If your worried about a loud duck then get a muscovy, they are amazing in every way, and they don't need as much water as other ducks as their oil glands are under developed and they don't decend from the mallard.
My aunty has a lot of ducks, I keep suggesting to her to get some muscovies but she is put off by the idea (as most people are) by their red comb that forms around their eyes and beak. But this is just a materialistic thing, and can you really hold something against them that they can't control? It's like getting mad at a dog for having 4 legs, well sooorrryy...
Khaki Campbells are good, especially when they play in mud as you can't really see it due to their colour. I have 2 khaki campbell's and a pekin, and when I change their water, I let them out to play in the puddle, they all sit down together, but when they get up, the campbell's look normal, but the pekin, wow, he ends up looking more like second hand food then a duck.
Pros of ducks:
> Males are quiet, females will wake you up if there is a fox, eagle, dingo, evil guy in your yard
> They lay eggs, mine lay everyday (no, the ducks don't mine like digging for diamonds)
> You can end up making a bit of money, I don't use duck eggs and they fill up my fridge, so once my Khaki Campbell's start laying I can get a dozen in a week, then I'll sell them by the side of the road.
> GREAT fertilizer for gardens, just like chicken poop, but, the bigger the poultry, the bigger the poop, the bigger the plant
> Weed, snail, bettle, spider, cockroach, you-name-it-insect control. Once when I was cleaning out their house, there was a huntsman under the paper, so I tried to chase him out with some paper, when he got outside one of the duck gobbled him up and looked at me as if to say got any more?
> If you decide to breed it will be sooo rewarding to see little fluffy bundles wandering around your yard/pen
> Mossie control, I had a flodded pot-plant full of mossie larvae, I put it in the duck pen and all of the dead leaves and mossies were gone. So not only do they get rid of bugs, but they get fed while doing so! What more could you ask for?
> You can train them to come when called (well, not really training), when I raised my ducklings, every time I fed them I heard them call out "QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK" so when I fed them I'd mock them and yell out "DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK" and now they associate "DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK" with being fed, so they come running to me and stand at my feet. You'll impress your friends as you show them a big flock of ducks come running towards you and have them hault at your feet eargerly awaiting your reaction.
> You don't have to buy fancy bedding for them, I use newspapers that I get for free at supermarkets and places like that, and the ducks are non the wiser.
> Have a look at how many pros there are compared to cons, and yes, I am counting this as another pro, so you do too.
> The like cuddles (I'm assuming), I picked up Ms Fav (Daffy) this arvo, and she huddled under my neck, aww...
Cons of ducks:
> They can't control when they poop so you can't toilet-train them
> They are happy to poop in their beds
> They do have a pecking order and will express this to the poor duck at the bottom of this order, but they arn't as bad as chickens. nooo way. I've seen chickens peck to death this one chicken who had a broken leg, when I saw what they were doing, it ruined my view of chickens, and I can never really see a good side in them now. Sad to say.
They don't clean up after themselves, which means you'll have to.
heh heh heh >
