The Best Domestic Duck Breeds for Egg Production

Eggs are a big part of the daily diet. They contain valuable proteins, nutrients and vitamins. They give us wonderful fully omelettes, scrambled eggs, make quiche and we would not have great cookies or cakes without them.

Why Duck Eggs are better than Chicken Eggs

Duck eggs are thicker shelled

Duck eggs have a tougher thicker shell than chicken eggs. This also gives them a longer shelf life than that of a chicken egg.

Duck eggs are a lot bigger than chicken eggs

Duck eggs are a lot bigger than the jumbo-sized chicken eggs.

You can substitute 2 duck eggs in place of 3 chicken eggs.

Duck eggs have more albumen content than chicken eggs

Duck eggs are bigger than chicken eggs and have a higher content of albumen (the egg white).

This makes for fluffier and lighter backing with a richer content than chicken eggs. There are a lot of top bakers that prefer baking with duck eggs.

Duck eggs are creamier and richer than chicken eggs

Duck eggs have 9.6 grams of fat making them higher in fat content than chicken eggs which contain 5 grams of fat.

Duck eggs have higher Omega-3 fatty acids than chicken eggs

Duck eggs have a higher content of the much-needed Omega-3 fatty acid compound. A duck egg contains 71.4 mg as compared to the 37 mg of a chicken egg.

Duck eggs contain more protein than a chicken egg

For those on a high protein diet, the duck egg is better than a chicken egg. As the duck egg contains 8.97 grams of protein as opposed to only 6.28 grams of protein in a chicken egg.

People who are allergic to chicken eggs are usually able to eat duck eggs

Always check with your medical advisor before eating anything that could be harmful to you.

Because the protein content of a duck is a bit different from that of a chicken’s people who suffer from chicken egg allergies may be able to eat duck eggs.

Top 10 Domestic Ducks for Good Egg Production

Magpie

They Magpie lays up to 290 lovely colorful eggs per year. Their egg size is medium to large with colors ranging from a creamy white, white, blue or green.

They are also one of the quieter duck breeds that are quite lightweight and excellent foragers.

A breed that, if ordinances, etc. permit, makes for an excellent backyard duck.Read More

Campbell

The Khaki Campbell lays a lot of medium to large white eggs a year. This beautiful duck will give you up to 240 eggs per year. They do not like being in a huge flock and tend to be happiest in a much smaller one. They need quite a bit of fresh grazing space to forage about in as they are rather active birds that love to go hunting for grubs and insects during the day.Read More

Runner

They are a bit finicky and prefer to be left to roam around the farm/garden foraging for treats in the form of snails, insects, bugs and even small reptiles. They were historically used in the rice paddies in China to get rid of weeds, insects and small reptiles. They are also champion egg layers and will lay around 200 to 300, small (about the size of a large/jumbo chicken egg) to medium sized white, pale green or pale blue eggs a year.Read More

Ancona

The Ancona is an all-around excellent dual-purpose breed. They have their own unique plumage color of white with splashes or patches of black. Even their yellow bills have speckles of black on them. They are such lovely natured ducks as well and they lay around 200 to 280 eggs. Their eggs can be either cream, white or blue and the ducks will start to lay eggs at around 5 months old.Read More

Welsh Harlequin

These lovely Welsh ladies have truly beautiful feather coloring, have a great nature and are also in need of more breeder as they are critically endangered. This is a great shame as these ducks can lay up to 300 large white eggs a year.Read More

Buff

The Buff or Buff Orpington duck is one of the better dual-purpose duck breeds. They are also good layers of medium to large white or slightly tinted medium to large eggs. These lovely calm ladies with their friendly nature will lay around 200 to 220 eggs for the table per year. They make an excellent addition to any duck flock and are a really great starter duck. Read More

Swedish Blue

The Swedish Blue is a beautiful calm and friendly breed of duck. They make a lovely showpiece for the garden with the added bonus of laying around 180 to 200 large eggs. These eggs can be quite colorful depending on the season. The egg colors range from white, green, greyish tint or blue.Read More

Saxony

The Saxony duck is a dual-purpose duck and is a large breed. They are very broody ducks and will sit on their eggs until they hatch. They are listed on the American Livestock Conservancy list as threatened. They are a great back yard duck as they adapt very well to almost any environment and love to forage. The Saxony produces 190 to 240 large white eggs a year.Read More

White Pekin

The White Pekin duck is known to produce around 200 extra-large to jumbo sized white or tinted colored eggs a year. They produce some of the largest eggs of the domestic duck breeds. They are also delightful ducks that are happy and fun to have around the back garden. Pekin ducks adapt to most any environment making the most of their surroundings as long as there is grass and some bush to forage in.Read More

Appleyard

There are many reasons to raise Appleyard ducks. They are friendly, calm and will run to greet their humans. They are beautiful and also critically endangered and in need of breeder to help improve their numbers. Then there is the fact that the Appleyard duck is an excellent table bird with gourmet quality and highly delectable meant. But mostly they are really good layers of large white eggs. They can lay from 200 to 270 eggs a year.Read More