I think that you should consider getting a couple
bantam ducks. Their small size makes caring for them easier. They can share housing with your chickens and can practically swim in a bowl, lol. Some breeds, such as Call ducks and Australian Spotted can fly so you would need to keep a wing clipped. But there are others such as Silkie ducks that dont fly. Black East Indies are beautiful and Miniature Appleyards are adorable and probably better layers than the others. The Call ducks are the smallest and definitely the cutest, but the females are loud (hence the name), so you might want to choose one of the others. Check out Feathersite's section on ducks :
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/BRKDucks.html
Holderreads has Black East Indies, Australian Spotted, and Miniature Appleyards. Best Quality, but spendy:
http://www.holderreadfarm.com/
If you go with a full size duck, the quietest are Muscovy. The female can fly really well so you would need to clip a wing. The males probably couldnt get much air under them in your small yard... they need to get a running start. LOL. The males do get really big, nearly twice the size of the females. The muscovy are really sweet and funny. They arent as much into swimming as the domestic duck breeds, either. Just supply them with a bucket to dunk their head in and once in a while pull out the kiddie pool, and they'll be fine. Muscovy hens are good layers but they are also good mothers, so they will hide a nest and sit on the eggs if given a chance.
Runners are also a great choice. They are much lighter weight than the other domestic ducks (other than bantams) so they eat much less. They are egg-cellent layers and good foragers, too. If you decide on Runners, you can get them from Metzers (
http://metzerfarms.com/) but you might consider getting them from Holderreads so that you can get show quality ducks..... then you can enter them in the Stockton show next year!!
Ducks in general are much hardier than chickens. They rarely get sick and dont have much in the way of housing requirements, especially in our area. They can just be herded into a night shelter to protect them from raccoons (although my giant muscovy males didnt need protecting) and allowed to graze during the day. They wont wander far from their water source. They dont need weather protection in our area, just a dry nest and dry feed. They arent bothered at all by rain (
waterfowl
) but appreciate some shade during the summer.
chellie
