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Duck eggs and cost per dozen, incubation and hatch rates, and flock records.
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Read Their Articles →Raising Ducks
Ducks are hardy, quiet, lay well through cold weather and eat slugs and bugs. They need water — lots of it — and a dry place to sleep.
- Eggs hatch in
- 28 days (Muscovy 35)
- Start laying
- 5–7 months
- Top layers
- Khaki Campbell, Runner: 250–300 eggs a year
- Pekin ready to process
- 7–9 weeks
1Getting started
- Egg breeds: Khaki Campbell, Indian Runner, Welsh Harlequin. Meat: Pekin, Rouen, Muscovy (Muscovy are quiet and great foragers).
- Ducks are flock birds — keep at least three.
- Plan for one drake to 4–6 ducks, or none at all; too many drakes injure the ducks.
2Brooding ducklings
- Brooder 90°F the first week, then 5°F cooler each week; ducklings feather out faster than chicks.
- Give a duck or waterfowl starter, or add brewer’s yeast (about 1 tbsp per cup of feed) for niacin — without it their legs grow weak.
- Water must be deep enough to dunk their whole bill to clear their nostrils, but not deep enough to drown in.
- No unsupervised swimming until they are feathered (about 4–5 weeks): ducklings have no waterproof oil yet.
3Housing and water
- About 5 sq ft each inside and 15 sq ft in the run; ducks sleep on the floor, so no roosts — just deep, dry bedding.
- Lock them in at night; ducks can’t see well in the dark and are easy prey.
- A kiddie pool or tub they can bathe in keeps them clean and healthy; dump and refill it often.
- Put water away from the bedding on a gravel or wire base — ducks make a mess with it.
4Feeding
- Waterfowl starter (18–20% protein) for 2–3 weeks, then grower (15–16%), then layer feed with oyster shell for laying ducks.
- Always give water with feed — ducks need it to swallow.
- Free-ranging ducks find much of their food; they clear slugs from a garden without scratching it up like chickens.
5Care and eggs
- Ducks lay early in the morning; keep them in until mid-morning so eggs aren’t lost in the yard.
- Duck eggs have thicker shells and bigger yolks — great for baking.
- Many ducks lay right through winter without extra light.
6Health
- Limping or reluctance to walk: check feet for bumblefoot and niacin shortage.
- Watch for wet feather (feathers that soak through) — usually dirty water or poor diet.
- Ducks hide illness; a duck that stops eating or sits apart needs attention the same day.
- Wild waterfowl spread avian influenza — keep feed and pools covered or away from wild birds.
7Processing
- Process Pekins at 7–9 weeks, before the pin feathers of the next molt come in.
- Duck feathers are harder to pluck: scald at about 150–160°F with a drop of dish soap, or use paraffin wax.
- Render the fat — duck fat is a prized cooking fat.
Space guide
For each animalFencing: Predator-proof run; 2–3 ft keeps most heavy breeds in
- Water deep enough to dunk their heads
- Lock them in at night
Rules of thumb — more room is always better, and breed, climate and local rules can change what you need. Sketch it out in the Barn & Garden Planner.
Put it to work
These free tools keep the records for you once you’ve made an account:
These are rules of thumb from university extension guidance. Breed, climate and your state’s rules change the details — your county extension office is the best place to ask, and you can find it on the selling rules page by ZIP code. All how-to guides →
How the Duck Tracker Works
Add your flock, log eggs each day, set eggs in the incubator and record hatches and hatch rates, and keep health and processing records alongside your costs.