Our favorites are cayugas, they are quiet and docile. We have runners, pekins, mandarians, mallards, black east indies, khakis, and more. The khakis are also great for egg laying.
We had some Khaki Campbells, and they were very skittish. We wouldn't get them as pets again- but it could have been thta we didn't spend a lot of time imprinting on them.. I've heard that Muscovys make good pets.
Muscovy are what we have here, I really think it depends on what you want from ducks though. I find this breed to be good but I have no interest in having a duck 'in your pocket' we can picks ours up, if we have too and they wag and 'talk' to us. I do think the younger you get them the more friendly they tend to be.. as we have built our flock on various ages and I still find our original day olds to be the most forward. I'd research on various breeds and see what those who own them have for feedback.
Go to this link and check out the duck breed comparison chart. They also have one for chickens and one for geese. Duck Breed Comparisons | Duck Breeds
if your looking for sweet mellow pets id say stay away from runer and runner mixes, eve if you spend alot of time with them as babies they still tend to remain very "skittish" birds, its just how they were developed...(so this includes khakis) Ive heard great things about muscovy, pekin and cayuga for breeds that tend to be realy mellow and good "pet" ducks. of those id personaly go muscovy or cayuga over pekin. if your looking for eggs though cant beat runners, khakis and the layer hybirds. ive currently got 6 runners in the brooder box (almsot 3 weeks old) and i spend 3 hours every day split up into 1 hour blocks with the ducklings...and have since they arrived home as "day olds" and they are still incredibly jumpy and will bolt away from me rather than come neer me. i knew when i got runners that this tends to eb their nature, but i love them and they lay nicely, ive got plenty of snuggly pets...so it works for me lol.
Ive had different breeds throughout the years and I must say, my calls are the sweetest most adorable little things ever! If you handle them daily from the time they're little, they become very tame. I have one that I can pick up and she just snuggles in like they do as ducklings. In my experience, even the ones that don't really enjoy being touched are friendly and inquisitive. If you want big ducks, I always found my pekins to be pretty friendly. I agree with the others about runners though. They're pretty skiddish by nature. All of your more exotic types, like mandies and woodies are pretty skiddish too.
While runners tend to be more skittish, they can be very friendly as well. I raised 3 together and spent time with them daily - just sitting by their kennel watching them and with them in my bathroom running around. They thought I was this great thing to climb all over and would try to jump my legs. I consider my girls friendly. When it was the 3 of them and Blue was the ring leader, they were more so, but now that Blue is gone and Cadbury is the ringleader, not as much. Cadbury was the shy one from day 1 arriving in the mail. But they still come running to me and will still eat from my hand. If I go sit on the edge of their pond, they tend to move a little away from me, but just out of 'touch me' reach. I love my runners. They lay like crazy when they aren't molting and they are funny little buggers. I am contemplating ordering 2 more ducklings soon. 1 will be a runner and 1 might be a pekin or some other 'friendly' breed. We are going to be hatching some duck eggs at school and they will all be runners and I'll likely pick one of those to keep as well.
I have a pekin that was a rescue and raised alone that LOVES people.He has so many neighborhood friends he has his own facebook page. He is a pekin.
