# Ducks?



## georgiagirl98 (Jun 30, 2013)

Does anyone know much about ducks? My grandpa wanted me to get him some for his pond to eat the algae pond grass stuff and im starting to miss having them to so i wanted some. 

I've had a few over the years and my last 2 recently flew off or got caught by something. I've had mallards before but they would always fly off if you didnt keep there wings trimmed, the last ones i had were buff laying ducks that we traded rabbits for last easter. At the time i had no idea what breed she was but she laid an egg everyday pretty much and would stop laying for a week or 2 every now and then, but she wouldn't set on them so i finally researched it and they are like laying hens and just dont sit on eggs. 

Are they like chickens in the way you can mix the breeds and still get ducklings or should i only get one breed? I wanted to get a few grown laying ducks so it would be easy to get eggs to put in the incubator but i thought about adding a few colorful ones too. 

Any tips or suggestions?


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

I have Khaki Campbells...they are a dual purpose bird...great layers of large white eggs, moms can be good brooders.....sticking to one breed allows you to promote prebred ducklings...we also have a black cresent that some one gave us..whoopie goldberg turned out to be a drake lol, we still cal him whoopie ..so if we ever hatch any babies out..we might get a khaki with an afro lol...
Khakis are not very colorful..brownish tan..but they are hardy...


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## rhodalee (Feb 11, 2013)

I had ancona ducks last year coyotes got them during the winter. they laid nice large white eggs and they will mix breed with other ducks. You don't have to clip there wings also if you get to many I find that they taste good too,and I usely don't eat duck


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I want to get Silver Appleyards. I would think any of the larger breeds that don't fly much would be good.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Oh, I love duckies!  We have Muscovy and Welsh Harlequin.
All domestic ducks are descended from the wild mallard, except the Muscovy, which is a different species. All ducks of mallard descent will interbreed to make crossbred ducklings. Muscovies and mallard-types will sometimes hybridize, resulting in "mule" ducks. This usually won't happen if the males have females of their own species.
Muscovies are excellent mothers. They fly quite well (and are beautiful when they do), and even with clipped wings can climb over a fence. Mine like the neighbor's pond better than ours, so I'm going to be selling out soon, much as I like my 'Scovies. 
I prefer the Welsh Harlequins. They will set on eggs, they're great layers, and they're a decent size to eat, too. Many people consider them the best backyard duck. Welshies won't fly, which is a major plus in my situation because wings are beautiful and I don't like to clip them! Besides, I think they're more attractive because they don't have the caruncles (sp?) on the face.

My friend has Anconas too! They're pretty rare.


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## AmyBoogie (May 20, 2013)

We have a mixed flock. Cayugas, Runners, Crested and Khaki Campbells. They all do well together but we don't raise them to brood. We just keep them for the eggs and their comical antics. 

I agree with Cathy though, if you want to breed them. Campbells are great layers and they're not huge. I like our Cayugas best for attitude but the Campbells are the better layers.


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

If you are looking to raise meat....go muscovy...it is delicious! If egg layers, I would recommend Khaki Campbells, Anconas, Buffs, or Swedes...........


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## HFWestern (Jun 23, 2013)

I have 13 Muskovy's and 4 Pekins. They do interbreed though, yet no ducklings, probably because we sell the eggs. I love them all. They are hysterical and I love sitting and watching them in the morning. They are very affectionate to us. I don't have any problems with them, yet they do have attitude (Muskovy's). They were mad at me one day and all of them decided to take a hike across 2 1/2 acres. Then they finally came back because they were hungry. I laughed myself sick over this. If I went up to them they would hiss at me. That's why I knew they were mad. Not sure why, but I didn't feed them when they thought I should. Anyhow Muskovy's are great for keeping down the fly population. They wil hang out by the horses and you can watch them eat the fly's in the air. Its quite amusing. I'm not sure as to how they do in the ponds, since my ducks won't go in it. They are the strangest birds I have came across. The Pekins love the pond, but they won't go in it. So I have to squirt them down with water. They will get into the mud when it rains here. Strange brood.


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## georgiagirl98 (Jun 30, 2013)

Thanks guys for all the responses. 

I found this site where you can order eggs and hatch them!  im thinking about doing that but i still have to do some research on how different it is from hatching chicks. And im thinking about getting Jumbo Pekin we won't be eating them they will just be pets and they looked pretty cute and we have hawks bad here so i was thinking the size might help.

So my grandpa is another story hes kinda old and a little crazy lol. So he would probably like feeding, them and building a shelter box for them, and killing the predators that try to kill them but anything else that needs to be done im probably going to end up doing, not that i mind lol. So im thinking a low maintenance, hardy duck. Any suggestions? The only reason he wanted it is because the grass is really bad in his pond and someone told him ducks would eat it, but i thought that was geese not ducks? A lot of yall said Muscovies (spelling?) so im thinking he would like those? Or mabey regular Pekin or jumbo?

The only reason i was thinking to breed them was because if you don't watch them very close all the time something will catch it. But since i found that hatching site i probably just replenish them with eggs from the site. This time though im putting them in with the chickens untill i make a new smaller chicken house beside it. It's pretty good sized i used to keep about 30 in there and i cut them down to 8 so they will have room and they won't get caught in there.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Ducklings are a LOT tougher than chicks. But unlike chicks, they need more niacin, and the feed CANNOT be medicated. Otherwise the care is pretty similar.
Not sure about hatching eggs in an incubator, but the two clutches hatched by our mama ducks have had a 100% survival rate.

I think most, if not all, ducks are low-maintenance, but I can tell you for sure the Muscovies are tough survivors. They protect their ducklings really well too.

Chickens pick on the ducks (at least mine do), so they really need some space to get away if you keep them together.


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## georgiagirl98 (Jun 30, 2013)

Heres my idea... So if i got a dozen moscovie eggs and half a dozen jumbo Pekin. Could i keep them like i keep chicks? I was going to put them in a 10X10 ft rabbit cage thats off the ground under a shed for about a week or until they are strong enough to run around. Then i have a 25X25 ft chick pen that has a barrier through the middle with a door i can seperate them if i have to, so I'd put them in there until they get their feathers all in. And once they are big and old enough im going to give my grandpa 8 of the 12 moscovies if they all hatch out and keep 4 in our pond for "backup" and hatch duckling from them sometimes because im not really sure if he can take care of them as good as he thinks he can. Then I'd keep all 6 jumbos either at the pond or in the chicken pen. Ill only have 8 chickens in there and they were scared of the last ducks we had lol. 

And they would only stay in their cage half of the time like at night or when im at school because my little sister will probably have them out playing with them as much as she can haha so they will probably be really tame. 

Does anyone know if ducks will even eat pond grass? Or should i just completely change my mind about moscovies and just get him some geese. I dont think he cares what kind of fowl it is as long as he can take care of something and it will help eat pond grass lol. He's been telling me and hinting he wants some for weeks, when i go visit he turns on water bird documentaries and stuff like that lol its all i can do not to crack up laughing every time haha. XD


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I've always had Pekins. I like the fact they don't fly. I recently had gotten some more (now that i've moved), and one pekin indian runner cross. The runner cross is only 25% runner and has just a little grey on her back and a darker bill and lays a greenish egg. Before what ever varmin got my eggs and ducklings. She'd hatched two of them one yellow (white) and one who's almost all black! Mine are in with my light bramha chickens (one rooster and 2 hens) but they have about 40x60' area. Mine are getting a little older so not laying regularly so I managed to grab a few eggs and just put in the incubator the other day- fingers crossed since the first few days I was having problems with my humidity.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I have seen them eat pond grass but possibly not in the amount he's needing. Me myself, I'm done with geese- ganders aren't bad. Depending on the size of the pond a few fish may help as well.


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## LGFarm (May 30, 2013)

I have true buff ducks and they are great brooders and great layers, we are working on breeding them up in size to return them to the true dual purpose they are suppose to be. Our Cayugas are dumber then a bag of rocks, very pretty, very quiet (don't quack a lot), but don't ask them to do much, as they are having a hard time figuring out how to coop up at night. The cayugas are bigger then my buffs, but the size of a true dual purpose bird, they lay okay, not great, but when they do decide to lay, they lay daily for a decent amount of time. Our Khaki Campbells were typical Khakis, loud and active, they are a true egg laying duck, one male can cover and fertilize 10+ females successfully (most ducks can't do that) and the males are protective. We never had an issue with our drake, but he did loose his life to a raccoon protecting his females. None of these ducks will fly away, mallards will.


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## LGFarm (May 30, 2013)

Shipped eggs do not have a very good hatch rate on average, so plan accordingly. Ducks and ducklings are mesy, but I will not raise them on mesh at any point in their lives, so I don't know what the rabbit pen is made out of, but ducks will blow out tendons quickly, if not handled right on the right surface.


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## georgiagirl98 (Jun 30, 2013)

Ok so ill skip the rabbit cage part and put them in the chick run after they dry off that is if i can hatch them. I've decided to get a dozen Jumbo Pekin eggs they were 3$ an egg and the chicks were 8$ so ill try the eggs first. The site had really great reviews and a 90% hatch rate or higher from most of the reviews, and looked like it would be a pretty good place to get them.  

Thanks for all the heads up on personalities and dos and don'ts. .


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## libby (Nov 27, 2012)

we have 3 large breeds,and 4 call ducks,,they all ix well together and share the pond  They also mix well outside with the hens when they're all out...love ducks,couldn't imagine life without them 
[URL=http://s469.photobucket.com/user/beejeen/media/IMG_3804.jpg.html]


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## libby (Nov 27, 2012)

and my female silver call duck


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

I'm not sure where in Georgia you are, but I'm selling my Pied Muscovy ducks if you're interested. You'd have to buy a whole family of 9 though since I won't separate the ducklings from their mothers before they would do it naturally. They're great mothers and you don't need to do much for them.
http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/f209/muscovy-ducks-sale-150957/


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## georgiagirl98 (Jun 30, 2013)

I already ordered the eggs  

but if that dosent work out i might give you a call  they are cute though


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