In Need of Advice

[Tlmcq]

Oh and welcome to BYC. Glad you've joined us

 

[Rubysword]

Almost forgot...

 

[DanielleInUro]

I don'r have ducks...yet... But I've done a lot of research and welsh harlequins seem to have the best mix of friendliness and egg laying. In fact, they outperform most chickens in both aspects.

That's actually the same reason I got my three, on top of the four I already had. What I didn't realize, because you can't realize it from pictures or video, is how BEAUTIFUL they would be on top of all that. Even my better half, who enjoys the ducks but is not as enthralled as I am, remarked "Next to the Welshies, now the other ducks look kind of bland. Did we really think these were beautiful? Now it's just this one's black, this one's tan, this one's brown and blue..." I DID shush him, because all my ducks are beautiful and I don't want him hurting their feelings.

 

[PirateGirl]

As others have mentioned, male ducks are overly fond of their females. With this in mind, you may not want a breed of female that is significantly smaller than your male, for their own safety and comfort.

 

[Bridger Davis]

I think the ducks that you get should probably be a larger breed like pekin. That way, you don't have to worry about the male hurting small ducks.

 

[CntryBoy777]

If your drake is a Muscovey, then the hens should be Muscovies too. Tho many equate the Muscovey as a duck, they are not and are a separate breed than a duck. A duck egg has to be incubated for 28days and a Muscovey 35days....which is more inline with a goose. Having the hens of a totally different species just doesn't make sense to me....but, it is your choice, not mine to make.

 

[DanielleInUro]

I missed the part about the boy being a muscovy because reading is hard. In that case, I withdraw my vote for Welsh Harlequins because they are so small. But to CntryBoy777's point, I wasn't aware that, size aside, keeping scovies and mallard-derivatives together was an issue, because I thought they can inter-woo (if not inter-BREED terribly successfully) and will view themselves as one flock. Is that not the case? (I don't know a ton about scovies.)

 

[CntryBoy777]

I missed the part about the boy being a muscovy because reading is hard. In that case, I withdraw my vote for Welsh Harlequins because they are so small. But to CntryBoy777's point, I wasn't aware that, size aside, keeping scovies and mallard-derivatives together was an issue, because I thought they can inter-woo (if not inter-BREED terribly successfully) and will view themselves as one flock. Is that not the case? (I don't know a ton about scovies.)

I'm not an expert either, but I know that they will flock with other birds without a lot of difficulty and have read of inter-breeding...but the offspring are sterile. It makes me no difference that many do think and speak of them as ducks, but in reality they are not. Since the question was to a suitable or best companion for the drake, I responded to address that concern. I have found that the best companion of any animal is for one to have its own kind....that way they speak the same language. When it comes to mixing breeds of the same species it is one thing, but when it crosses species lines it is a whole other thing....