Which duck should I get?

[NewDuckyMan]

After doing a fair amount of research I have decided to get a pair of ducks.

I want a duck who will be:

1.Friendly(very important to me)

2.Is'nt too noisy, I live in suburbia so don't want to disturb the neighbours

3.A duck that won't fly

4.that is a good egg layer

5.that is a good slug/snail forager(not overly important to me but would be nice)

6.that will be content in a backyard

And I think thats about it, any advice would be much appreciated.
By the way I live in Australia so please consider this when answering my question.

 

[NewDuckyMan]

By the way I have a large backyard with 6ft fences.
I haven't really looked around properly but some of the ducks readily available to me are Pekins, muscovy, mallards, call ducks, khaki Campbell's and indian runners.

 

[veronicasmom]

I think you have to prioritize your list. Muscovy ducks fit your criteria as far as being friendly, calm and quiet. But they fly and like to forage, so unless your backyard is huge, any duck will probably make a mess pretty quickly between the water and the drilling. A plus is that most muscovies don't need a lot of water. Several of mine do go in the pool but I have one that has NEVER gone swimming or even bathed in a bowl, she just drinks the water out of the pans and dishes, and avoids the pool completely. You can clip a wing or both and they cannot fly, and that is pretty easy to do. They make the most lovely trilling/cooing noises and wag their tails, which is adorable. I have a few different breeds and have to say that the scovies are the most personable of all of them. They will walk right up to me, stand in front of me, wag their tails and look up at my face, looking for treats. So darn cute. One follows me around like a dog.
I just had to take one of them to the vet for conjuntivitis. She was amazing. I have had to take a few ducks to this vet for various reasons, and the vet was amazed at how calm this girl was. I wish I knew how to get my phone pics on this. I shot a pic of her standing on the exam table, just looking around the room. The vet kept saying this is the easiest duck I have ever had to examine, she is wonderful. She tolerated all the poking and prodding and the corneal staining like a pro. She is one cool duck.
I know from experience that the Pekins, Mallards, and Runners are NOISY. I have or have had all of those. I think I read Calls are too. Do not know about KC's. But you would not know the Muscovies are even there unless you see them.
Let us know what you decide and of course, post PICTURES! Good luck. Oh and they are good layers too.

 

[NewDuckyMan]

Thanks for the Great advice, Sadly I am most keen on khaki campbells the one duck you haven't kept haha, if anyone else can tell me about there experience with KC's that would be great , muscovies sound like lovely ducks but their sheer size, claws and strong wings put me off considerably.

 

[Learningstill]

We have khakis and we love them, but our most favorite are our welsh harlequin. The welsh are a lot harder to come by, so they may take some leg work to get. Back to the khakis... The duck is noisy when she is alerting, but other than that they are quiet. Our duck is more friendly than drake, but we know others to be the opposite. They will eat from our hand. The duck allows kids to hold and sometimes the drake will too. Sometimes our drake bites. Our drake is much more mean than anyone else's khaki we have seen. Nothing happened to him, he was like this as a young duckling. Our duck as a duckling was very scared and grew out of it. They do not fly. They do not play in the water as much as our mallards.

I am not sure what you mean by friendly. Friendly in our mind is the duck who sits calm while holding, eats from our hand, and stays a few feet from us unless we try to catch and this is when they flee frantically. They are not like dogs or cats who seek attention.

Important things to know:

Ducks cannot be alone, so you would have to get at least two.
Ducks water needs to be changed daily
The have to have water to eat, and clean their nostrils
Their water has to be deep enough to submerge their while head
They will need a place to get away from elements, including wind
The ducks need lots of vitamins to produce eggs safely.

 

[NewDuckyMan]

Thanks for all the advice, I knew all that , I was planning on getting 2-3, sorry if my title was misleading.
I have a deep plastic pond in the garden which is changed regularly, I have a large kennel set out for them(hay bedding) which is in a large enclosure they will be in during the night also for protection.
I'll probably be getting a trio of khaki's in a few weeks

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for all the advice, I knew all that , I was planning on getting 2-3, sorry if my title was misleading.
I have a deep plastic pond in the garden which is changed regularly, I have a large kennel set out for them(hay bedding) which is in a large enclosure they will be in during the night also for protection.
I'll probably be getting a trio of khaki's in a few weeks

Be sure to post pics when you get them and Congrats on your decision, ps and a lot of times neighbors can be won over by the promise of eggs when they start to lay,.

 

[NewDuckyMan]

Will do! haha, good suggestion, will be sure to start bribing my neighbours with duck eggs if any problems arise!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Will do! haha, good suggestion, will be sure to start bribing my neighbours with duck eggs if any problems arise!

 

[NewDuckyMan]

Can anyone else offer a suggestion?
I have available to me mallards, pekins, muscovy, call ducks, khaki campbells and indian runners.