Sell Me On A Duck Breed

[WannaBeHillBilly]

OMG look how gorgeous. I think the bird species has the most intricate coloring of all the animal world. I’m in awe! Also, @007Sean has some of the most gorgeous pheasants I’ve ever seen. They don’t look real.

We live less than 5 miles from Alabama’s Weiss Lake and do have several wild ducks, along with geese, and egrets that visit our front ponds, which are a good ways away from my house. We also battle the dang alligator snapping turtles every year. My little duck loves wouldn’t be safe if they ventured that far away. You can see how far away the ponds are from my yard. The front pasture is about 9-10 acres.View attachment 2035441

I just had to add this picture because I LOVE it. I caught this one day when I was bush hogging the pasture. I love the reflection of our mare and her colt.
View attachment 2035442

If you hang some of these nest-boxes around your pond:
https://www.audubon.org/news/how-build-wood-duck-nest-boxYu may attract some wood-ducks and help them to raise their ducklings.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

That looks more like a gopher hole right there in front of her.

She would not care either! - Poor Gopher…
In fact that was the freshly dug up red-cabbage patch for this year.
While i was digging, PomPom-Duck was sitting on the other side of the fence , eyes like pancakes, squeaking "can i please help you digging?" the whole time and when i finally opened the gate they all came out for gardening…
(Video is uploading)

 

[Mimi13]

If you get just one. Which you can do.. just make sure you have him stand in the rear row for family pictures....

Also get a profile picture for the FBI to hand out to the post offices when he does his tetrodotoxin dux thing.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Did you post this cute pic on @casportpony Show off your butts thread? It is a cute one!

Of course i did! - I actually took this picture for this thread, grabbing frantically for my phone when Blanca posed in front of me like this...

 

[Mimi13]

If you hang some of these nest-boxes around your pond:
https://www.audubon.org/news/how-build-wood-duck-nest-boxYu may attract some wood-ducks and help them to raise their ducklings.

That would be way cool. We do have our resident goose family each spring. I love watching them raise the goslings. The goose and gander will teach them something new each week it seems.

 

[Mimi13]

She would not care either! - Poor Gopher…
In fact that was the freshly dug up red-cabbage patch for this year.
While i was digging, PomPom-Duck was sitting on the other side of the fence , eyes like pancakes, squeaking "can i please help you digging?" the whole time and when i finally opened the gate they all came out for gardening…
(Video is uploading)

Please post it when you can.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I adore my muscovy. They are hardy and long lived. They don't need a lot of water like mallard based breeds. They are happy taking a bath or two a day. Mine forage very well during the warmer months. They wander the yard at night looking for bugs. They are good at controlling insects, and are helpful in controlling flies as they will dig through manure looking for fly larvae.

They are quiet too. I used to have other ducks years ago. The constant quacking got to me after a while.

Muscovy are good at reproducing. So if you want meat birds they will supply you with them. To me they are a very sustainable breed for a homesteader.

They come in many colors too. Blues, fawn, chocolate, blacks, and all combinations in between paired with white.

I like that they can fly. It can help them avoid predation. A simple wing clipping will ground them. I like that they roost. Mine have never gone in my trees as I have plenty of roost options in my shed.

I also like that they are lazy breeders. There's not that frantic chasing of hens constantly. You also can just keep females too.

You do need to buy them locally. Otherwise I think Murray Mcmurray sells hatching eggs still.

 

[casportpony]

Do you have a suggestion?

ETA: It was rude for me to answer with a question. Although I haven’t decided on a hatchery I have been looking at Metzer, Meyers and McMurray.

Are there any other hatcheries that are more noted for ducks that I should be looking at?

Hey, no worries! I did not think your reply was the least bit rude!

1) when considering a hatchery, I would pick one as close to me as possible as this will hopefully make the shipping time shorter and less stressful.

2) pick hatchery that actually hatches the ducks at their facility. Some hatcheries don't actually hatch the duckings, they contract through other hatcheries

3) since you are considering buying day olds, I think this rules out the Muscovy, because I don't think any of the commercial hatcheries sell Muscovies due to some laws and that they don't ship well.

if I were going to buy from a hatchery, I think I would buy from Metzer, but that is only because I have been there and they are close to me.

 

[quackiemama]

Of course i did! - I actually took this picture for this thread, grabbing frantically for my phone when Blanca posed in front of me like this...

I need to go check back on that thread. My little fluff butts are not cooperating with butt pics. Everytime I throw a snack out they run over but as soon as I move my hand to take a pic boom they are back telling me loudly they want more snacks. Spoiled I tell you

 

[quackiemama]

Hey, no worries! I did not think your reply was the least bit rude!

1) when considering a hatchery, I would pick one as close to me as possible as this will hopefully make the shipping time shorter and or a stressful.

2) pick hatchery that actually hatches the ducks at their facility. Some hatcheries don't actually hatch the duckings, they contract through other hatcheries

3) since you are correct considering buying day olds, I think this rules out the Muscovy because I don't think any of the commercial hatcheries sell Muscovies due to some laws and that they don't ship well.

if I were going to buy from a hatchery, I think I would buy from Metzer, but that is only because I have been there and they are close to me.

My last batch of ducklings (the pekin girls) I ordered from Murray McMurray since their location was not too far from me. Well guess what? Little did I know that they did not ship from their location but instead from CA, the complete opposite coast from me. I found that out when they got delayed in shipping and were almost 2 days late. So these are excellent pointers for choosing a hatchery.