Best Free Range/Flying Duck Breed

[impr3]

Short version: We are looking for egg laying or dual purpose duck breeds that are good for free ranging in a very rural area with moderate predator population density. Specifically, we would like them to be able to fly a little - consistently achieving a height of 2+ feet off the ground in order to escape predators and get into the coop/run through a raised entrance.

I have searched both BYC and google for ideas and thus far Silver Appleyards, Mallards, and Khaki Campbells seem like the best bets. I would love to hear y'all's experiences and recommendations on the best free range/flying breeds! Also, I'm having trouble finding sources of hatching eggs for these breeds (with the exception of Khaki Campbells) so would appreciate ideas on that too!


Long version: We'll be restarting our homestead poultry flock this spring after a year plus break. Previously we only had chickens and our first batch were slowly whittled down by a combination of predation (7/10 hatchlings) and extra roos being packed off to freezer camp (3/10). Since we plan to hatch from eggs, the roo percentage will be luck of the draw again, but we would like to reduce the predation issue as much as possible. We had quite good luck last time by putting the coop door on a timer so that the chickens weren't left exposed if my work ran late along with building them a covered run for daytime use with a small raised exit that allowed them to free-range if desired while limiting daytime predator access. In fact, after getting that all set up we were stable at two hens and two roos for months until a timer malfunction left the coop door open overnight .

Between now and the planned incubation start in early March, we are working on retrofitting the coop/run into Coop Knox as well as selecting the best breeds for free ranging (last time was a grab bag of random eggs from a local farm and the three lavender orps went first in our battle against hawks...). Part of our plan includes moving toward a mixed flock of chickens, ducks, geese, and guineas to capitalize on each species' predator prevention strengths (guineas as alarm system, geese as the muscle, etc) along with better meeting the needs of our homestead (insect control, compost turning, egg production, etc.).

The first hatch we have planned is chickens and ducks. Chicken breeds were relatively easy to pick with the available information online, however, I've been having a tougher time figuring out which duck breed(s) might work. In particular, it seems that some domesticated ducks are better flyers than others, but the resources I've found are inconsistent on which breeds can fly at all and about how well they can do so... Current Coop Knox plans have the duck house itself only a few inches above ground level, but it and the chicken coop are contained within a run whose entrance is 2 feet above ground. All of the chickens we raised last time would have been able to handle that by 6 weeks of age (and most by 3 weeks), but I'm worried our ducks may never pull it off if I pick the wrong breeds. While being stuck in the run wouldn't be the end of the world, free ranging our birds is pretty important to us for both practical and ethical reasons so we'd like to pick breeds that have the best chance of success.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Aunt Angus]

I'm not an expert at all, but I'm pretty sure most domestic breeds are too large to fly at all, really. I have 7 different breeds, and the only ones who can actually fly are the Call ducks, who should not free range, imo, because they are snack sized. My Hookbill can get off the ground, but there is no way she could fly into a raised coop. There are duck breeds that can fly, like the mallard, but they will fly away.

I would think your best bet is to go with providing lots of hiding places for them to run if there is an attack. But domestic ducks are just too clumsy and heavy from what I've seen.

 

[impr3]

I'm not an expert at all, but I'm pretty sure most domestic breeds are too large to fly at all, really. I have 7 different breeds, and the only ones who can actually fly are the Call ducks, who should not free range, imo, because they are snack sized. My Hookbill can get off the ground, but there is no way she could fly into a raised coop. There are duck breeds that can fly, like the mallard, but they will fly away.

I would think your best bet is to go with providing lots of hiding places for them to run if there is an attack. But domestic ducks are just too clumsy and heavy from what I've seen.

Thanks for the input! A lot of the resources I've found online seem to state outright that domesticated duck breeds can't fly. Period. However, I've also found a few specific breed descriptions that mention flying as well as several threads on BYC supporting this. The most impressive example seems to be a pair of Rouens who can fly up to 30' high and 600' in distance (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-rouen-ducks-can-fly.1553946/)! We wouldn't need ours to fly nearly that high or far, so I'm hopeful that we can find some that will work.

They'll also be hatching with the chickens so our ducklings should have some good role models to learn from . And if all else fails I guess I'll cut them their own little duck door at ground level and have it open briefly in the mornings and evenings to let them out/in . We just don't want a ground level entry that's open for long periods.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I would look into Hookbills. They are rare and do not lay in the winter but they are endangered, highly desirable, good foragers, and can fly. I am hoping to add some to my flick in the spring.

 

[Quatie]

You may want to look into muscovy. They are a more predator savvy breed and have been known to fight off smaller predators, like hawks and foxes. They still fall prey to them, but have claws on their feet thst give them a better chance. They are a great breed for homesteading because they hatch their own eggs and are usually great mothers. The drakes range from 10-15 lbs, making them great meat birds. Their meat is less greasy than mallard derived ducks. However, they don't lay as many eggs as the mallard derived breeds. They do fly and are tree ducks. You may need to clip their wings the first year, but a lot of people have success with them not flying away. However, they do sometimes leave people. I clip mine for safety reasons, because I live next to a highway. When they molt and grow new flight feathers, I have not found them to fly away. They merely become difficult going to bed, using flight to the their advantage . I clip mine again at that time.

 

[dishrag]

It sounds like you’re planning to leave the ducks out all night. Do you have a large pond for them? That would be their best defense, unless you get real fly-ers like muscovies and mallards.
I’m having a hard time imagining any ducks using a doorway that is 2’ up in the air. What is the purpose of that, out of curiosity?
Good luck!

 

[impr3]

I would look into Hookbills. They are rare and do not lay in the winter but they are endangered, highly desirable, good foragers, and can fly. I am hoping to add some to my flick in the spring.

Just googled Hookbills and they sound perfect! This article made a great sales pitch: https://poultrykeeper.com/duck-breeds/hook-bill-ducks/. The one issue might be finding a source of hatching eggs... If you manage to add some to your flock, I'd love to hear where you get them from .

 

[impr3]

You may want to look into muscovy. They are a more predator savvy breed and have been known to fight off smaller predators, like hawks and foxes. They still fall prey to them, but have claws on their feet thst give them a better chance. They are a great breed for homesteading because they hatch their own eggs and are usually great mothers. The drakes range from 10-15 lbs, making them great meat birds. Their meat is less greasy than mallard derived ducks. However, they don't lay as many eggs as the mallard derived breeds. They do fly and are tree ducks. You may need to clip their wings the first year, but a lot of people have success with them not flying away. However, they do sometimes leave people. I clip mine for safety reasons, because I live next to a highway. When they molt and grow new flight feathers, I have not found them to fly away. They merely become difficult going to bed, using flight to the their advantage . I clip mine again at that time.

Hmm. These sound pretty cool though I'm not sure the reported 60-120 eggs per year would keep up with our family of five unless we got quite a few more ducks than we're aiming for! We're primarily raising poultry for eggs with meat as a side benefit when roos or drakes refuse to play nicely with others . Everything else about these guys sounds perfect and I'll definitely keep them on the list as a consideration. Interestingly enough, it sounds like they're not technically ducks and will produce sterile offspring (called a Mulard) if bred with a duck.

 

[impr3]

It sounds like you’re planning to leave the ducks out all night. Do you have a large pond for them? That would be their best defense, unless you get real fly-ers like muscovies and mallards.
I’m having a hard time imagining any ducks using a doorway that is 2’ up in the air. What is the purpose of that, out of curiosity?
Good luck!

Definitely not planning to leave them outside. They will have a predator-resistant duck house inside a predator-resistant run both of which will be locked up tight at night. We decided that two layers of protection should significantly reduce the chances of predators finding a route in (we had a bad experience losing four birds to a door closure failure last year...).

As to the elevated doorway, we're hoping this will help deter ground-based predators. We never installed a ramp into our chicken coop since all our chickens were able to fly in and out easily from a young age so a ramp didn't feel like a priority. Several months later we were very happy about this when a stray dog got onto our property - the chickens fled to the coop and the dog was stuck barking at them from outside. We're under no illusions that an elevated door will deter all predators at all times, but we're hoping it will be one component of reducing risk alongside the more traditional coop protection strategies (hardware cloth everywhere, racoon-resistant door closures, buried dig barriers, etc). With the exception of the dog, all of our prior predator problems happened at night when all doors will be closed anyway, so the elevation may just be my over-cautious side coming out. However, I'd really hate to lose the ducks to another stray dog...

 

[Aunt Angus]

Definitely not planning to leave them outside. They will have a predator-resistant duck house inside a predator-resistant run both of which will be locked up tight at night. We decided that two layers of protection should significantly reduce the chances of predators finding a route in (we had a bad experience losing four birds to a door closure failure last year...).

As to the elevated doorway, we're hoping this will help deter ground-based predators. We never installed a ramp into our chicken coop since all our chickens were able to fly in and out easily from a young age so a ramp didn't feel like a priority. Several months later we were very happy about this when a stray dog got onto our property - the chickens fled to the coop and the dog was stuck barking at them from outside. We're under no illusions that an elevated door will deter all predators at all times, but we're hoping it will be one component of reducing risk alongside the more traditional coop protection strategies (hardware cloth everywhere, racoon-resistant door closures, buried dig barriers, etc). With the exception of the dog, all of our prior predator problems happened at night when all doors will be closed anyway, so the elevation may just be my over-cautious side coming out. However, I'd really hate to lose the ducks to another stray dog...

I see why you elevated the coop. Makes sense in that scenario.

Have you thought about electric poultry netting? It's been great for us, and we have pretty much every predator out there living on or near our property (except maybe weasels, but it could be that I just haven't seen any yet).