True Facts About Ducks – Backyard Poultry

Reading Time: 4 minutes

by Erin Snyder

Discover true facts about ducks to find out the pros and cons of keeping them as pets, and compare ducklings to ducks.

It’s spring, the time of year when duck owners are thinking of expanding their flocks. Before you rush to place an order at the hatchery or browse listings for some irresistible quackers, check out these pros, cons, and tips I’ve learned along the way.

Ducklings Pros

In the 18 years that my family has been raising ducks, we’ve almost always expanded our flock with ducklings. However, if you’re unsure if baby ducks are a good fit for your flock, here are a few pros.

Friendly Pets

Since ducklings imprint (meaning they believe the first face they see is their mother), our ducklings bond closely to us, creating a lifelong attachment.

Another advantage to getting our ducklings used to being handled from a young age is that it makes them easier to handle and work with should they become sick or hurt.

Experience Tip: For an ultra-friendly flock, handle both ducklings and adult birds daily.

Better Nutrition

One of the perks of raising ducklings is that we can control what they eat. Feeding our flocks a healthy diet is extremely important to us, as ducklings raised on chick feed without added nutrients can have significant health problems throughout their adult life.

Ensuring proper nutrition benefits not only the birds but also you. Ducks are what they eat, and their nutrition, whether good or bad, is passed through to the consumer via their eggs and meat.

Experience Tip: Ducklings require 55 to 70 milligrams of niacin per kilogram of feed. Adding brewer’s yeast to the diet is a good way to ensure your flock is receiving enough niacin to grow strong and healthy.

Flock Integration Made Easy

Our flock is less wary of new flock members if the newest arrivals were raised alongside the adults.
When the 8-week-old ducklings are ready to join the rest of the flock, our older females take them under their wings, and the two flocks quickly become good friends.

Experience Tip: When integrating young ducks into the flock, be sure to keep a close eye on the drake(s), as some males tend to bully younger flock members. When this happens, we separate the problem boy from the flock until the female ducklings have reached the point of lay before reintroducing them to the drake.

Duckling Cons

While there are many pros to raising ducklings, there are also a few cons to bear in mind.

Messy Brooder

A messy brooder is one of the biggest downsides to ducklings. These inquisitive little cuties splash through their water fountains and make everything in their path soggy. Their love of water can be a disadvantage for those brooding ducklings indoors.

Experience Tip: To keep brooder messes to a minimum, we raise ducklings during the warmer months, when they can go outside in a small, duckling-friendly, completely predator-proofed run during the day.

Shipping Woes

Sadly, ducklings shipped through the mail may be dead on arrival. While hatcheries have found ways to reduce the number of deaths, be sure to take a peek inside the box before allowing your kids a glimpse of the new arrivals.

Experience Tip: Always open the box inside the post office so you can report any casualties to both the post office and the hatchery.

Adult Duck Pros

If you’re unsure about taking on ducklings, here are a few pros and cons we’ve learned when acquiring adult ducks.

Guaranteed Sexing

As long as you know how to tell a female duck from a male, the top pro to purchasing an adult is the guarantee of getting exactly what you want. Except for Muscovies, females have loud quacks, while drakes have soft, raspy voices.

Experience Tip: Acquiring an adult female can come in handy, especially if you have a lonely widower drake in need of some female company.

Faster Production

Acquiring adult females is a good way to cut costs if egg production is your main focus. Most lay from late winter through early fall, so be sure to purchase females during this time if you want to get eggs right away.

Experience Tip: When new females arrive, it’s not uncommon for their production rate to drop or even cease for a few weeks until they become comfortable in their new home.

No Shipping Worries

While you can ship adult ducks through the mail, most flock owners prefer to buy from someone within driving distance. One of the perks of purchasing ducks from someone close by is that you don’t need to worry about how they’ll fare during the shipping process.

Experience Tip: An enclosed crate or carrier works better than a cardboard box for transporting.

Adult Ducks Cons

Before you decide that adult ducks are the way to go, here are a few cons you should consider.

Pecking Order Issues

Integrating adults into our existing flock rarely goes smoothly. The flock members are often less than pleased when forced to interact with the new arrivals, and aren’t afraid to express their opinion, including engaging in physical battles.

Experience Tip: To prevent injuries, keep meet-and-greets between the two flocks short and sweet. Never introduce a single duck (unless the new duck is being introduced to one duck only, in the case of a pair), and don’t hesitate to step in and interfere if battles become too rough.

Biosecurity Concerns

My greatest concern when introducing adults to our flock is biosecurity. We prefer to keep a closed flock (meaning we rarely acquire adult poultry) to help reduce disease risks.

Ducks can carry many diseases, including internal and external parasites, the avian flu, Newcastle disease, bacteria, and other common health risks.

Experience Tip: Before being introduced to your flock, new adult arrivals should be vet checked and complete a strict 30-day quarantine period to ensure they’re healthy.

Whether you choose to raise ducklings or purchase adult ducks, adding some new members to your flock is a rewarding experience.

Erin Snyder and her family have raised chickens and ducks for nearly two decades. She’s passionate about all things poultry but is especially interested in poultry nutrition, predator protection, egg-laying disorders, and helping chickens live their best lives well into their golden years. You can follow her chicken adventures on her newly hatched Instagram page: thehenhousehygge.

Originally published in the June/July 2026 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.