I'm interested in the experience of duck keepers, and folks with Cochin chickens (what are their egg laying habits?) I'm sneaking layers into an outbuilding on a two acre suburban lot. I need real quiet birds, so no roosters. Which ducks are they best layers? What production is normal for specific ducks? What are their seasonal laying habits? How do you incourage winter laying? Do Cochin chickens lay reasonably well? How many eggs per week, in what seasons? Anything you have to add about these from your own experience I'd be interested in, especially eggs and keeping ducks somewhat confined. (There will be outdoor excursins as the weather allows) Thanks!

-- Marty in SE Kansas (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), January 28, 2001

Answers

I can answer the duck question. Without a doubt the Khaki Campbell is the best egg laying duck. They lay 365 eggs a year, so the ad says mine don'e lay every day but they lay better than my chickens. They are a medium size duck that is easy to raise. We use their eggs a lot in baking. You can really tell the difference. cakes and corn breads raise twice as much as with chicken eggs. I have had some that are great setters and I have had one that would not set if you glued her there. In my book you can't go wrong with the Khaki Campbell

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), January 28, 2001.

I responded to the Cochin question under speckled eggs. As far as ducks go there are several breeds of of ducks that lay very well. Campbells are the best layers at 300+ eggs per year. Indian Runners are considered an egg breed and lay 200+ eggs per year. Magpies lay about 225-250 eggs per year but are larger than Campbells and make a decent meat bird as well. Silver Appleyards are very good layers averaging 200+ eggs and are very good meat birds also.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), January 28, 2001.

I don't know about any kind of ducks kept in a small area except white pekins. We've always let ours free range, then shut them up at night. But some neighbors I used to work for had about a dozen ducks in a 20'x30' pen and MAN did they stink! There was always atleast 8 eggs every day, but the smell! Ugh!

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), January 28, 2001.

Marty, "Can we talk?" I adore ducks! cambells are the best for eggs, my last cambell lived over 6 years in my urban back yard with a rottweiler, she some times layed 2 or more eggs per day, she layed through the winter, skipping a day here and there, I raised my ducks like chickens, no pond!I am in OKC noise and smell are not a problem the way I did it.They are cleaner than chickens, they love to bathe, "even washing behind their ears" droppings wash away with a water hose, and they were only loud when something was "wrong" , my cambell once layed a blue shelled egg I don't know why though.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), January 29, 2001.

I had Cochin banties for years and years, and they are very smart chickens. Roosters are nice, none of them ever went after me, and got along well with all the others. The hens would sit eggs all summer. They are hard to get to STOP sitting, and are good mothers. But they are very protective of their babies, and allot of fights break out with a hen and her chicks. So I kept the hen and chicks separate, or just took the chicks away till they got older. The eggs of the banty are smaller, but we always got allot of eggs. I never tried the big Cochin, but would like to.

I just put golf balls in the nest if I wanted none to hatch, and I picked up all the eggs twice a day. Mine would start laying early, like Jan. and go all summer and fall. But Cochins are the best for hatching eggs for you, even duck or other eggs.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), January 29, 2001.

My experience says:

Which ducks are they best layers?
Ive had heavy production from Khaki Campbells, Blue Swedish, Welsh Harlequin, Silver Appleyard, Black Cayuga, and various Runners. I found that, despite the claims of one of the nations biggest waterfowl hatcheries, Black Cayuga drakes have too small of a carcass to bother with (and you will have to or they will cripple your ducks) but the ducks lay an acceptable but comparatively small size egg. The Khaki Campbells are so tiny and lay such small eggs that they just arent worth keeping unless you just like looking at tiny brown ducks. The runners layed good sized eggs but they too had carcasses too small to bother with.

What production is normal for specific ducks?
I dont bother to keep records of who lays what at my place. Everyone gets replaced every couple of years so if one or two arent producing well then I dont notice. Ive had a hard time coming up with any real good figures on laying for ducks but the few tables Ive seen generally have the above breeds up toward the top in numbers per year.

What are their seasonal laying habits?
Mine, pretty much regardless of the breed, lay year 'round except for taking a couple of days off around Christmas and taking 2 weeks or so off in the middle of summer.

How do you incourage winter laying?
I dont. Well not anything intentionally. I carry out hot water twice a day because even though they dont seem to mind eating snow I feel bad for them and cant imagine that eating all that cold snow is much fun (I imagine them getting ice cream headaches...). I make sure that they have grit and shell during the winter because around here everything is buried and frozen so they cant pick up their own.

Do Cochin chickens lay reasonably well?
No, not the full size ones, in fact extremely poor isnt quite a low enough grade. They do like setting though and take the best care of their chicks that Ive seen. Ive seen them confiscate other chickens eggs just to have something to sit on.

How many eggs per week, in what seasons?
Per week? From Cochins? You might be setting your sights a bit high...

...keeping ducks somewhat confined.
If you dont get a breed that likes to travel and is good at it (ie muscovy) then there is no need. My flocks have generally had "unlimited" roam and rarely did one go more than a couple hundred feet, in the winter its too cold to bother and in the summer they stay wherever there are good bugs and weeds to eat.

(There will be outdoor excursins as the weather allows)
The ducks Ive had didnt really ever have any problems in winter except for one year when my black cayuga kept getting stuck in snowbanks, I dont know why. Those got frostbite and not all recovered from a stay in the "hospital". If you are up north and plan to let your chickens put in the winter then I would try to avoid hard feathered chickens (ie cornish) and fancy combed (ie buttercups and such) breeds as they are certain to freeze to death or get frost bite so bad that you will be out doing constant surgery on your chickens to remove the gangrene.

Thanks!
Youre welcome.

-- William in WI (gnarledmaw@lycos.com), January 29, 2001.

I was surprised by khaki cambell eggs being small, all but a very few of the eggs from my bird were large to jumbo size.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), January 29, 2001.

I am with Thumper on the Khaki (or other) Campbell eggs being small. All of ours are larger than our bigest chicken eggs. They are smaller that some of the other duck eggs though.

As far as seasonal laying habits for ducks, ours are laying now here in MN - wish they'd stop. It has been somewhat warmer than usual though. To encourage winter laying put light on them for 14 hours a day. Same as for chickens.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), January 29, 2001.

Would like to talk more about ducks with anyone interested. Please fill free to e-mail me privately if you want to talk more duck stuff. Say, when do ducks start laying?

-- Marty (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), January 30, 2001.

I have one Muscovy hen which is laying now. Four eggs so far in her nest, so figure she started sometime early this week.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 31, 2001.

Chooks lay one egg/day. All my breeds lay all year 'round with no added heat/light. Don't have cochin roos, but the hens are exceedingly quiet. If I were ever to have a house chook, it would be a cochin!

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), January 31, 2001.

Marty, I agree that my Khaki Campbells were the very best ducks for layers. They tend to lay well for extended periods of time. The other breeds will lay fairly well too but will stop to hatch the eggs. I love Cochins, they are my favorite chicken, but I keep them as setters and raisers of chicks, ducks, turkeys, etc. I usually have Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorps, or sex-link for egg production. I feed 100% laying mash in the winter to keep egg production up. I kept 6 RIR hens in a pen in my garage in Coffeyville, Ks for my fresh eggs with no problems from the neighbors. I also gave my neighbors fresh eggs from time to time as PR. Good Luck! PS. You can get Rhode Island Red banties that lay really well, don't take up much space and are cute as buttons.

-- karen (kansasgoats@iwon.com), January 31, 2001.

What do you use for nests. We have 7 ducks that ramble all day and are penned up at night. The stopped laying in Nov. Where they are penned up has hay on the floor. Do we need to provide boxes or something for them to nest in? They are mixed Khaki/mallard that lay 4 or 5 eggs a day, when they are laying. We feed them shelled corn. I'm open to any suggestions. Blessings Peggy

-- Peggy (wclpc@cookeville.com), January 31, 2001.

I have Khaki Campbells and love them. They are great layers and my hen is a good mom. Their eggs are like extra-extra large chicken eggs. Our one hen lays more than we can use so we share the extras with kids' music teacher. However, our Khaki's are not quiet - every little thing alarms them. We don't have nests - she makes nests in the hay on the floor. When we had them in with the chickens she would use chickens nest boxes. At night they would all roost together - ducks on one side & chickens on the other. Have fun!

-- Bonnie (stichart@firstworld.net), January 31, 2001.

i have never raised ducks. We have a stream, and a small pool which could be enlarged. We would like to raise ducks primarily for egg production. Ability to forage, good tempers, good brooding characteristics are top concerns. We are looking a t 6-8 ducks on 1 unfenced acre of woodland.

Have you ever dug out a pool in a natural stream? What about protecting tham from predators? Should they be fenced, and how can that be done with a natural stream? How much duck food should I store? If I raise ducklings inside, what litter and feeding schedule should I follow? Any good duck shelter building plans? I am thinking of khaki campbells or german blue/blacks.

Thanks, Seraphima

-- seraphima (djones@kodiak.alaska.edu), February 01, 2001.

"Have you ever dug out a pool in a natural stream?"

Better check into that with your Department of Natural Resources. Here you would wind up in a lot of trouble for making modifications to any "four season" waterway (no, it doesnt necessarily flow in the winter here either) but a "3 season" you can make changes to.

German blue/black?

-- William in WI (gnarledmaw@lycos.com), February 01, 2001.

Seraphima, I first chose khaki cambells, for their cold tolerence and forageing ablity, they are recomended egg layers, have good camoflage and mine showed good "drop and freeze" instinct.They will eat almost anything. Mine were not afraid of dogs or cats because of being raised with them.They were shy of new people/animals. Mine did not set eggs,my favorite would lay a cluch of 7 or so and set for a few days and then loose interest by then the eggs had gone bad. They would go to their pen each evening with little coaxing and used the 'nest shed'(3x4sheet of plywood leaning against the house over a rock nest cushioned with packed dirt and cut grass), but if not contained layed eggs all over the yard. I raised 4 ducks on a 30x50 foot urban back yard with out damage to the lawn in fact the grass only got better as time passed, they did work small holes into any puddles they could find but the grass quickly reclaimed it. Ducklings should stay indoors until they have adult feathers, I kept mine in the bath tub, washing it down several times a day, filling it enough for a swim when someone could sit and watch as babies can get soaked and drown, we had a small forced air heater which they enjoyed very much sanding right in front as they combed water out of their 'fluff'. They must have water at all times. I fed my little ones wet starter mash, if the food is dry they will pack their throats full and choak or wash it all into the water dish anyway,(the water dish must be deep enough to let them wash their nostrils clear) after they were grown/laying I saved egg shells, boiled them and fed them back for calcuim,other than getting them started I bought very little feed. I took my showers with them still in the tub they just stood at the far end away from the soap and spray, and yes my child had a real ducky in his bath sometimes. P.S. If you don't mind delays (I don't check every day)you can email me.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), February 02, 2001.

We raise Cayuga and Muscoveys. If you are living in a area where noise is a consideration I highly recomend the Muscovey ducks. Their egg production isn't as good as some ducks but they are extremely quite and calm. They do like to fly however. My Cayugas give me an average of 5 or 6 eggs a week each and are a beautiful breed.

-- Dawn (bunnynut2000@yahoo.com), May 11, 2001.

the best kind of duck you may want would eather be a mallard or a khaki campbell. My mum and i have just brought two khaki campbell running ducks because our next door nabouriger's dog got in our chook/duck pen and killed my white duck and four lomin browns and two indain games. Luckly my mallard duck, two lomen browns and two indain games survied. and that happened today . so i know from what i have read and seen that those two kinds of ducks are right to have in town because i live rockhampton queensland australia and they laie good eggsand the taste yummy

-- tara-louise ireland (badslut1000000@yahoo.com.au), March 22, 2002.