Hey all,
For years, my husband and I have raised chicks from eggs to adulthood, until last summer when we gave birth to our son, we decided it was time to stop keeping chickens. The clincher was when two of the four roosters kept tried to attack my infant son while we were playing in the front yard, and it was either give them away or my husband was going to cook them for dinner
Now that my son is a little older (he turned 1 last month) we've been talking about adopting some ducklings. My in-laws took him to the zoo a few weeks ago and he was all over the ducks. We bought him a duck DVD and he's all over THAT, too, so my husband thinks he would LOVE his own ducks in the backyard.
The only problem is, the last time we had ducks was when we first moved into this house maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and I remember both of them being very mean and aggressive, more so than our roosters. The reason my husband got rid of them was because one of them bit me and ripped some skin off my ankle while I was trying to get in my car in the front driveway, and they never stayed in their "duck pond pen" in the back. Never mind how messy and gross they would get on a daily basis..
My husband is telling me that mallards are very sweet-tempered and good with people, including kids, but I don't know. I haven't found any information online backing that up. Does anyone have any experience? Or is there maybe another breed that's more people-friendly that the ducks we kept before? If we raise them as ducklings - we didn't with the ducks before - do we have a better shot at nicer ducks? Thanks in advance
For years, my husband and I have raised chicks from eggs to adulthood, until last summer when we gave birth to our son, we decided it was time to stop keeping chickens. The clincher was when two of the four roosters kept tried to attack my infant son while we were playing in the front yard, and it was either give them away or my husband was going to cook them for dinner

Now that my son is a little older (he turned 1 last month) we've been talking about adopting some ducklings. My in-laws took him to the zoo a few weeks ago and he was all over the ducks. We bought him a duck DVD and he's all over THAT, too, so my husband thinks he would LOVE his own ducks in the backyard.
The only problem is, the last time we had ducks was when we first moved into this house maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and I remember both of them being very mean and aggressive, more so than our roosters. The reason my husband got rid of them was because one of them bit me and ripped some skin off my ankle while I was trying to get in my car in the front driveway, and they never stayed in their "duck pond pen" in the back. Never mind how messy and gross they would get on a daily basis..
My husband is telling me that mallards are very sweet-tempered and good with people, including kids, but I don't know. I haven't found any information online backing that up. Does anyone have any experience? Or is there maybe another breed that's more people-friendly that the ducks we kept before? If we raise them as ducklings - we didn't with the ducks before - do we have a better shot at nicer ducks? Thanks in advance
