What's your favorite thing about ducks?

[Krazyquilts]

Thanks so much for all the replies! Here's a couple more questions.

My family thinks all ducks are mean, what's your experience with mean ducks, or have you had any?

Mine aren't mean at all. My girls are very funny and kind of skittish, unless I have treats of course. My drake is a perfect gentleman to the girls and doesn't pull out neck feathers or anything when he mated with them.

I've used dried mealworms to Treat-train my ducks to come back into their pen when called and used lettuce and tomatos to train them to come to the deck when called. Ducks are quite clever, especially if you start working with them when they are young.

And the most of the ducks I've seen or heard of are more skittish than mean. That's one of the reason I chose ducks over chickens.

If I got 2, what gender combinations are possible? Like 2 drakes, 2 hens, or a drake and a hen?

I'd recommend getting three if you can because that way, if something happens to one of them, then the remaining two still have each other instead of being a single lonely duck. Either three females or a male and two females if you want ducklings some day.

And, about how much time do you spend with your ducks? We have a bunch of critters including (but not limited to) horses, chickens, cats and dogs, fish, and several hermit crabs and everyone says we don't have the time for any more animals.

Ducks don't really seem to take up much time. Maybe half an hour a day tops, and that's in the winter when we have to carry water to their pen which takes longer than just using a hose. So that half hour includes: letting the ducks out of their house, dumping out their pools and refilling them, checking their feed, gathering eggs, adding straw, and maybe giving some treats and then putting them to bed at night. About once a week I do a foot check, which takes about 15-20 minutes and that's only if one of them needs Blu-Kote spray or something like that.

Of course, I do spend a lot of time watching them because they are just so funny and beautiful! I'm outside quite a bit too and they hang out with when I'm working in the garden.