[Barrett]

Hi all, I am thinking about getting a couple of ducks next year for eggs, now I have been told that they are smelly , I do have chickens and cockerels will I have to keep them separate from the chickens or will they live happily together.

[humphreymctush]

Indian runners lay lots of eggs and are keen foredgers. They can all live together. Ducks are only smelly if they are kept enclosed in a tiny space thats never cleaned out

[Barrett]

Will they need water to swim in?.

[Womble]

Hiya, This has been discussed quite a bit lately, so it's worth doing a search.

Yes, they're messier than hens, but if they have a decent area, don't keep too many, and clean them out often, they're fine. Mind you, ours have 25m2 each at the moment, which may be a bit excessive!   

As a minimum for health, they need to be able to dip their heads in water, but yes they love to swim - so would you if you were a duck! 

Oh, and re keeping them together, probably ok on the same ground depending on how much you have, but keep different houses.

[Barrett]

Thanks Womble that was going to be my next question about the house, my hens have access to about 3 and a bit acres.

[jacob and Georgina]

i have heard khaki cambells are the best layers closely followed by indian runners! we have just bought 3 khaki cambells and they are very nice looking ducks i must say!!

[Womble]

Yes, but Indian Runners are HILLARIOUS, and frankly the closest you're ever going to get too keeping your own penguins! 





VS




No contest really!   

[MAK]

I am not sure about the best layers but our 2 muscovy ducks dropped their first egg after 20 minutes of us getting them home. They layed throughout April and May and we let them sit on 15 eggs.
Today we had the first eggs since the ducklings hatched in mid June.
We still have some youngsters to store in the freezer. The winters are cold here so  we will eat the eggs rather than try and keep ducklings warm and out of the snow.

Muscovies are good layers - eggs are good too. They make good parents and the ducklings were ready to eat after about 3 months ( when their wings cross above their tale). A cleaned young bird is about 2.6-3 kg but we are told a mature male can be 8-10 kg and females 6ish .

Ours have a children's plastic paddling pool to wash and soften any veg matter they can not eat and they have one of those small but deep French baths that I dug into the ground ( we found it in a wood and wheeled it home and dug the pit in 30 degrees !!!!!!  - so we love our muscovies )

Oh - they are not pretty but great to have.

[Sylvia]

I love Muscovies for their ugliness but Khaki or White Campbells for eggs. I've never kept I. R. though but they look fun

[MAK]

Oh - the muscovey will eat any insect, grub or spider. We fed a huge grasshopper ( sort of locust size) to one - it struggled but ate the lot.

So - what do people think are the best eaters. A muscovey breast is enough for 2 people and so good. Legs are not great but we eat the gizzards and livers.
We can buy any breed of duck and note the difference in price at market so I guess the price reflects egg laying or meat quality.

Any thoughts?

Martin.

[Sylvia]

For eating, Aylesbury, Saxony or Rouen or crosses of these

[humphreymctush]

My indian runners ranged over the whole farm and my neigbors farm eating things like mudsnails (that cauase fluke) and god knows what else so they are good for the sheep and cattle.  Because so much of their diet is natural and their bodies are light I didnt need to feed them nearly as much as I would a heavy slow moving meat or dual purpose breed. My ducks dont have a house, only nest boxes. In Orkney there are no foxes so I have no idea how you would keep ducks safe at night. I supose you shut them in. I have a big pond but a stream of running water is best for ducks. They love to swim but they need to clean their beaks. By about june they had all found a secret nests and I had no eggs and hundreds of ducklings. Thats when I moved over to saxonys who seem a bit less desperate to hatch their eggs.

[Hatty]

I got 11 ducks about 2 weeks ago (only went for 4 adults lol) they are khaki cambells, 4 adults & 7 Young ones, I kept them in the run for the 1st week, but they are now free ranging on 5 acres, they are a bit messy in the house/run but regular cleaning keeps on top of this, so not smelly! not had any eggs yet but have put that down to the move. They are great fun and always run round as a little flock, they don't seem interested in the hens or cockerel, nor the hens in them. I am also planning to add to them some runners in the near future

[Womble]

You're lucky Hatty - our Drake is very interested in the hens (though strangely not in the other ducks so far - perhaps it's because he was hatched by a bantam, and has Freudian tendencies?  ).  This has amazing Benny Hill comedy potential though, since it turns out that hens can run faster than randy Indian Runners!! 

[Hatty]

You're lucky Hatty - our Drake is very interested in the hens (though strangely not in the other ducks so far - perhaps it's because he was hatched by a bantam, and has Freudian tendencies?  ).  This has amazing Benny Hill comedy potential though, since it turns out that hens can run faster than randy Indian Runners!! 

  Think it's our Light Sussex Cockerel who keeps a very close eye on his girls, he chases the Guinea fowl off if they dare to go near but the ducks just keep their distance