Duck Breeds

At this point you fall under one of three categories:

1. You’ve never owned ducks before.
2. You’ve owned ducks but weren’t prepared and lovingly and sadly gave them away declaring, “I’ll get more someday when I’m ready!”
3. You currently own ducks and…
   1. Love, love, love them!
   2. Love them but are annoyed by the mess they make in the chicken water…or any water they can find.

If you’ve made the decision to add ducks (or re-add ducks) to your property, there are several duck breeds to consider.  It’s important to know what your end goal is when choosing a breed. Are eggs, meat, or both important?

You can find a lot of articles here on A Life of Heritage that will teach you a lot about poultry and be sure to check out The Profitable Poultry Bundle–It’s FULL of to-do lists, checklists, record keeping sheets, and resource pages that will keep your flock healthy and YOU organized!

These questions answered:

• Duck breeds with pictures
• What duck breeds are great for eggs
• Duck breeds that make great meat birds
• Duck breeds for pets
• Duck breeds chart
• Information about mixing duck breeds

At a glance, here are 14 breeds to choose from.

This is your starting point to success with ducks. Choosing the right breed will be a key factor in your success and satisfaction in owning ducks.

Let’s begin!

Pekin Ducks

• White with yellow feet and bill
• Docile, friendly, calm and hardy
• 150-200 white eggs per year
• Not broody
• Heavy bird: 8-9 pounds
• Ideal for eggs and meat

Buff Orpington Ducks

• Both the duck and drake have buff plumage, orange-yellow shanks and feet, and brown eyes. The drake’s bill is yellow while the duck’s bill is brown-orange.
• Hardy, generally docile, flightless and great forager
• 150-220 white eggs per year
• Occasionally broody
• Heavy bird: 7-8 pounds
• Ideal for eggs and meat

Indian Runner Ducks

•  They come in various colors including black, buff, fawn, white, gray and chocolate.
• Active, and energetic but friendly and excellent foragers. They walk upright and rarely swim but love to bathe. They are non-flight birds.
• 150-200 white or greenish eggs per year
• Small bird: 3-5.5 pounds

Mallard Ducks

• The females are brown with blue wing tips, the males have the distinctive greenish head.
• High energy, “talkative”, good natured and excellent flyers
• 60-120 greenish eggs per year
• Broody temperament
• Small bird: 2.5 pounds

Swedish Ducks

• Blue, black or silver (splash) with white bibs and slate bills
• Very calm, extremely hardy, good foragers
• 120-180 white eggs per year
• Broody temperament
• Heavy bird: 5-6.5 pounds

Saxony Ducks

• Drakes: oatmeal with a burgundy chest, silvery-blue wings and charcoal gray-blue heads with a white ring around their neck and orange bills and feet. The hens are fawn-colored with white eye stripes and orange bills and feet.
• Active, alert, energetic and excellent foragers. A rare breed in the U.S.
• 200 white eggs per year
• Broody temperament
• Heavy bird: 7-8 pounds

Khaki Campbell Ducks

• Light brown with a bluish-green bill. The hens have brown feet and the drakes have orange feet and greenish heads
• Skittish but great foragers
• Up to 300 white eggs per year
• Not broody
• Light bird: 3.5-5.5 pounds

Muscovy

• NOT a duck (as we generally know them to be). Now that I have your attention. The Muscovy is a different species of duck. As noted below you can see the differences they exhibit.
• “They have a body like a duck; they nest, attack predators, and hiss like a goose; they roost like a chicken, and they have a plump breast like a turkey. The male Muscovy has characteristic fleshy growths around the eyes called caruncles.” ~Source
• Cream colored Eggs
• Thrives under free-range conditions
• Leaner meat than a duck
• Heavy Bird: The male Muscovy can become very large (10 to 12 pounds); the female is smaller (5 to 6 pounds).

Crested Duck

• White feathers with a ball of feathers on top of their head. This is also called a “crest”. This cute crest, however, is actually a genetic mutation. They have a gap in their skull that is covered by fatty tissue. This can pose problems like seizures, neurological problems, and an overly aggressive male may cause damage when breeding.
• May be a bit nervous. But can be great pets.
• Up to 200 white eggs per year
• Because of their genetic mutation, breeding a crested duck to a crested duck can be fatal for their offspring. And 1/4 of the eggs that are fertile won’t even hatch. And if they do, half of the surviving ducklings won’t develop a crest.
• Light bird: 4-6 pounds

Call Duck

• Usually, they have white feathers but recently more colors have become available. They are also very loud and talkative.
• Very calm temperament and fun, playful attitude
• 60-100 pale green eggs per year
• May go broody
• Fun facts: Originally bred by duck hunters. Their calls and quacks attract the wild ducks to the hunting area. But since the artificial duck calls and decoys have replaced them almost entirely, they are mainly raised as pets.
• Light bird: 1.5 pounds

Magpie Ducks

• Possible Colors: usually are black and white. They may also be blue and white with an orange bill.
• Calm and quiet temperament
• 200 eggs per year which can be cream, white, green and blue
• Lighter bird: 5.5-6

Welch Harlequin

• Males resemble a male mallard with a beautiful green head, brown body and white ring around their neck. They have an orange bill. The females have a black bill, brown and white feathers and a blue speculum feather ban.
• Calm bird and great foragers
• 200+ eggs per year that are somewhere between a white and light blue tint.
• 90% of them can be sexed at just a few days old by the color of their bills.
• Medium bird: 4.5-5.5 pounds.
• Raised for meat and eggs.
• Critically endangered.

Cayuga

• Black iridescent feathers. They can look green in certain lighting. They have black bills and feet. The older birds of laying hens may have a bit of orange on their feet.
• Calm disposition
• 150+ eggs per year that have a charcoal or black/gray colored shell
• Developed in the U.S. near Cayuga Lake in New York.
• Heavy bird: 7-8 pounds but slow growing.

Rouen

• Nearly identical to the Mallard but they are larger and too heavy to fly away.
• Calm disposition
• 150-200 eggs per year that are tinted blue
• Heavy bird: 6-7.9 pounds
• Raised for both meat and eggs.

Information on Mixing Duck Breeds

It is possible to raise and mix duck breeds together. But when doing this, be careful with extreme size differences. Larger drakes can hurt the smaller hens. Watch the ratio of drakes to hens or raise all hens together and there shouldn’t be any problems. For more information on raising ducks, visit this link: Raising Ducks

Duck Breeds Chart

You may use and share this chart below, but please give credit and link to A Life of Heritage.

This information gives a lot of insight into which duck breed will work best for your property and situation. Which breed catches your eye right off? Go online and study more. And learn all you can about that breed!

Now that you’ve chosen your breed you need to do some more reading:

Raising Ducklings

Raising Ducks

Duck Egg Facts

Expected Duck Egg Color

Hatching Duck Eggs

What Do Ducks Eat?

You can read more about duck breeds here, here and here.