When most people think of animals for their back yard they quickly think of chickens. And while there is good reason so many people think to raise chickens, there are also reasons why ducks may be the preferable livestock for your backyard farm.
Ducks don’t crow
Not everyone starting their homestead has 15 acres in the country. Some may have less than an acre with neighbors right next to them that don’t share their passion for raising animals and growing food. Keeping this in mind, it is not hard to think of how a rooster could degrade the relationship one has with the neighbors. Ducks on the other hand don’t crow, and don’t cackle loudly after laying an egg, or when in preparation to lay an egg.
Ducks don’t destroy everything
It’s true that ducks will eat all the grass available if they are confined, just as chickens will. But they can be allowed into an established garden without causing total devastation. Ducks do not kick and scratch the way chickens do which will destroy the roots of plants and ruin mulch. Plants will recover from losing some leaves a lot faster than they will if they are uprooted and kicked into the path.
Ducks are better at egg laying
Ducks do not decrease egg production in the winter the way chickens do. The eggs they do lay are more nutritious and have a taste that is often preferred over chicken eggs. With a thicker shell and membrane, they also last longer than chicken eggs do.
You may already have a flock of chickens in your yard now, and may be skeptical of replacing birds that you have come to appreciate. But as your chickens become chicken dinner you might want to make some room in your flock for some different birds and give ducks a try too, if it doesn’t work out you can always have roast duck instead of fried chicken.
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7 Replies to “3 Reasons Why Ducks Are Better Than Chickens”
What if the ducks fly away and what if you don’t have a pond for them to swim in?
Egg laying breeds of ducks will not fly away, and if you have a baby pool then you have enough water for ducks.
Back in the seventies, I had a small farm, with a pond. I has sheep, goats, rabbits,, ducks, and geese. I also had cats and dogs. For whatever the reason, I never saw either geese or duck eggs. The chickens are MY favorite. I even had one that was my pet. She was a friend, just like a dog. That’s my comment.
How often do ducks lay eggs? Will they lay eggs year-round?
Someone, moving to Costa Rica, decided I would be good for their 6 ducks. I had wanted time to build a shed enclosure for them but they were all ready for me when I ” just went to look”.
Those things followed me around as soon as I opened their box. Splat , splat, splat. I woke up the next morning and tried to go out the front door. There was excrement everywhere. I had a pond but they seemed to like my vicinity , my space, better. I couldn’t get rid of them fast enough! Gave them to a rural couple who already had ducks and chickens.
Ducks do quit laying about this time of the year the chickens on the other hand keep laying we change them out about every 2 yrs and get fresh ones. Process them and you have chicken in the freezer.
have a good one.
Egg laying breeds of ducks will lay at least as many eggs as a chicken in a year, and their eggs are larger. So all in all you are going to get more food in the form of eggs if you go with ducks. While both birds will slow down as the days get shorter, there commercially produced hybridized (not GMO) breeds of ducks that do well with laying into the winter.