If you could only have two ducks, what would you choose?

[savingdogs]

Well a banana slug is two to three inches long and about an inch wide, so equal to maybe six or eight regular slugs from where I come from (California). Or ten snails. It is hilarious to watch the chickens try to eat them.
Fowl tempress why do you prefer runners for eggs?

 

[Wifezilla]

Runners, khakis and welsh harlequins are your best bet for egg laying. They each lay over 300 eggs per year and can easily put a laying hen to shame. Of the three (and I have experience with each kind) I prefer the harlequins. They are the mellowest and friendliest of the three.

If you get a pair, your poor hen is going to be bred to death...maybe even literally. You would need AT LEAST 2 girls for 1 drake.

 

[fowltemptress]

As I understand it, good utility strains of runner ducks lay 300 or more eggs a year, and they're the breed that seems to come up most often when you do a search for best duck breeds for eggs. There are other breeds touted as great egg layers, but most things I've read state that runners are the best bet for the most prolific, consistent egg layers. Another good laying breed I've seen mentioned are khaki campbells, but I can't remember any others at the moment.


Edit: Clearly, I type too slow.

 

[goosedragon]

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I would suggest 2 Muscovy Hens if you will settle for eggs and slug eaters. the ladies will be fine with each other. I don't know about your preditors but muscovy fly and roost in trees which reduces the chance of being taken by land preditors. and they are large enough that usually only larger hawks and owls even think of attacking them. If you do decide that you want ducklings to sell or eat add a single muscovy drake to the mix. It is not unheard of for each duck to raise 2 clutches a year with a dozen ducklings to each clutch. Best of all the Muscovy has the best meat of all the ducks, nowhere near as fatty as other ducks. I think they are a blast to watch, Runners are cute and funny Muscovies are funnier. Being tree ducks they don't really need a pool (though they will use one) give them a pan that they can take a bath in and they will be happy, they don't hang out on the water like other ducks. They are quiet ducks, no noisy Quacking just hissing back and forth. There is only one con that I can think of, they aren't the prettiest ducks in the world. To me it sounds like they were made for You> Yes they can handle banana slugs. I have caught my girls eating smaller mice even.
Just for the record the Campbellls hold the laying records, they were developed from the runners by a woman that wanted some meat on her egg laying machines, Many of the ducks developed from the runners will outlay any chicken breed. The Muscovy, if kept warm enough will lay a lot of eggs but they want to be mothers and go broody very easily if you keep the eggs picked up they will keep laying more.

 

[fowltemptress]

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This is the most untrue statement I have ever read. If anything, they are the most attractive breed, by a wide margin. But I may be biased.

 

[goosedragon]

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This is the most untrue statement I have ever read. If anything, they are the most attractive breed, by a wide margin. But I may be biased.

Beauty is in the eye.....They don't usually have those bright flashy colors that you can get in other breeds. give me a Black Muscovy with that green iridencence(can't spell) and I'll be happy! and there are white production lines that don't have all that junk on their face, just enough for a Lone Ranger type mask! and what other duck has a crest that he can raise to impress the ladies?

 

[ziggywiggy]

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Hope I didn't mess up by buying a pair of muscovies instead of a trio. I know my turkeys are the same way. The Tom needs more than one hen and even then sometimes he picks a favorite and I have to seperate them.

 

[Sweetfolly]

If I could only have two, I'd have to go with my Dutch Hookbill pair for all-around calm, friendliness and pretty blue eggs...
But if egg production was my mail concern, then I'd go with a pair of Campbells...
Or, if I wanted to be entertained and have lots of pretty green eggs, I'd go with a pair of Runners...

Which is why I have all three breeds AND a few spares!

Oh, and with one pair of ducks, your hen won't necessarily be bred to death. In the book Keeping Ducks and Geese by Chris and Mike Ashton, they state that a pair of Runners is a perfectly adequate arrangement (in fact, I myself have a pair of Runners that get along famously), it's only when you have more drakes than you do hens that it begins to become an issue. I "rescued" my first three ducks (two Khaki Campbells and a Jumbo Pekin) from a flock where they were the only three girls with 7 Campbell drakes - THAT was NOT an adequate arrangement. But a single pair should be fine.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Welsh Harlequin are closely related to Khaki Campbells and can lay just as well. That fact get overlooked because they are just not as common as Khaki Campbells or Runners. Runners are the third best layer so they will outlay most others, including Muscovies.
Welsh Harlequin are usually friendlier and much prettier IMO.

Here's a pair of Welsh Harlequin ducklings

Here's a drake

Here's a hen with her ducklings, they do go broody too!

But if you are primarily interested in friendly meat birds above egg production, I think you should go with Muscovies.

 

[savingdogs]

Dances with ducks, what beautiful photos! The Welsh harlequin ducks are gorgeous! Lovely. I love the little guy in the third picture that is obviously quacking!
Adorable!

I read my thread to my husband. He was there for that Queen Mary dinner when we were served that duck and we both think we were eating muscovy. He is all jazzed to get that breed now.

I'm giving him the quiz and showing him pictures of cute adolescent moscovy ducks and saying to him "You are going to slaughter that?" He is making the Homer Simpson face (when he thinks about yummy things) and bringing up that meal.

I must say they don't seem to be the cutest breed to me but I used to think that about certain breeds of dogs that I now adore so sometimes it is relative. On the Muscovy sites it also says they interact well with dogs and other animals and that is the situation here (Six dogs, three cats, three dairy goats and 18 chickens).