Chickens or Ducks?!?!?!

[Becks01]

Hi there lovely people...

We have moved to a new house with a lovely ready made chicken house and run....we've had chickens for about 10 years with a break for the last years...I thought we'd just get more chooks...but now I'm wondering about a couple of ducks like campbells instead for a change? I've heard they are less likely to jump out of the garden and less likely to scratch up the garden when they free range...the floor of the chicken house is concrete and we could make them a bucket pond to play in....however I have heard they are dirtier and smellier??

Any insights welcome!!

 

[DW Team]

Stay with hens is my veiw. Unless you have a pond we did not and the mess they made was unbelievable in such a short time turned the pen area into a muddy smelly area. Our hen area is next to the house and in an area is sheltered but oh boy how in a week they got the area into such a mess was amazing. But mixed in with droppings phewie managed a month then rehomed to family with large pond.

 

[D66]

Ducks eat slugs and snails, and spend all day looking for them. They do need a pond of sorts, if you can keep it on the concrete it shouldn't be too messy. Quantity of smell is similar to chickens. Ducks don't eat the veggie plants.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I love ducks but there's no denying that they are mucky so you need space. I have muscovies which don't need huge amounts of water-they have big dog baths instead. They aren't as messy with water as other breeds of ducks but they aren't great layers either. They are very entertaining and quite smart but in a small area they will turn it into mud and poop very quickly in wet weather. Mine have about 3/4 acre to roam along with the other poultry. Scovies are great slug eaters but they eat anything-grass, slugs, insects, mice!, frogs etc and they did wreck some new plants but I am not much of a gardener and don't care. Duck poop is extremely good fertiliser.

 

[NiceNeverNaughty]

as per the others, if you go for ducks you need space. duck poo is the worst!

I have a dozen hens in a really large enclosure plus 2 Cherry Valley ducks which are my little boy’s pets. We added in 2 runner ducks and the difference it made in terms of mess was amazing and I rehomed them

as an aside, weve had a few types over the years but the cherry valleys we have are adorable pets

 

[HappyHollyDays]

We have miniature silver appleyards. They live in the garden, clear the place out of slugs and snails, aireate the lawn and even though we have a very large pond they only need a small plastic paddling pool to splash about in. They are friendly, small, don't leave tonnes of poo everywhere and lay a decent amount of eggs.

 

[PorkChop]

We don't find our ducks and geese messy but they do have a large pond and plenty of space.

If you do decide to go for some ducks then have a look at Indian Runners, they are great characters, don't fly and don't need so much water access

 

[Nudibranch]

As above - ducks are much easier with plenty of space! I did get a bit fed up of endless water changes. No matter how big the container it will be filthy within hours. Calls and small ducks are better for the garden than chickens though.

 

[Mince Pie]

as per the others, if you go for ducks you need space. duck poo is the worst!

I have a dozen hens in a really large enclosure plus 2 Cherry Valley ducks which are my little boy’s pets. We added in 2 runner ducks and the difference it made in terms of mess was amazing and I rehomed them

as an aside, weve had a few types over the years but the cherry valleys we have are adorable pets

Don't say that! I really want some Indian Runners

 

[Micky]

I had both, hens and ducks, Indian runners and the big fat white ones who's name escapes me...they were fab, no slugs in the garden (my hostas looked incredible), only mess they made was when it rained and they found a dint in the lawn, and proceeded to make it a large hole to splash around in, I had an old child's sandpit with wooden strip sloped against it so they could get in, washed out weekly and refilled, they loved it. No problems sleeping in with the hens either...out all day and in at night...I miss them! I didn't find either hens nor ducks messy unless you have a small garden then I probably wouldn't recommend either, as I think they need space..

 

[Becks01]

Thanks everyone for your replies...we have decided to go for chickens again...I love the idea of ducks but I think they might be too messy - our garden is pretty big, but perhaps not big enough for ducks... We used to have our chooks out with the ponies at our old house so they had loads of space, but now we will just be backyard chicken keepers!

There are five "wild" ducks which visit our house every day, quack at us until we get the food out and eat from our hands...so it's kind of like having pet ducks anyway! ;-)