost positive they are mallards. We lucked out and got three females and one male. We’ve had them over a year now and let one of our females keep a clutch of eggs. Now we have a new set of four ducklings running around the yard ! Sadly, our experience with chickens has been disappointing to say the least. Being novices in the chicken department, we should have done more breed research. We purchased 4 sexed Leghorn chicks who, at maturity, proceeded to absolutely destroy the backyard. Plants were shredded and it looked like someone had set off about a dozen land mines. We discovered that Leghorns are excellent egg layers and terrible backyard pets. They were easily re-homed on a large ranch. Learning our lesson, we researched chicken breeds and spoke with a small chicken ranch owner. A Golden Sex-link and a Black Australorp came home with us next. Despite being sexed as female (which is never 100% guaranteed) our Australorp ended up being a rooster . Now, we’re stuck trying to find him a new home (posted on re-homing board. My husband and I have agreed that our chicken raising days are over and we’re going to stick with ducks from now on .

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Sorry to hear of your chicken woes. Here’s a link to the duck forum - https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/ducks.42/

Best wishes
Pork Pie

 

[townchicks]

Well, chickens sure can do a number on the landscaping. They are not for everyone, nor are ducks. We all have our preferences, that's for sure. It's good to know what your limits are, and I'm glad to hear you are having fun with your ducks. They sure are cute!

 

[PirateGirl]

I commiserate with your experience. I started with chickens. A year later got 4 adult ducks. I recently added ducklings. Based on reading online about ducks, I wasn't sure ducks were a great idea (the mess the need for water that isn't dirty or frozen). Based on my real life experience, I enjoy keeping ducks so much better and wish I'd started with ducks. Had I started with ducks I might not have chickens at all! My ducks are friendlier, better layers, cause less damage, do better in winter (which is much more of the year than summer where I live), more resistant to disease, grow and feather out and are off heat faster, cuter (well the last one is just opinion), and the list goes on. Enjoy your ducks!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

View attachment 1437640 Hello! My husband and I have become avid duck lovers after purchasing 4 straight run ducklings. They were sold to us as Rouen ducks but we’re almost positive they are mallards. We lucked out and got three females and one male. We’ve had them over a year now and let one of our females keep a clutch of eggs. Now we have a new set of four ducklings running around the yard ! Sadly, our experience with chickens has been disappointing to say the least. Being novices in the chicken department, we should have done more breed research. We purchased 4 sexed Leghorn chicks who, at maturity, proceeded to absolutely destroy the backyard. Plants were shredded and it looked like someone had set off about a dozen land mines. We discovered that Leghorns are excellent egg layers and terrible backyard pets. They were easily re-homed on a large ranch. Learning our lesson, we researched chicken breeds and spoke with a small chicken ranch owner. A Golden Sex-link and a Black Australorp came home with us next. Despite being sexed as female (which is never 100% guaranteed) our Australorp ended up being a rooster . Now, we’re stuck trying to find him a new home (posted on re-homing board. My husband and I have agreed that our chicken raising days are over and we’re going to stick with ducks from now on .

I think you are correct, I believe Rouen ducklings should have two eye stripes and mallards have one. Those look mallard to me.
Ducks are fun! Glad your enjoying them

 

[drumstick diva]

Hope you will enjoy Backyard chickens as much as we do.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

 

[Joeschooks]

Hello and welcome to BYC! It's such a useful resource for all things chicken and duck! I'm sure you'll have fun on our forums.

If you still want to keep chickens how about having a good sized enclosure for them so you don't need to let them out? I got fed up with my flower beds getting turned over and poo on my decking so I built them a bigger enclosure and they stay in there 24/7 now and love their home