What Breed Should I Get?

[Aunt Angus]

Hi!

I have ALWAYS wanted ducks. I LOVE ducks. I plan to get a few this spring now that I have a lot more room. I have a small flock of chickens (getting more of those, too, come spring). These ducks will be pets more than anything, but I do like duck eggs!

Now that I am finally getting them, I am like a kid in a candy store! I don't know what kind to get! I adore Runners, but Cayuga are gorgeous. And Pekin are adorable. And my hubby likes Swedish. And Appleyards seem fantastic. Ahhhhhh!


I would prefer ducks who don't fly. They will be in a fenced area (about 1/4 acre in area) shared with my chickens, but they'll have their own wing of the chicken house (pardon the pun).

Advice? I'm leaning towards Runners for cuteness, but I've heard they can be really standoffish. I don't need them to be my best friends, but I need to be able to handle them to care for them.

TIA!

(I'm so excited!!!!)

 

[LT71689]

You have a better chance of friendliness if you hatch them yourself or get day-olds that can potentially imprint on you, but thats not a sure deal - they can imprint on each other instead, or their individual personalities just override. The other draw back of that is that they're very hard to sex and you might not get a proper gender ratio and wind up having to cull/rehome/get a whole lot more a few months down the road. (If you really want to have the experience of raising cute little baby ducklings, I'd personally go with only starting with 2 or 3, have fun with them growing up, and once they're old enough to be sexed go about acquiring more sexed adults that will make the gender ratio appropriate)

Calls, Muscovies, and Mallards can fly, most other domestics cant/wont.

Metzer has a comparison table for some of the traits you're interested in (but again, dont take it as a sure thing, there's always outliers and ducks can have a whole lot of individual personality) https://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparisonNew.cfm?affiliate=undef&CustID=27724359

Pekins are super popular pet ducks for their great personalities, but they're very prone to health issues due to being bred as meat ducks that grow heavily and quickly and arent actually supposed to live very long. Its possible to find better-bred pekins and if you know what you're up against, you can do things to mitigate their health risks, but they're trickier than lighter breeds and if losing a pet is especially hard on you, you might not wanna go with them just in case. If you're willing to put in the work and give it your all, they're amazing (I had two, they were like a pair of feathered puppies)

 

[Callender Girl]

My only adult experience with ducks (we had Mallards when I was a kid) is with runners, and I adore them! They are, as you said, incredibly cute, especially when they take off across the yard with that distinctive gait. And, I love the sound of their voices, even though I think the girls sound like they are laughing at me!

A 2-foot wire garden fence keeps mine confined. I had one -- once -- who could remain airborne for 4 or 5 seconds, but Claire was the only runner who ever showed any inclination toward flight. A fairly busy paved road goes past my property, and I don't have a problem with ducks trying to become road kill.

Initially, the breeder where I got them didn't sex the day-old ducklings, and I chose four -- of which three turned out to be drakes! Breeder is now pretty darned good at sexing babies, and all four of my most recent girls really turned out to be girls.

How friendly do you want your ducks to be? Mine recognize me as the giver of food and will crawl on top of me when I'm trying to fill a food dish. They will follow me across the yard when I yell, "duck, duck, house, house," a signal that dinner is about to be served. They will run up to me when I'm outdoors just in case food could be involved.

Quinn, the original female, will crawl into my lap to get to food (are you sensing a theme here?) and will gladly and awkwardly climb the steps to the back door checking for -- you guessed it -- food.

None of mine have ever liked to be picked up or held. But, if I sit still on the ground, they will climb on me, and nine of the current 10 will gladly eat from my hand.

Good luck on whatever breed you choose; I'm sure other breeds are just as wonderful, but I dare not find out because then I would want even more birds!

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

personalities is all about how u raise them so no breed is gonna be more scared then another

i have pekin but don’t think you should get them because (they are cute and cuddly) but they are so big so have more leg issues so may need vet care more often

 

[Derputy Dawg]

After doing some research myself I decided to go with ducks that wouldn't be terrified of me, but were also a heritage/endangered breed of duck with decent egg production. I narrowed it down to Welsh Harlequin or Ancona.

I hatched 5 (out of 8) Ancona eggs I got from an eBay seller back in June.

 

[3bird]

This won't surprise people who knows us, but I'm going to make a strong plug for silver Appleyards. They are fantastic--ours are friendly, great foragers, fantastic layers, have good maternal instincts, and are simply beautiful birds. Plus they are an endangered heritage breed. You can check out our guys here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUlPSFpsJ1cQS_CvkFOhMAA

 

[EverythingDucks]

I love Welsh Harlequins. Great egg production. And they are beautiful. Not the best if you want them to go broody though.
If you want to hatch some you could have a broody hen do it if you really wanted.

I also love Swedish though I don't know a while lot about them.

You could get a few different breeds too. And you can always add more.

 

[SolarDuck]

I personally only have Muscovy but if you want ducks as pets look no further! Muscovy ducks have the most amazing personalities 2/3 of my muscovy girls are like dogs and run up to me for pets and snuggles every time I go outside. Plus they are just super entertaining to watch because their body language and the sounds they make are completely different from any other type of duck. They are also very good at foraging for flies and mosquitos. They do fly, but you can just clip their wings once a year like I do.

 

[Aunt Angus]

You have a better chance of friendliness if you hatch them yourself or get day-olds that can potentially imprint on you, but thats not a sure deal - they can imprint on each other instead, or their individual personalities just override. The other draw back of that is that they're very hard to sex and you might not get a proper gender ratio and wind up having to cull/rehome/get a whole lot more a few months down the road. (If you really want to have the experience of raising cute little baby ducklings, I'd personally go with only starting with 2 or 3, have fun with them growing up, and once they're old enough to be sexed go about acquiring more sexed adults that will make the gender ratio appropriate)

Calls, Muscovies, and Mallards can fly, most other domestics cant/wont.

Metzer has a comparison table for some of the traits you're interested in (but again, dont take it as a sure thing, there's always outliers and ducks can have a whole lot of individual personality) https://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparisonNew.cfm?affiliate=undef&CustID=27724359

Pekins are super popular pet ducks for their great personalities, but they're very prone to health issues due to being bred as meat ducks that grow heavily and quickly and arent actually supposed to live very long. Its possible to find better-bred pekins and if you know what you're up against, you can do things to mitigate their health risks, but they're trickier than lighter breeds and if losing a pet is especially hard on you, you might not wanna go with them just in case. If you're willing to put in the work and give it your all, they're amazing (I had two, they were like a pair of feathered puppies)

Oh, thank you! I am all over this comparison chart!

I'm getting 2, I think, to start. I'll probably order them so I can get just girls. Hubby isn't as enamored as I am, but he felt the same way about the chickens at first, but he adores them now.

This is perfect! Thank you! I'll let you know what I decide. Perkins are in the lead atm.

If I got more, do you think I could get more than 1 breed??? My chickens are very mixed flock, and I've really enjoyed having all the different personalities together.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I personally only have Muscovy but if you want ducks as pets look no further! Muscovy ducks have the most amazing personalities 2/3 of my muscovy girls are like dogs and run up to me for pets and snuggles every time I go outside. Plus they are just super entertaining to watch because their body language and the sounds they make are completely different from any other type of duck. They are also very good at foraging for flies and mosquitos. They do fly, but you can just clip their wings once a year like I do.

Oh, I do love Muscovies! I love their look, too! Hmmm.... So many options.... Imma have to decide soon....