OMG!!! He gave in!! Help me pick a breed!

[magikchick]

I've been after my DH for a couple of years now to let me have a few ducks. Well out of the blue he tells me if I'll keep them fenced in so they aren't all over the yard I can get a couple.

So now which ones do I get. I need them to get along with chickens. I don't have a pond so will have to make do with a kiddie pool for now. I do plan on putting in a small pond later. I want ones that are friendly and don't fly.

I would like to hatch from eggs too. I love to hatch, my bator is on almost all the time.

Also do I need a drake or will females get along ok without one? I just want pets right now. Can you tell I'm exicted?

Marsha

 

[taraann81]

I love my muscovies they are the calmest and most personable of the breeds I have had personal experience with(which is limited though) Ducks would get along just fine without a drake. However'scovies can fly well, but wing clipping is easy, Its like a hair cut it doesn't hurt them and is really simple. Or you could pinion them which is permanent but I don't have personal experience with it!

Good luck ducks, are fun!!!

 

[Soccer Mom]

Well, I'm sure most of the duck people around here know my answer to everything by now.

Swedish Blues!


Seriously, they come in blue, black, and splash and they aren't great flyers, but they will lay eggs. Whatever breed you decide, a flock of girls will be quite content without a drake around. They are messy, but can live quite happily in a fenced yard with a kiddie pool.

If you aren't worried about a specific breed, get a mix of different breeds just for interest. Surf the Holderread's, Murray McMurray and Ideal websites to get an idea of the major breeds and pick whatever you think is pretty. Then ask which folks here have those ducks to get an idea if they are a good match for you.

 

[FenDruadin]

Just for the record--I wouldn't bother putting in a pond. A kiddie pool is much easier to keep clean, and they WILL get the water FILTHY and they will do it very quickly.

As for breeds, it really depends on you. I love Indian Runners for their funny good looks and personalities, and the variety of colors they come in. Also excellent layers.

I am going to be trying magpies this Spring, because I love their gorgeous look. I had a hard time choosing between that and ancona. They're supposed to be good layers too.

Welsh Harlequins are good layers, good looking, and good mothers too. They can also be sexed with good accuracy at hatching by the color of their bill, which is a really cool plus.

Check out Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread--kind of the duck keeper's bible--he lists a bunch of breeds and all kinds of interesting information about each. You may be able to find it at your library.

Have fun!

 

[shelleyd2008]

First off, let me say that I really don't like muscovies....That being said, I think your best bet would be muscovies

Muscovies do fly, but it is very easy to have them pinioned. They are not 'true' ducks, and don't require access to water no where near as much as other breeds do. They are also very quiet, not having a true quack like other ducks do.

Either those, or pinioned call ducks....just because they're cute

 

[Wifezilla]

Welsh Harlequins!!!!

Mine are so cute

(not that I am biased or anything)

They are also the friendliest of my ducks.

 

[4hooves&featheredfriends]

RUNNERS!!!

OK but they are the only ducks I have ever owned, so I guess I am a bit biased.

Swedish blues - huh? Hmmmm....interesting.

Crystal Ball - do you see a Swede in my fortune?

 

[Wifezilla]

I love my runner's egg production but she is afraid of EVERYTHING!

 

[4hooves&featheredfriends]

Before my loss, yesterday, my girls would follow me everywhere. First thing in the morning I let them out of their stall and they follow me to the tub outside for breakfast. I feed them by hand a few times a week and they follow me to the chicken coop to let out Jorge (George) and then back to the barn.

Once breakfast was done and the barnyard surveyed, off to the pond they would go. Every once in a while they would call me "Wack, Wack, Waaack, Wack Wack" and I would call back. Then they would come a runnin'....Silly enough, I actually try to figure out what their gestures mean-it works when I wear my visor

With my little one she comes towards me, so I must be saying the right thing?

no more pond. They are staying close to home in a castle, with two portcullis, a moat filled with piranhas and a draw bridge.

 

[tonini3059]

i like silver appleyards!