Sell Me On A Duck Breed

Pics
I don't have video but, My bird's free-range together all day without any problems, have all different birds and sizes no one gets picked on. Occasionally, you will see a duck sneak up on a chicken and harass them but that's about it. I don't think you will have a problem especially if they have plenty of space to roam and have fun.


View attachment 2036174
This picture is a perfect representation of what I’m looking for. Unless your birds have staged the shot. :gig

I see five ducks and one chicken in the pic. The chicken looks like one of my Olive eggers. Could you please tell me what breeds/mutts they all are? At first glance I thought the white one was a goose because it’s so much larger. I’ll guess it is a Pekin. I hope it’s a Jumbo one.
 
This picture is a perfect representation of what I’m looking for. Unless your birds have staged the shot. :gig

I see five ducks and one chicken in the pic. The chicken looks like one of my Olive eggers. Could you please tell me what breeds/mutts they all are? At first glance I thought the white one was a goose because it’s so much larger. I’ll guess it is a Pekin. I hope it’s a Jumbo one.


:gig

The chicken is a pure B.B Red game bantam, Then a Pekin, Rouen, Baby Rouen, and two Call ducklings. I've never weighed the Pekin so she may be jumbo, she sure looks and acts like it.
 
First Picture:
The white ducks are the White Layers, obviously, they may look like Pekins to the untrained eye, but note their pink bills instead of orange.
The deep Black and White Ducks were sold to me as Magpies, but in fact they seem to be a Black Swedish mix.
The one with the red marker is "Erpelchen", my Buff Orpington drake.
Second Picture:
The Drake with the green marker os "Pomponell", a mix between one of my "Swedish Magpie" ducks (i assume PomPom, due to the crest) and my BO-Drake
Red Marker: That looks like "Maggie" another of my Black Swedish Magpie ducks.
Blue: That is "Brownie" one of the mutt-drakes, i took back from my duck inexperienced neighbors. I am not sure who were his parents, but my assumption is that his mom is a White Layer and his dad… I really don't know... The Drakes i had at the time when he was made were F&W Indian Runner (Limpy), Buff Orpington (Erpelchen) and three BO/Runner mixed drakes. But i can't rule out a stray wild Mallard drake as they have visited here a couple of times. He is a really heavy weight, but such a gentleman. And he is my most colourful duck: His head is greenish black, his chest brown white laced, wings gray white laced and a white bib, and there's some blue in his speculi.
You may understand now why i recommended muttlings? They are a package of surprises!
All gorgeous for their own reasons. But Brownie is definitely the one I did a double take on. Wow. I also like the buff drake.

What is your ratio of male:female? As it stands right now I only want females, that’s why I’m shying away from hatching. Until I learn a bit more about ducks I don’t want to tackle processing them. I’m pretty smooth with the chickens, and I’m sure the two have a lot of slaughtering similarities. I’ll have to read up on the differences. But I’m game.

Do you slaughter at all or are yours mostly pets? Do you let the ducks take care of hatching or do you incubate as well?

I know, I’ve got a thousand and one questions. I’m sorry, but I appreciate everyone’s sharing.
 
This is the only one on my phone, but I look at my flock as one big family they all hang out together and just seem to be very content with each other. Now mind you hormones can cause a chicken to get but feathers grabbed if they get too close but never has anyone been hurt except feelings
EE7087ED-7126-4C3E-99B6-273A690B55A5.jpeg
EE7087ED-7126-4C3E-99B6-273A690B55A5.jpeg
 
I have had chickens now for four years and absolutely love them and I am now ready to delve into the duck world.

I need you die hard duckers to sell me on the breeds.

Of course I have been feverishly reading everything I can about ducks and have come up on more than one conflicting subject, particularly concerning to me are feed and breed gentleness. I do have several breeds in mind already, but I would like to hear what long-time duck lovers have to say.

A little about my poultry husbandry. (So you can help me decide on the best breed(s)).

I have 24 hens, 12 pullets and one rooster. (He is the light of my life.) They are housed securely in two coops and adjoining run until I release them each morning where they have run of the yard and barnyard until roosting time.

There are predators around. I have personally seen/heard coyotes, possums, hawks and owls, but I’m sure there are others. I do have two outside dogs, one that is a GS/GP mix and doing a fabulous job patrolling the property. Our pastures are not completely fenced with field fence (some barbed wire), but our 4 acre yard is completely fenced with field fence.

My main predator concern is the infamous hawk. They are here, unfortunately. I have been very fortunate to have only had ONE encounter with a hawk in four years. He must have been a juvenile and thankfully only posed a scare to my big bottomed Cochin. No punctures, just a few loose feathers. There are plenty of tree lines, bushes and buildings (barn, sheds, coops and run) for my chickens to hide and I will surmise they have used them wisely.

We have six horses and I have been known to shoot bottle rockets to ward off the occasional neighboring dog that finds his way into our pastures, which may or may not be helpful keeping the aerial predators at bay. ;) No scientific data there.:lau

I do have three barn cats that seemingly have gotten along well with the chickens, as long as you don’t count the time Tiger Lily was accidentally closed in the run one night. Let’s just say both birds and cat were horrifically surprised that next morning when the pop door opened. I don’t think Tiger Lily has gone anywhere around the run since. :gig

Also, even with the dogs and cats, I have been successful at raising several clutches, both broody and bator chicks, in my coop/run and then out into the yard between 2-4 weeks old. (The broody took hers out sooner than I took the bator chicks out.)

I feed Purina Flock Raiser w/oyster shell on the side and have sand in my coops and shavings, leaves, etc. on the run floor.

My ducks will be housed separately from the chickens, with their own house and fenced and covered run with a small pond. I do realize that my ducks most likely will not be successful free ranging in my yard like my chickens have been. I just don’t see them as being as predator and escape savvy as chickens. :confused: But I could be wrong, IDK. It is my intention to let the ducks out of their run only when I am out working in the yard/garden. I do want them to be able to dabble around for greens and grubs regularly.

I am not concerned with copious amounts of duck eggs or succulent meat. I only want ducks for pets, for myself and my grandson. Well, and for the duck poo water for my garden. Many of my chickens are nothing more than big pets and then some just prefer to be left alone.

I want no more than 4 ducklings (3 really, but I didn’t want the possibility of 2 picking on 1). Preferably all females...a drake maybe at a later time.

It was my hope that I’d be able to feed them all FR, but I’m not sure that is best for the ducks. Supposedly they need lower protein and higher niacin than FR provides, but could that be only in the early stages?

Please, please let me pick your collective brains on my new adventure. And also please add anything that I need to know that I might not have mentioned.

Thank you all so much for your advice, knowledge and wisdom...and more importantly, for your willingness to share.

BYC is the best site, bar none!
pekins, they are a common breed and a lot of people dont think they are as “pretty” as other breeds but they are super loving, can’t fly away, don’t make to much noise, won’t try to escape, and if they are anything like mine will let u dress them up 😂
 
and if they are anything like mine will let u dress them up
And that would have been all the selling point I needed as a child. I was an only child and used to dress my miniature dachshund “sister” up in my old baby clothes all the time. I even had a hole cut out of the plastic-lined diaper covers for her tail! If that doesn’t give my age away I don’t know what will. :lau

This past Christmas I tried to put a Santa hat and scarf on several of my chickens. Only a couple of them obliged me. :gig
83B4CAAF-ABBA-49FB-9881-5DA9522052E9.jpeg
 
And that would have been all the selling point I needed as a child. I was an only child and used to dress my miniature dachshund “sister” up in my old baby clothes all the time. I even had a hole cut out of the plastic-lined diaper covers for her tail! If that doesn’t give my age away I don’t know what will. :lau

This past Christmas I tried to put a Santa hat and scarf on several of my chickens. Only a couple of them obliged me. :gig
View attachment 2036370
That should have made December’s calander page!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom