[macgro7]

I can't decide which breed of ducks to get?
Rouen, Hookbill, Blue Swedish or Aylesbury?

In the UK i only saw exhibition variety Rouen and I would only take exhibition Aylesbury, not the commercial crossbreeds.
Which one would you choose and why???

I just can't decide. My problem is I love most breeds of chickens, ducks, geese, sheep and goats lol

[roddycm]

I would go for blues or rouens. The reason being that I like the look of them the most out of your list haha personally I would go for runners and muscovies!

[clydesdaleclopper]

We have Blue Swedish and they are ace    just started laying again last week, taste yummy and look gorgeous

[shygirl]

if you are going rare breeds, you could try british breeds...?

saying that, I loved my indian runners v much

[goosepimple]

Safety is paramount - we lost all our runners and campbells because we get otter - we have a river and a large mill pond, foxes never a problem but otter are, they use the river like a highway.  In the end we found the only ones which would survive were Muscovy ducks, great ducks.  So consider if they need to fly and if they do then where they can fly too.  Ours all kept around our smallholding because it's duck heaven to be honest, they never flew that far, we never had to nip their wings.  Ducks can be noisy and chatty which is nice but they can be heard by predators quite easily too.

[lord flynn]

If I didnt have muscovy, I would have Shetland ducks-there are a few breeders on here afaik.

[macgro7]

I do have muscovies, some campbells and two runners, but to be honest neither I or my wife don't like Indian runners lol
She doesn't like the flavour of ducks (except for muscovies but they are very different). We liked goose more for roast.
So I guess I want to keep a rare breed less for eating more for preserving the breed and eggs and decoration lol.

[macgro7]

Oh my God!  I'm so stupid!
I used to have a trio of SHETLAND DUCKS! I haven't realised that's what they were untill today!
They match the breed description exactly. Laid lots of eggs last year. I put 5 under a bantam hen and all 5 hatched. Two were white, two black with white bibs and one brown with  a bib.

I sold them as campbell cross for pennies. If I knew I have a endangered breed I would have hatched a lot more of them. I sold them because I wanted to preserve a pure rare breed and thought they were mutts.....

[mojocafa]

First batch of shetland eggs in incubator this weekend. Let's hope no powercuts for next month

[macgro7]

My muscovies started laying! Soon well have more ducklings hopefully

[goosepimple]

We had about a dozen muscovies and one year ended with over 100 ducklings.  They will sit a couple of times between now and September.  Don't worry if they come off the nest for a break after a few have hatched - the mums are very good at knowing they can do that - it doesn't mean she's abandoned them, the ducklings won't be going anywhere and she'll go back on the nest after about 20 mins.  Also once she's hatched them and she is out and about, mum sometimes flies off for her wee break - remember they are desperate to exercise their wings - she'll go back to them though so don't despair.  They are good mums generally, but you get one or two that are a bit dopey or prefer hanging out with the boys.