Whats the breed for me?

[BarredBuff]

Whats the breed for me? I am duck dumb now and your help would be very much appreciated.

I want
A Frequent Broody
A Wonderful Forager
A Fair to Good Layer
A Fair to Good Meatie

I Dont Want
A White Duck
A Bantam Duck

THANKS BARREDBUFF

 

[BarredBuff]

Hello?

 

[chickensioux]

Muscovies. And they are quiet.

 

[Rosecomb-Ryan]

Muscovys!

 

[BarredBuff]

Does any hatchery or BYC breeder sell muscovy chicks?

 

[JosieR]

Cayuga (I think...I'm pretty new to ducks

)

 

[toadbriar]

Ancona

 

[mrslb333]

I'd say Cayuga they're so pretty, friendly and make good mothers

 

[Rosecomb-Ryan]

None of My Cayugas are good broodys... Always kinda ehh Muscovys are the best broodys...

 

[LittleSquidgenHome]

I want
A Frequent Broody
A Wonderful Forager
A Fair to Good Layer
A Fair to Good Meatie

Anconas
About half my girls went broody and were pains in the butt about it, the ones with the broody itch were impossible to break up, the ones without it could have cared less about hatching a clutch.
Very good foragers, ours are completely sustaining on pasture and pond and gaining, albeit slowly.
Great layers, in my opinion, when laying we get 5-6 eggs a week per hen and they respond beautifuly to winter light.
They usually give us about a 6lb carcass for males and 4 pounds for females.

What you dont want: They are not bantams, but they can be mostly white. However they come in MANY color combinations and you can cull the ones with feathers you dont like.

Muscovy
EXCELLENT broodies, superb mothers! These are my incubator.
The hens and babies are very good foragers, males can be lazy but are still fair.
They are seasonal layers. In my opinion they are not good layers, mine only lay in the spring and want to hatch everything they lay and are not happy about being broken up.
Excellent meaties! Lean meat and males can get HUGE. They take a little longer than mallard derived breeds to grow out, but they are tasty.

What you dont want: They are not bantams and can come in white but most often come in other combinations, and there are some beautiful color patterns out there.

I am sure there are BYC'rs that sell both breeds.

Silver Appleyards are not white or bantam(though they can come in bantam versions), lay a good amount of egg and produce a large carcass, I have no input on their broodiness though.

I think Blue Swedish are not white, hence the name, and supposed to be good table birds and good layers too but again no idea of the broodiness.

Good luck!​