Ducks vs chickens

[Wifezilla]

My khaki/buff mutt is the friendliest of my adult ducks. My baby welsh harlequins think I am mom, so they are even more sociable than my beloved mutt

I lay on the grass with them and they climb all over me while playing and dart under my chin to hide if something scares them

 

[twixerella]

Oh that sounds so cute maybe i will get welsh harlequins I am just trying to decide on the most kid friendly and sociable duck.

 

[Giddyup]

Australian Spotted Duck!!! It is a bantam breed so somewhat smaller, cuter

, and easier to tame. They are quieter.

My experience is limited to runners and spotteds. Runners by their nature will not be friendly without a lot of work. The females are LOUD. We're into our first year of spotteds and no regrets at all.

I don't find duck mess an issue. I bed them the same as the chickens. In the summer I rake the concentrated "bird" area and haven't had problems. Most of the mess comes from water, they like to spread it around!!

 

[Duck Keeper]

Had ducks for nearly a year, chickens for nearly a month (lol).

Ducks are cute. Period. They get better as they age In my opinion.
Chickens are cute when they're very small, but then they get all ugly when their scrawny, scruffy feathers poof out.

I haven't had them long enough to tell how they are when they're older, but I can definitely say they are stupid... I mean, all featheries are, but it seems chickens got hit with the ugly stick, then fell out of the intelligence tree as well. They are more loving if you raise them up from babies, but even ducks can be tamed if you spend a WHOLE lot of time with them. Ducks are messy. There's no way around that. You can do everything you possibly can to reduce the mess, but it still won't be enough.

Chickens will eat the spilled feed (from the ducks of course) off of the ground. Ducks will dig into your lawn (but not noticeably) to retrieve bugs and worms, but chickens will hollow out areas in the dust to bathe. Ducks get their pens muddy and poopy (not to mention very scarce grass) rather quickly, but their poo is a VERY good fertilizer! In just one season, our grass has come back exceptionally green and thick. Which is kind of a miracle, since we live (basically) in a sand pit/old worn out field. I don't have any experience with chicken manure as of yet, but someday I'll need to clean out the coop...


Billed featheries are so much cuter than beaked!

But I'm biased.

Plus there's the whole 'webbed feet' thing... ♥

 

[FrenchHen]

Do ducks destroy gardens like chickens will, or do they just bug hunt?

 

[chickens4me]

I have had chickens for 2 years & decided to hatch out some Khaki Campbell duck eggs this spring. I also got a Black Runner duckling the same time I purchased some local chicks.

They were absolutely adorable! But some of the messiest things I have ever seen other than those Cornish Rocks that are now in the freezer.

About 4 weeks later, I found them a new home. The lady who bought them from me, brought me some of her Pekin duck eggs from home for me to try. They were absolutely the best eggs I have ever eaten! And they took away my stomach ache I had had for two days.

That same lady told me that duck eggs were great for people who were ill & it was one of the very few things her husband could keep down when he was on chemo.

I wish I had kept a few now~~even though they were so very messy & rather unfriendly birds.....Maybe next year I will try them again.

 

[Duck Keeper]

Quote:
They generally stay away from your plants unless it's especially tasty. Or young and tender.

Usually like bugs more.

 

[Duck Keeper]

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Chicken eggs are acid, and duck eggs are alkaline(base). My mother can only drink non-acid coffee, so naturally, eating duck eggs was the next step. She is very pleased she can now have eggs for breakfast again.

I have read that cancer patients eat duck eggs hoping to change their body's chemistry. Supposedly, this will thwart cancer growth.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have read that cancer patients eat duck eggs hoping to change their body's chemistry. Supposedly, this will thwart cancer growth.

While I am a big duck egg fan, this is not the case. What will help thwart cancer growth is cutting your carbohydrate intake down to a bare minimum. It wont stop all cancers, but most cancer tumors use glucose to grow. Others use insulin growth factors and hormones or a combo of all of the above. By keeping blood sugar in check, you reduce the availability of fuel to the cancer cells and keep insulin and insulin growth factors down. While most of the human body can run fine on ketone bodies instead of glucose (which is what happens when you go on a low carb diet), many cancers cannot.​

 

[katemary63]

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Our Khakis are quite friendly and will eat out of our hand and follow us if we have a bucket of grain. The Kayuga is stand-off-ish. Our MOST friendly duck is the white pekin.