Undervalued duck breed types...

[Nao57]

So I've been so surprised that peking duck prices are so low.

Some are higher like for indian runners.

No problem with indian runner prices being high. They are great ducks. I really like them.

But when i look at my peking eggs they are HUGE. Its pretty much a 3 inch long egg. (Not exact measurement.) But big and has some weight to it.

This ...when I saw how big they are, I thought that people only looking at the numbers of eggs produced aren't going to fully realize this potential. With eggs this big then they will be more food material than a smaller duck's eggs.

Are muscovy eggs this big too?

And I'm curious what other traits people undervalue their ducks for?

What other breeds do you think are undervalued?

 

[animalmom]

Muscovy eggs are large too. We just had some of the young hens from te past winter start laying and their eggs are bigger than my hens'. I'm surprised at the size of the egg considering the size of the Muscovy hen. I love my Muscovy flock, nice birds... quiet, polite ("oh you want to walk there, well let me get myself out of your way") and good mothers.

We have chickens and Embden geese so the Muscovy slide right into the middle size wise.

 

[LoriSnyder]

I love my Muscovy flock, nice birds... quiet, polite ("oh you want to walk there, well let me get myself out of your way") and good mothers

Do you have any problems with them flying? I would like to add some to my flock, but I’ve been told I’d have to keep their wings clipped because they are proficient at flying.

 

[Nao57]

Do you have any problems with them flying? I would like to add some to my flock, but I’ve been told I’d have to keep their wings clipped because they are proficient at flying.

I hope you don't mind if I reframe this slightly...

When people ask if it bothers people to have flying ducks, does that mean that having flying ducks means they will actually try to significantly leave that person's yard? (The assumption is that they could fly away, but I don't know if anyone actually says if they do.)

Would they try to leave or just stay there because of food? And how much chasing is involved?

I hope asking this a bit more helps.

I saw one video of a guy on youtube with flying mallards, and he seemed fine that they could fly and they didn't try to run off. But I don't know if that was the norm or an exception. And a lot of youtube people also don't tell you their losses or failures, but only want to tell you their successes.

So it seems like 'to fly or not fly' are great questions to ask.

 

[animalmom]

We do trim one wing of flight feathers on our ducks... although the adult drakes are a trifle heavy to get off the ground. The hens could, and have flown over a 4 foot fence but then stayed in the general area. We would rather our ducks not get out of their enclosure mainly due to predators and the dogs who are not LGDs.