Help! how many ducks should I get???

[neetabeamie]

I would ultimately like to end up with 3-4 ducks. How likely is it or how common is it to have a duck die in the first year?
How many ducks should I order?
I am making a Co-op order from Metzerfarms.
They will replace any deceased ducks with in the first 24 hours.
I live in a rural community in Idaho. I have a wooden fenced in yard. I have two dogs that are good with other animals. A border collie about 8 years and a boxer about 4.
Please let me know what you think?

 

[Amiga]

If you can keep them safe, and get good guidance on raising them, ducklings seem to hang in there pretty well.

Of the original eleven Runners, we still have nine. One died before she was a year old, I think it might have been hardware disease. The other died a little less than two years old, of egg yolk peritonitis. Everyone else is doing great.

 

[neetabeamie]

If you can keep them safe, and get good guidance on raising them, ducklings seem to hang in there pretty well.

Of the original eleven Runners, we still have nine.  One died before she was a year old, I think it might have been hardware disease.  The other died a little less than two years old, of egg yolk peritonitis.  Everyone else is doing great.

What is Egg yolk peritonitis?

 

[Amiga]

Things can go wrong with the egg laying system, and egg yolk gets loose in the body, and causes infection.

It is treatable, at least in some cases, but it's not easy to diagnose, always.

Some vets are pretty pessimistic about it. Understandable, but I know of a case where the duck was helped by Baytril, lots of TLC, and some syringe feeding.

 

[neetabeamie]

So do you think I should just get the number I want and not worry about getting extra?

 

[Khasimir]

We're on our second order with Metzer. Their ducklings have arrived tired but in good health both times. We haven't lost any from our first batch and one died the first day for our second batch but that's it (I suspect that it choked on something). Metzer posts a great "how to" for raising ducklings, which I felt helped quite a lot. If you sex the ducklings, they normally add in one extra just in case one doesn't make it.

 

[sjm123456]

Ducklings in captivity generally have a low mortality rate so you should get as many as you want. I got 3 mallards and have had them for 3 year and recently adopted 2 baby runner ducks. All seem to be doing just fine. And one of my mallards just had 15 babies so 20 ducks!!!!

One of the babies was born with a broken beak

but other than that they seem to be healthy. I do strongly suggest that if you plan on getting drakes only get 1 or at least keep the ratio at 1 drake for every 3 ducks if you get more than one, cause we only have one drake and when other drakes fly in our backyard he fights with them until they fly away.