Buying a duck is a big commitment, even if you only buy a handful of these adorable little creatures. Taking on the responsibility of caring for another life should never be entered into lightly.
Before opening your wallet, you must KNOW that you have the time, space, and money to care for the ducks year-round properly.
You can keep ducks in not only rural environments but also in suburban and, in some cases, urban environments.
You do not need a pond to keep ducks, just a water feature like a decorative garden pond or a baby pool that is large enough to accommodate swimming by several flock members at once – ducks are communal animals.
Keeping ducks has undoubtedly grown in popularity over the past decade. Many homesteaders of all sizes have opted to branch out from chicken keeping – or even skip the chickens entirely and take on the role of duck keeper.
Why Buy a Duck?
Because ducks are adorable and hardy animals, ducks lay far more eggs than chickens and do so for a significant amount of years longer than the traditional meat and egg birds.
While many folks cannot bear the thought of slaughtering their cute little egg-giving ducks – many of which are often treated as “farm pets,” the meat they produce is quite tasty.
Other than cleaning out a baby pool in the run if you do not have a natural water source, ducks take no longer to care for and clean up after than chickens.
When deciding whether or not you should buy ducks, pondering the following questions and duck facts will help guide you through the process.
So, if you considering, learn the difference between raising ducks vs. chickens and check out our reasons for supporting raising ducks below:
Top 10 Reasons You Should Buy a Duck
Duck Eggs
The large and creamy eggs laid by ducks are not only more extensive but more nutrient-rich than chicken eggs.
Using duck eggs when baking or cooking – especially when making a meringue will make the recipe far more light and fluffy.
Some folks find that duck eggs have too much of an “eggy” taste when scrambling or frying them to eat for breakfast, as you would chicken eggs.
If you have never eaten one before, it would be wise to scramble a few and taste them to make sure garnering a dozen or more eggs a week from a couple of duck hens is something your family will regularly use in the kitchen.
It is not uncommon for top-quality egg-laying duck breeds to drop between 250 and 300 eggs annually.
I have yet to hear of a single chicken breed capable of applying that many eggs.
The shells of duck eggs are also a bit harder than a chicken egg, making them less prone to cracking as the flock moves about inside of the coop and runs.
Pest Control
Ducks are just about the cutest and most efficient type of pest control you could ever want or need.
Most domesticated duck breeds are excellent foragers and love to spend any time not floating on the water to hunt for bugs.
Because of their larger bill and overall bulk, ducks can eat pests up to 8 inches long. Including thick pests like slugs and growing tadpoles.
If you want to keep ducks in the same decorative garden pond as the attractive koi fish you already have, disaster could ensue.
While a mature duck cannot slurp down a full grown koi fish, they can (make that will) eat the fish eggs and young of any fish type that also lives in their watering hole.
More miniature Garden And Yard Harm
Chickens often wreak havoc in the garden and flower beds. Geese are even worse. They can wipe out an entire bed of growing greens in a single afternoon.
Ducks will not be able to resist munching on any lettuce they can reach, or perhaps even some cabbage or kale if left in a garden unattended too long, but they will not blow through the growing plot like their poultry bird peers.
The ducks will clear the ground or garden row surface area of bugs (both destructive and beneficial varieties) but will not dig up entire plants seeking a yummy grub for a snack.
Cold And Hot Weather Hardiness
Ducks are extremely more hot and cold weather hardy than chickens.
Both hens and drakes (male ducks) keep cool in the summer by dipping their heads and bills into the water and by spending many hours lounging in their water source.
Thus, heatstroke in a duck is non-existent. We cannot say the same for chickens during hot summer days.
During the winter, the ducks will still want to bathe in water.
Even this innate and natural desire will not bring about frostbite, many chicken breeds are prone to merely venturing outside of the coop to walk around the run in light snow.
Growth Rate
Ducklings grow a lot more quickly than chickens. When a duckling is only one week old, it will be independent enough to start foraging for its food and be big enough and hard enough to venture outside the coop and run in search of bugs and greens.
Being able to reduce the amount of time a young bird must spend in a brooder not only helps keep the electric bill down (those heat lamps sure do burn up a lot of power) but also vastly reduces the amount of time and money that you must spend on cleaning out bedding.
This is especially helpful because ducklings are a lot messier than chicks when it comes to drinking and leaving their watery droppings ALL OVER the brooder.
Friendliness
Drakes are never known to get aggressive and attack other flock members or their human keepers like roosters.
While a drake might ward off amorous attempts of another drake towards his favorite hens, there is no chance a bloody fight will ensure to keep her.
The pecking order in a duck flock is more relaxed than in a chicken flock.
When both types of birds are kept together, new mature ducks, ducklings, and even chickens are either peacefully ignored for a while or outright welcomed into the tribe.
Domesticated Ducks Do Not Fly
Domesticated breeds of ducks cannot fly or are at least not healthy.
If a breed can catch the wind and get off the ground, it will not fly more than a foot or two in the distance, with its webbed feet barely off the ground.
Cleaning up a duck coop or duck house will not require scraping droppings from the top of a feeder, water, perch, or boredom buster toy.
You also will not have to worry about a free-ranging duck flock leaving unseemly droppings on your gate latches, fence posts, or garden furniture.
Noise Level
Ducks learn their routine quickly and know if you are a few minutes late for feeding or evening put up after free-ranging all day.
They will get excited and quack and honk if you are late and most assuredly when they see you coming, but there will be no loud geese-style honking or roosters crowing at dawn to greet the day when keeping ducks.
Intelligence
In my personal experience, after keeping both chickens and ducks for many years – and a variety of breeds of both types of poultry birds, I can firmly state that ducks are of superior intelligence.
They imprint on their keepers quickly and learn to run to you if they are frightened by a predator or hurt. Ducks also take to free-range training quickly.
Offering a healthy treat at put up to teach the ducks to come back to the coop and go inside.
You won’t need to chase them around and up and down and all over the place, like with some chickens and roosters.
Training to return can be accomplished in a matter of days … even when ducklings are thrown into the mix.
Health And Pest Resistant
Ducks tend to have a more robust immune system and are generally healthier than chickens. Because these poultry birds spend as much time in the water as possible, they frequently wash away any dropping bacteria from their feet and bellies.
Again, due to their avid appreciation for swimming, bathing, and floating around in the water, ducks are less susceptible to contracting parasites and mites than chickens, geese, and turkeys.
The diseases spread by such pests and bacteria that become attached to the body and spread throughout the living quarters are significantly reduced, thanks again to the cleanliness habits of these fine feathered friends.
FAQs on Reasons You Should Get Ducks
Are Ducks Messy To Keep?
Yes, ducks are pretty messy because they end up flinging water everywhere due to its necessity for their survival. They can poop in the water and mistake that water for drinking water so it’s important to separate their bathing water and drinking water.
Is Owning A Duck Hard?
Some would say, yes, owning ducks or raising ducklings is harder than rearing chickens. They have different needs like constant access to water. However, they become much more self-sufficient and more cold-hardy as they mature to full adults. And of course, they can fly much better.
Buying a Duck And Our Final Thoughts
If you are new to keeping poultry birds or any small livestock, ducks would be a great place to start.
They are mild-mannered, easy-to-handle birds that enjoy watching, waddling, and swimming.
Even children as young as two can start learning responsibility and vital homesteading skills by aiding in the daily duck husbandry chores – without fear of getting attacked by a bird with a sharp beak and spurs on its feet.
Want To Share This…
Enjoyed the duck article. We inherited some Muscovy ducks a couple years ago. Different from a domestic duck. They can fly well, they are very quiet and the drakes get very large. The eggs are large and delicious. Very friendly. I get swarmed daily by them looking for snacks. They do imprint on the caregivers well. Two drakes go for walks in the evening with me and my dogs .
My two drakes (Cayuga and Mallard) were the exception to wanting to go up at night. If the weather was warmer, they made us chase them around and catch them to go up at night. (They share a shed with my chickens.) They finally figured it out when the weather cooled off enough to where even they didn’t want to be out at night. The mallard flies pretty well, requiring us to put netting over their enclosure to keep him in the pen.
I’m planning to add about 6 hens to our flock this spring. I’m looking forward to some duck eggs! Ducks are great and I love the way they talk to me every morning and evening.