thinking of getting some ducks

There is a low murmur coming from my flock all the time. Then, every now and again one or two of the ducks will blast out a very loud string of quacks. Air horn loud.

All the ducks make a huge fuss when they see their food coming and when I go out in the morning to open their night run. So the flock is really loud at those times.

I have water over drainage pits and that takes care of the mess.

Muscovy are quiet, but not know for their egg laying. If you want eggs, all your ducks will be female and thus have a loud quack.
 
Ducks are REALLY REALLY loud. And its teh girls, not the boys. Supposedly muscovy girls are quieter, but we don't have any.

They also don't sleep at night, so you can get sound any time. if you have neighbors that woldnt liek a rooster, they may murder your ducks.

They are also REALY REALLY messy. They make little holes in our lawn and fill them with water for mudbaths.

Quacking Ducks also are illegal in a lot of places that chickens are not, so check your local laws.

Our chickens are much mellower then our ducks, there is no comparison. Ducks are fun however, and they scare the deer away, so they earn their keep, even if they sneak into my garden and eat my veggies
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Mine are quiet from the time the sun goes down until it comes up again in the morning - not a peep out of them. Unless the light in their house is on, then they will chatter a bit, but that isn't noisy, it's just a quiet chatter.

My neighbors have muscovies and they are quiet.
 
The ONLY time my ducks quack is when they see me in the morning. (going to let them out). Other than that I never hear a quack out of them. And they are Mallards, I think I said that.. but just to re-cap. I love them. They are sweeties.
 
Muscovey ducks are quite and lay lots of eggs. They are perching ducks and will lay inside a building like a chicken. All ducks are messy because their waste is real watery not like a chicken's waste. If you want them for the eggs, it is best to buy them grown that way you will know what sex they are. Just get females. They need water to get in and swim. Ducks eat cracked corn and they also graze just like cattle. It is best to buy a book on caring for ducks.
 
I love love LOVE my ducks! I have 3 adult ducks, 5 teenage ducks, and five baby ducklings I hatched out myself. I have to say the rouens and welsh harlequins are my favorite. The welsh harlequins are prettier I think. But the rouens are much more personabile. I cant make up my mind which I like better though. I have 4 welsh harlequin teenagers, 1 rouen teenager, 1 rouen duckling, and four mix bred ducklings (half khaki campbell half rouen) 2 rouen qdults, and a ancona adult. I love them all the same though! Good luck on your choice!
 
I just got ONE mixed breed duck to put with our chickens. We might possibly get her a friend, but she seems to love the chickens, so it might be just her. She is very messy. She puts stuff inside the water and makes sure she gets herself wet.
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She is not loud though. She is a Runner mixed with something.. My fiance picked her out, and she didn't remember what they said.
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They are very entertaining to watch. A lot more work than chickens IMO though.
 
Just to follow up, even though I started this thread 2 years ago. I finally got ducks! I live in the country now with a barn for the chickens and ducks. I've got 7 Khaki Campbells ducks and 27 chickens. They all live together and seem to do well. They're all eating purina flock raiser and I'll switch them to layena just before they start laying. I've got the waterers on wood pallets so the ducks can't play in the mud and I've been composting in the coop (deep litter method works well for a dirt floor). The ducks are louder than the chickens, but I think that that will switch when the roosters mature.

So overall the noise and mess hasn't been a problem here, but I can see where it wouldn't have worked well in the small suburban coop I had before, so I'm glad I waited to get the ducks. Oh, also, I don't keep swimming water for the ducks in the barn, they get herded to a pond for a swim a couple times a week (and herded to the orchard to eat snails once in a while too). Love those little duckies! Definitely more fun than chickens and so much easier to herd!
 
Glad you got ducks! I think welsh harlequins are quiet and lay as many eggs- that is, they're quiet until you kick them off their nest when they're trying to sit. I've never had Khaki Campbells, but they sound like a lot of fun!
 

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