We got our first ducks in 2022. We first looked into ducks as an alternative egg source to chickens. We are also hoping they will be helpful in the orchards. They forage through rooting in leaves and dirt, and it loosens up the soil without actually displacing it like chickens do. Plus, they eat slugs, snails, and other tree growth inhibitors.
We have several different breeds currently, but are only breeding the Muscovy's.
Fun fact, you can tell most ducks and drakes apart as they get older because as the drakes mature, they develop a curly tail feather on the top of their tail. From the moment they start quacking you can also tell them apart: girls have a very powerful and loud quack and the boys have a very quiet almost airy quack. Muscovy ducks do not get the curled tail feather. Instead, the males are considerably larger than the females, and have more caruncling on their face.