Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I too have heard Khaki and runners.. mind you my 'scovies could lay up a storm too but they do so to have babies...

I read your rely's here and wanted to ask you a question about ducks?
Since it seems you all have experience with ducks and I don't have any yet...here goes.
I want a duel purpose breed. We eat Keto, so the duck fat and meat is something
I want, and we eat a lot of eggs...so what breeds do you think might work for a
greenhorn like me?
Also is it important to have a drake?

scottishpet wrote: ↑

Mon May 27, 2019 11:23 am

I read your rely's here and wanted to ask you a question about ducks?
Since it seems you all have experience with ducks and I don't have any yet...here goes.
I want a dual purpose breed. We eat Keto, so the duck fat and meat is something
I want, and we eat a lot of eggs...so what breeds do you think might work for a
greenhorn like me?
Also is it important to have a drake?

Pekin would be what you want. Fast growing, big, good layers (if you let them get old enough), put on a lot of yummy fat if you feed them well. Awesome table bird if you do them young, and they will lay well and hatch their own eggs (or at least mine did).
A drake is only important if you want your ducks to be able to reproduce. Drakes contribute sperm to fertilize eggs, but nothing else at all...they don't offer predator protection or anything, and the hens are quite happy without them. Happier, even--drakes can be aggressive and rapey with the females, and they don't much like having too much male attention. Also, if you run your ducks with landfowl, the drakes can mount and kill chicken hens (ducks have a ridiculous penis and chickens don't have any at all), so drakes are really only good for two things--fertilizing duck eggs, and for eating.

I’ve heard khaki Campbells and now have some ducklings, but runners are hard to beat. Mine laid an egg a day each, beautiful blue-green they were, and amazingly delicious. They looked meaty, and whatever ate them no doubt found the delicious.RIP Happy, Charlie, and Elfie.