Hello duck phreaks I currently raise my own chickens, turkeys, and goats for meat and eggs. Yes I know goats don't lay eggs. Anyway, I have heard great things about ducks as layers and meat animals, and I've heard they fit in well with backyard farms. I am considering getting a few to see how they would work out here. I've been researching the breeds and it seems that Campbells and Pekins are everybody's faves for dual purpose. I've also seen Muscovy lovers but I don't care for them and we have a real issue with them around here as an invasive species. I really like the runners for some reason. Do any of you think this breed makes a good dual purpose animal? I know they don't get very big. Do they lay well for you? I've heard they just lay anywhere and it can be a problem finding their eggs. I plan to breed them so I would likely stick to one breed. Obviously I know they like water, but I've seen a lot of barnyards with no water for the ducks to swim in. If I had 4 to 6, I thought I would just do water totes until I was sure I liked them and then build a pond, but not sure how hard it would be to keep it clean. I raise all my animals on pasture and lock them up at night.
Doing my first batch of muscovies, so I can only comment on the pond. I ended up getting a small pond form from Home Depot. It's heave black plastic and is made to be sunk into the ground. I have it set up on a pallet with an old door leaning on it as a ramp. The ducks *love* it, and I would hate for them to be without it. They foul it after four or five days. I bail out some nasty duck water with a bucket and distribute it among the plants in the yard. Then I dump the rest, clean out the form with the hose and a spray nozzle, and refill. The operation takes about 20 minutes, maybe? I am very happy with the pond setup, and so are the ducks.
I have pekins for meat and eggs. They lay a decent number of huge eggs. We put some eggs in the incubator and hatch them out, eight weeks later we have duck meat. For water we use concrete mixing tubs and refill daily.
