Domestic Animal Breeds

The Types and Breeds of Ducks – Getting your Ducks in a Row – Part 1

To get one’s ducks in a row is an idiom that basically means make sure you have done your home and have everything you need all lined up before starting a project! Well, at least that is a version I like of the idiom.

In this series on ducks, we are going to look at the various kinds of ducks you get and the breeds that fall into those categories.

Part 1 The Types and Breeds of Ducks (you are already on this page)
Part 2 Domestic Duck Breeds
Part 3 Wild Dabbling Duck Breeds

Ducks

There are many breeds of ducks and ducks, like chickens, are good layers of eggs that can be eaten. They can also be used for baking and most the same things as chickens’ eggs are used for.

Ducks are also bred for their meat and are in some countries highly sought after for this reason alone.

Unlike chickens, breeding ducks is a lot easier for the Urban Homesteader because you are able to keep a drake (male duck). As roosters tend to be noisy there are greater restrictions on them in urban/build-up suburban areas.

Types of Ducks

There are two main types of ducks namely domestic ducks and wildfowl.

Domestic Ducks

Domestic ducks are typically the ducks that are kept in the garden/homestead and or farms. These are the ducks that are used for domestic purposes such as eggs, meat, down, show and pets.

Although all ducks need water domestic ducks do not spend as much time on the water than the wildfowl type does. Therefore they do not need as large a body of water than most wildfowl would.

Most domestic ducks do not want to fly off for the winter in search of warmer climates. In fact, most domestic ducks just do not even attempt to fly or cannot fly at all.

There are three basic categories of domestic ducks in the USA and they are:

Heavy breeds

These are larger duck breeds that tend to be taller and heavier than the other breeds of duck.

Medium breeds

They are a basic standard size duck.

Light breeds

This classification is not really small like a Bantam but probably has a lighter body and feather weight ratio to other ducks.

Bantam breeds

Like the Bantam chickens, these are the smallest of the duck breed and usually lay Bantam sized duck eggs.

Wildfowl

Wildfowl are typically ducking that are hard to tame, need a big body of water and if being kept in captivity would need to have their wings pinioned. These are ducks that spend most of their day on the water, are as their name suggests – wild! They will also attempt to fly off for the winter and in fact, do actually love to fly and will do so at every chance they get.

There are three basic types of wildfowl and these are:

Dabbling ducks

Dabbling ducks are ducks that prefer the shallow waters, preferable that of fresh bodies of waters. They can be found tipping their heads into the water as they happily graze on the aquatic plant life just below the surface. They also feed on various plants along the banks and different insects.

They do not like to dive much but will if they see something they really want down below. They do not stay down for long and do not dive a lot at all. In fact, they prefer to avoid it if possible.

They can be found in rivers, shallow waterways and small ponds. The prefer the shallower bodies of water.

Some dabbling duck breeds are:

Diving ducks

Diving ducks prefer the deeper waters and love to dive to feed and escape danger. They can, in fact, dive to quite an incredible depth and swim great distance under the water. When they come up for air the mainly just stick their head out before ducking back down.

They live on a diet of aquatic plants, fish, shellfish and molluscs. These birds have a wing ration in proportion to their body and very large paddle feet. Often when you see them taking off into flight you will see them doing so skimming across the water. They do not do well on land and tend to waddle clumsily with their big paddle feet.

They can be found on large bodies of water regardless of its depth, such as the deeper lakes, rivers and coastal inlets and bays.

Some diving duck breeds are:

  • Goldeneye
  • Bufflehead
  • Canvasback
  • Merganser
  • Greater & Lesser Scaup
  • Oldsquaw
  • Redhead
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Ruddy Duck
  • Surf Scoter
  • White Winged Scoter

Sea ducks

Are basically the same as the diving ducks and share the love of diving only they tend to do it in ever larger bodies of water such as the sea.

Some diving duck breeds are:

  • Eiders
  • Scoters
  • Mergansers
  • Bufflehead
  • Long-tailed ducks
  • Harlequin ducks

This is the end of Part 1 of our “Getting your ducks in a row” series.
Part 2 of the “Getting your ducks in a row” series is a quick overview of some of the most common duck breeds. These breeds are kept as backyard duck for pets, show, eggs and or meat.

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