- Well, have you seen them?! Ducks are so cute and so entertaining! My favorite part of owning ducks is how fun they are to watch! Watching them waddling across our backyard, splashing in puddles when it rains, bombarding us when we walk outside with the mealworm bag in tow, and listening to them quack - that stuff right there is better than TV.
- Ducks are superior egg layers to chickens. (This blog post isn't a "ducks are better than chickens" debate, I'm just giving you the facts) Duck eggs are larger and higher in nutrients - including fat content, which makes their baked goods richer and rise higher. If you haven't eaten anything made using duck eggs, you are truly missing out! Ducks also lay year-round, and lay eggs with thicker shells and membranes, which makes them harder to break and have longer shelf life.
- Unlike chickens, ducks don't have an aggressive pecking order. (Again, just giving you the facts) Ducks are much more likely to welcome newcomers and go on their merry way without any of the pecking and flock drama. This makes adding new additions to your flock a lot less stressful, however, it makes my husband a little stressed due to the fact that I can just keep adding ducks to our homestead. Without the pecking order, you don't have to worry if one of your birds is getting picked on and separating them from the others. Seriously, it's so much easier.
- Ducks are so easy to herd! You'll rarely see a duck separated from the rest of its friends. Ducks travel in a group called a flock, going everywhere together. Since they travel as a group, just walking behind them with your arms stretched out will get them where you need them to go! No chasing around several ducks with them going every other direction. This makes putting them up at night so quick and easy.
- Ducks are more cold hardy, heat tolerant, and less susceptible to diseases than chickens. (Last duck to chicken comparison, I promise) Ducks have an extra layer of fat and along with their waterproof feathers, this makes them able to withstand cold temperatures. They are also heat tolerant, as they seem to always have the ability to find water to cool down. If that doesn't tell you enough about how easy ducks are, they are also less likely to be infected with diseases, parasites, and mites. That is in part due to them being in water quite often, which drowns the parasites and mites.
- Duck poop is great fertilizer! Adding their manure to your compost pile adds lots of great nitrogen, that once broken down, will nourish your garden and help it thrive! You can even skip the compost pile and add duck manure straight to your garden in small amounts if you want, as it is less likely to burn your plants than other types of manure.
And those 6 reasons are all I need to convince you that you NEED ducks on your homestead! They are such fun, quirky, and low-maintenance birds that you will not regret raising!
For our blog post about information on how to raise ducklings, click here.
I always buy my chicks and duckling from My Pet Chicken!