Why raise chooks for eggs when you can do ducks?

[destinduck]

Its easy to pick which one. If you want easy and cheap,go chickens. If you like spending time with your birds,go ducks. But I dont know why you can't keep both unless you're like me and can't keep chickens(livestock) in the city. Lots of great comments BTW

 

[jmc]

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i am only doing one, not both. thanks for your reply.

 

[jmc]

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[Wynette]

John, I have actually been wanting ducks for over a year now. What has scared me off thus far is mainly their need for water. I have a very good friend with blue runners...she tells me they do not swim, although she provides a lovely pond. However, even they do need a deep water bucket and make more of a mess than her chooks do. Duck poo, from what I am told, is much more wet & gooey that chook poop. That said, well...poop is poop if you ask me. Wet & runny or hard as a rock, I would prefer to never have to deal with ANY of it.

Runners lay well, and are active foragers. Their eggs are larger than most chicken eggs. And, their eggs are a pretty mint green (at least my friend's duck's eggs are....I'm unsure whether all are). Another thing - I don't know if this is all ducks or mainly runners - my friend's ducks lay VERY early a.m. every day, so she can gather the eggs prior to leaving for work for the day; thus, they are not lying around all day. A definite plus!

Most of the really bad chicken diseases can be prevented. Close your flocks, folks - hatch only eggs, do not buy adults. If you MUST, quarantine them a full 30 days. STRICT quarantine. There are few diseases that pass through to the egg. Some do, yes...but, you can't prevent each and every bug.

I do agree, from what I have learned, that ducks are generally more hardy. For sure, they are more hardy in the winter, preferring to go out every day, even if there is snow & blowing wind. My chooks will choose to stay in their coops on days like that.

So, I can see benefit to having both!

ETA: I would also say that not all chickens are super hardy. I'm sure it's the same with ducks, though I cannot speak to that. I WILL say that any I have purchased from a hatchery have mostly been very hardy. The ones that are more delicate, in my experience, are the highly bred "show" chickens.

 

[gallorojo]

I have done both chickens and ducks, here's my 2 cents. Ducks are only worth bothering with if you have a natural body of water on your property. In the past, I have had water, and ducks were great, minimal predator problems, minimal mess ( most poop was in the lake/river), and the ducks could forage 100% of their food in warm weather, and still alot in the winter. Without natural large bodies of water, ducks are eaten by every critter imaginable, they are too slow on land to escape. Without water, the mess they make is outrageous, worse than geese, far worse than chickens, horrible. They swim in the sheep troughs, pull chickens tail feathers out, they are just not worth the trouble. I really like ducks, trust me, I just don't have a good set up anymore, so, I won't keep them. They can certainly forage more food than can chickens, they are good for gardens because they don't dig, and they are very very tough and cold hardy. I know plenty of people will keep ducks without water, but, for, me, having grown up with ducks on a lake and stream, it seems like too much hassle.

 

[Caprice_Acres]

This is my first year with Welsh Harlequin ducks and Geese. I have had muscovies for several years which quite honestly are VERY similar to chickens in their care. The only thing I changed with my muscovies was to put the chicken waterer (which is just a short rubbermaid bin) behind a cattle panel (so they can't swim in it). That I dump every day, so it doesn't matter if it gets filthy. Honestly, that is the ONLY water chore 100% necessary when you raise muscovies. They don't need water to breed. It is ideal if they can wash up but small amounts of water are perfeclty adequate, even with rather large numbers of birds.

For the winter I have little cement mixing bins that I offer for them to wash in. They can get clean but they're still easy to dump. They don't need to breed this time of year so I don't care if it's big enough for that. They are big enough for a pair of geese to splash around in, though. Up till this year, we have used them all year round for our muscovies. This year are numbers are much higher and we have geese/welsh harlequin ducks so we're putting in a pond that we wanted for irrigation purposes anyways.

We plan on putting in a new pond this year for them, which will have a pump in it which we will use to water the garden - not to filter it. We WANT that water to be rendered FILTHY by the ducks, to benefit our garden.

It will be a fairly large pond, however, so it shouldn't become a cesspool or anything.

I would not EVER raise ducks if they didn't free range. They do have liquid poo, and I can't imagine keeping them bedded or in a run. They would have it gross VERY fast. Mine free range 24/7, 365. I haven't lost a bird to predators in close to 8 years now. Luck or prevention from our two large dogs that kill anything not supposed to be here, I don't know.

In my opinion of you want quiet ducks that are easy to raise and need very little water, get muscovies. I never had more than the cement mixing bins for them, and they did just fine. They range well, taste great, can lay well, come in multiple colors, are great mommas, and despite someone saying they get frostbitten - mine at least seem to winter well, too. I've never seen frostbite here in MI, and we've had some brutal weather over the last few years. They really aren't much more work than Chickens and are very enjoyable.

That being said I LOVE my welsh harlequins. I love duck noises. Loudness isn't an issue (we have guineas and geese, too), so we don't mind the quacks.

 

[jmc]

thanks. yes i got out of muscovies earlier in the year.
i now have campbells and ancona ducks. i have decided to sell all of them to get back to chooks ONLY.

 

[pascopol]

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That is all very true ducks without natural body of water are mess and extra work.

I do not have pond, but still keep a few ducks, cause nothing will beat duck (geese) eggs for baking.

Once you try baking with ducks eggs, you will not go back!

So I am willing to put up with the mess and water changing, in exchange for great entertaintment and precious eggs.

Besides ducks have therapeutical effect on me. Watching them and their love of fun and love of life makes me smile and lowers my blood pressure. LOL

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I think duck eggs are a very well kept secret. I do love duck eggs for eating over chicken eggs but I sell many more chicken eggs. A few customers will try ducks eggs and either they like them or don't but most everyone likes them for baking.

Also, commercial places cannot make as much money from duck eggs because they have to invest more money to feed them when kept up in a tiny cage, more water for them to dunk their face into and the shells are harder to crack, therefore putting off some customers.

We, as hobbyists, enjoy our ducks and the eggs and can get a bit of money from selling the eggs to feed the ducks. My ducks free range a good bit to help the feed costs. Even now during the winter 22 ducks do not eat more than a qt of mash a day when in their own pen. In the summer they were not eating nearly that much though it is always there for them. Sometimes I see them go into the chicken coop for a snack but mainly they are searching out tidbits around the farm.

I know I will always have ducks for eggs now. I can barely eat a chicken egg anymore. And I am expanding my flocks to include more meat ducks, too. Though meat wise I prefer chicken.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

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Oh I have to say that makes me sad. Perhaps you have been convinced the practicalities of chickens are much easier? IDK, never had chooks, I can't imagine ever giving up my ducks. But of course that is a decision you must make based on your own priorities.
What were the deciding factors for you John?