Help Ducks at school

[farmincity]

I'm creating a permaculture duck yard garden for our school. I created a successful design in my backyard. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/ducks-in-the-garden the school seen it and wants one for a permaculture school program.
I need help from you experienced duck people out there. What breed do I choose? It will be for 2 ducks just like my garden has. I have Indian Runners which are to nervous. What about welsh harlequin? I thought a light breed would be better because of less waste. I am open to suggestions!
Now the problem to over come is screaming excited kids. I was thinking it would be beneficial to hatch our own with the eggs in the classroom. So the ducklings will develop with the noise in the background all the time. So the kids will have the experience from the beginning as well.
What about hatching duck eggs? How successful are the percentage of hatching? Is this a bad idea? Should I just get ducklings? I have the winter to plan for the choice while we work on the duck yard.

 

[donkeydew2farms]

I think that is so cool. I wish they did something like that when I was a kid. I think out of all my ducks my Kaki Campbell's are the most friendliest Good luck..

 

[Lozuufy]

Call ducks are tiny and super cute but I've heard they are hard to hatch and often need help because of their short beak. We had two a long time ago and they were super sweet and tame. My khaki campbell and welsh harlequin ducks are also pretty tame.

 

[desertdarlene]

I would choose Pekins, the classic white domestic duck. They have friendly dispositions and are easy to hatch in an incubator. They like to be around people.

 

[LadyIsadora]

Rouen offer a riot of colour interest I think kids would appreciate. I love my Big white Pekins, they are pretty but plain. They are the noisiest, type in my flock. My Rouen drake is the most chatty, but its just (almost constant) soft croaks. They are of good size and pretty darn hardy. Of the ducks I have experience with I would pick Rouen for the kids.

 

[revans2003]

I've only ever seen and hatched pekins for schools, they seem uniquely suited for the chaos of lots of screaming and touchy kids

 

[buff goose guy]

i would say pekin but i dont agree with putting ducks in school anyway to many grubby fingers.

nothing aginst the kids they just dont know how to properly care for ducks.

and i wouldnt really trust the teachers either unless they have actually raised and keep ducks at home with proper care.
If your school is ready for the commitment go for it,if they seem not very prepared its not worth the saftey of the animal, so you know just be careful.

 

[Buck Oakes]

Well I wouldn't recommend actually doing ducks

Would they go up at night??

Handsy kids= big problems with ducklings, one grab from a kid then boom, no baby as well as those other kids always daring each other and stuff like ' I dare you to go and chase the ducks" not to mention kids who just don't like animals and might hurt them if they are twisted enough ( sorry for pointing out the negatives just a lot could happen) and sorry to say this to, one kid or servers could be physiologically like bad like a crazy person, those type of kids torture animals at an early age, I wouldn't reccommend any animal really, but I would recommend a program for kids who want to help animals

 

[revans2003]

Good points but if it was a controlled situation with a locked pen then it can be beneficial. All of my kids schools have pekins and it's very controlled.

 

[Vosh Sahaal]

Personally I would suggest rouens. They are relatively almost comepletely fligtless, calm, and eye-catching. The biggest thing though is the most cycle for the drakes. They lose their male coloration for a couple months just like mallards do.