Need advice on a small flock of 4...

[Jdc361]

Hello! It's been a while since I've been on here. I got chickens a few years ago after I did months of research on here. They were great! But we sold them because they started to fly out into the neighbors yard and destroy their landscaping

Anyways I am interested in getting ducks!! Only 4. And breeds that can't fly so I was thinking Pekins and Rouens maybe? Any other suggestions? They need to be friendly cuz they will mostly be pets and for eggs. We will be modifying the large chicken coop we have its 4x8. I was thinking about just taking down the roosting bars. Does anything else need to change for them? Is that going to be a big enough coop? The run is about 15x20 I think so it is quite large. We were going to make a decent sized pond at the end with a pond liner probably about 6x8. Is that big enough? It would have a pump and live plants. Any recommendations for a cheaper pump? Also can ducks just eat chicken feed? I'm going to get all females to avoid problems with mating too much lol any info will be greatly appreciated

 

[QuackSpeak]

http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparison.cfm?CustID=14584204

The link above shows a lot of duck breeds, and their temperaments, flying ability, weight, etc. It doesn't have all the breeds, like Anconas and Magpies and Calls, but it does a pretty good job covering the bases. A lot of duck breeds are friendly, it depends on how you raise them - lots of treats and interaction makes for friendly duckies! Most ducks breeds do not fly, but some - like Khaki Campbells and Mallards - do, so just look into that..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/256233/ducks-sticky-topics-index

Those are two links you might find helpful. I think your coop and run would be fine, and I have no experience with ponds, so I can't help you there...

Hope I helped!

 

[Amiga]

Quackspeak covered it, I think.

I'll add that my Runners are great, very friendly, energetic but calm. I spent loads of time with them when they were growing up. I use livestock watering troughs and concrete mixing pans for swim pans - easy to dump, rinse and refill.

But there are folks who have some nice ponds for their ducks - care must be taken in selecting plants. Not toxic to ducks, not interesting to them, good root systems. Ducks will enrich water very quickly - some folks have designed decent recirculation systems, including quackaponics systems.

Also called aquackponics or duckponics.

 

[Jdc361]

Quackspeak covered it, I think.

I'll add that my Runners are great, very friendly, energetic but calm.  I spent loads of time with them when they were growing up.  I use livestock watering troughs and concrete mixing pans for swim pans - easy to dump, rinse and refill.

But there are folks who have some nice ponds for their ducks - care must be taken in selecting plants.  Not toxic to ducks, not interesting to them, good root systems.  Ducks will enrich water very quickly - some folks have designed decent recirculation systems, including quackaponics systems.

Also called aquackponics or duckponics.

http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparison.cfm?CustID=14584204

The link above shows a lot of duck breeds, and their temperaments, flying ability, weight, etc. It doesn't have all the breeds, like Anconas and Magpies and Calls, but it does a pretty good job covering the bases. A lot of duck breeds are friendly, it depends on how you raise them - lots of treats and interaction makes for friendly duckies! Most ducks breeds do not fly, but some - like Khaki Campbells and Mallards - do, so just look into that..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/256233/ducks-sticky-topics-index

Those are two links you might find helpful. I think your coop and run would be fine, and I have no experience with ponds, so I can't help you there...

Hope I helped!

Thank you both so much! I'm also having trouble deciding what ducks to get for a flock of 4

do u have any suggestions for a combination that will look good together? I was thinking maybe 2 Pekins, a buff and a Cayuga. Idk I need more ideas!!! I prefer for them all to be around the same size and cold hardy

 

[Jdc361]

I'm not really a fan of runners...

 

[masonmom21]

I have peakin, runners, and khaki cambells. Each breed develops a personality based on you regardless so just take that into consideration and spend time with them

 

[QuackSpeak]

Thank you both so much! I'm also having trouble deciding what ducks to get for a flock of 4

do u have any suggestions for a combination that will look good together? I was thinking maybe 2 Pekins, a buff and a Cayuga. Idk I need more ideas!!! I prefer for them all to be around the same size and cold hardy

Well a good contrast would be Welsh Harlequin and Cayugas. Maybe you could get one Cayuga, one Black Swedish, one Welsh Harlequin, and something else, maybe a Pekin? That way the Black Swedish and Cayuga would contrast with the Welsh Harlequin and Pekin. But a Pekin would probably be a bit bigger than the others.. I guess you could try the Duclair duck. I'm suspicious because I can only find one peicture of these birds, but it seems they like like Pekins but smaller?

 

[QuackSpeak]

http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuclairDucks.cfm?ID=DUC&CustID=14567687&BirdType=Duck&Breed=Duclair
Here's a link about the Duclair