What Breed Should I Get?

[grolschie]

I love my Black Swedish girls and their squeaks!

I haven't met Black Swedish girls yet, only some very lovely drakes.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Just to update:

I ordered a fawn and white Runner, a black Swedish, a Welsh Harlequin, and a Saxony.

I told my hubby I was going to get three, so as far as he'll know, Metzer threw in the Saxony as a "packing peanut."


23 days until they ship, but who's counting???

 

[Aunt Angus]

How many acres? - You know you can have about 1,000 ducks per acre!

Just 3 acres.

BUT THAT'S 3000 DUCKIES!!!!
This site is a bad influence.

 

[Critter721]

I have a Saxony, a Welsh, and 2 Anconas. My experience with Metzer's was not as good as I had hoped, but that was partly due to the pandemic and all of the delayed shipping issues last spring.

Anyway, my Saxony (Charlotte) was the only survivor from my Metzer's order, and I found the other 3 at local farms a couple hours drive away. Charlotte is and always has been the queen of the flock, even when she was the smallest one of the bunch. She's also the quietest one, hardly ever hear her quacking unless I have treats.

None of them really likes to be held, probably because with two young children I just couldn't focus on handling them as much as I would've liked to.

Anyway, I think you have a great selection of breeds to start with. Looking forward to seeing them when they arrive!

Here's my little flock, when I first got them, and then in the fall right before the Welshie started laying.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I haven't met Black Swedish girls yet, only some very lovely drakes.

Last spring Pinball Duck, one of my Black Swedish girls went broody and hatched four ducklings, here she is on her nest:

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Just 3 acres.

BUT THAT'S 3000 DUCKIES!!!!
This site is a bad influence.

Tell ya!

 

[MotherOfDuckens]

Can you tell me more about the Golden Cascade breed? - I have a Duck Flock-Planner website where you can compare a lot of duck-breeds by many attributes and it would be great to add more breeds.

That's an awesome planner. The Golden Cascades were developed by Dave Holderread around the 1980s (they are not yet accepted into the standard of perfection) with the goal of producing an active but calm dual-purpose bird with excellent production qualities. This page seems to do a good job of summing up the basic info and highlights from the Holderread page.

 

[3xhhheather]

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

Your girls are so beautiful! I’m adding some in the spring, cannot wait <3

 

[Aunt Angus]

Your girls are so beautiful! I’m adding some in the spring, cannot wait <3

They really are very beautiful! Since I can have 3000 ducks, maybe I'll add a few... hundred!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Duck house build has officially begun! I'm using all scrap/recycled wood again (at least that's the plan). This will eventually be the floor.

And I need to keep reminding myself it's temporary until we build the dream coop (coming this spring).