Different Duck Breeds Living Together

[JJpuck]

Hi all. I am planning on getting ducklings this summer, but I thought I would do extensive research beforehand in order to care for my future babies to the best of my ability.

My question is: If I get multiple breeds of ducks, would they still coexist peacefully? Also, since I am planning on getting different breeds, should I get multiple types of the same breed, or does it not matter?
The duck breeds I have in mind are: Cayuga, Buff, Pekin (possibly), Welsh Harlequin and possibly Black Swedish.

 

[creaturelife]

i have mallard and muscovy living together they never fight or anything but when i let them out the go 2 different ways my mallard stick to the mallards and muscovy stick with the muscovy but i also have a idea to keep them from mix breeding with each other the idea is not to rasie two different breeds together and they wont mix but i dont know if i rasie them together if they would mix im putting it to test this year and see what happen i also suggest that you have 2 or 3 girls two every boy unless you get a duck that pairs up like the mallard then you only need 1 girl for every boy and i would at least have 2 or 3 of every breed but i have also seen them just put one of each breed they had in one pen

 

[JJpuck]

Thanks so much for your input! I was planning on raising them together. Hopefully I'll just socialize them enough as chicks that they will just accept each other. But I'll definitely get more than one of the same breed (probably 2) in an effort to avoid any future problems. Thanks again!

 

[JJpuck]

Does anyone else have any additional advice?
Additional detail: I am planning on getting all female ducks

 

[Finny]

Different breeds will definitely get along together especially if you raise them together. I am currently raising mallards and a magpie together and they are best friends. In the past i have raised buffs and cayugas separately and they still hang out 24/7 and all love eachother.
I would be careful about getting pekins if you live in a neighbor hood. They are known to be very loud and chatty.

 

[JJpuck]

Thanks for your response! What do you think about getting more than one of the same breed? Is that a must, or do you think that it won't matter?

 

[creaturelife]

i think if you raise them with each other they will be fine i just raised my duck in different brooders so i could have two different flocks they will stay together if you raise them together

 

[creaturelife]

finny i hope your mallards do good and i want to ask what are magpie duck i have no idea never seen on befor is it a breed or some thing the i know alot about duck but i have only rasied 2 breeds soon to be 3

 

[Finny]

It wont matter. Ducklings get attached to whoever they are raised with. As long as they are raised together the breeds do not matter.

 

[Going Quackers]

Yes, generally though i don't advise extreme sizing differences. Like say bantam with large waterfowl. I have some buffs in with my Muscovy, So that is actually quite a world of difference as scovies are not mallard derived, borderline on even being ducks more towards geese, anyways, they definitely socialize with each other(buff to buff, always hollering for one another) so at least 2 of each breed i think, now they were raised with 2 scovies i had a premature hatch, so that is how that came about...

That landed with 2 drakes..

i so have this quad of 2 buffs and 2 Muscovy drakes, the buffs are funny little things, quite social with their boys but they are not much to mingling with the rest of the flock(all Muscovy) some they like some they don't.. it's definitely an interesting dynamic to watch.

This was them as ducklings, now i should mention the buffs were older not by much about... 1.5-2wks plus these scovies hatched before they should and were much smaller than my typical ones.



They all grew up however.. a shot from fall.. so yeah, the boys caught up and exceeded lol