Duck

Domestic ducks are the farm and backyard descendants of the wild mallard, kept for eggs, meat, slug control, showing and company. They come in four broad types by weight: heavy meat breeds such as the Pekin, medium dual-purpose breeds such as the Cayuga, light egg breeds such as the Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner, and bantams such as the Call duck, which weighs little more than a pound. The American Poultry Association recognizes 17 duck breeds across those four classes (one of them, the Muscovy, is really a separate species), and a well-kept duck commonly lives 8 to 12 years. If you already know what you want, the Creatures directory of duck breeders and farms lists them by breed and state.

Duck breeds come first below, sorted the way the American Poultry Association sorts them, by weight and purpose, with the rare heritage breeds and the Muscovy question after them. Then come the practical parts: the cost of a small flock, lifespan, water and housing, feeding and health, hatching ducklings, buying sound birds and the records worth keeping. Where Creatures has a deeper duck guide, the section links to it, and the free duck name generator and pedigree chart maker appear where they help, along with the rest of the free Creatures tools.

Types of ducks and duck breeds

Every domestic duck breed except the Muscovy descends from the mallard, the wild duck found across the Northern Hemisphere. A 2018 genome study in Nature Communications dates the domestic duck to about 500 BC in central China, and the white Pekin has been bred intensively there since the Ming dynasty. The ancestry still shows. Wild mallard drakes carry a couple of curled tail feathers called sex feathers, no other wild duck has them, and drakes of the domestic breeds carry them too, as poultry extension specialists at the University of Kentucky point out. Mallard-derived breeds also interbreed freely and their eggs hatch in about 28 days, according to Cornell’s Duck Research Laboratory.

If you searched “types of ducks” after spotting one on a pond, you are probably after wild species, which fall into groups such as dabbling, diving and sea ducks. That is a field-guide question. This page is about the domestic breeds people keep.

For those, the American Poultry Association’s list of accepted breeds and varieties is the clearest map. It sorts its 17 duck breeds into four weight classes, and the classes line up with what a keeper wants a duck for: heavy breeds for meat, medium breeds for meat and eggs, light breeds for eggs, and bantams for showing, pets and pest control. Plenty of good ducks fall outside that standard, from rare heritage breeds to farm crosses, and Creatures has breed pages for many of them.

Heavy breeds: meat and table ducks

Heavy ducks are the big, calm, mostly flightless birds raised for the table. The white Pekin dominates: about 90 percent of the duck meat produced in the United States comes from Pekins, according to University of Kentucky extension, and Cornell notes that well-fed Pekins reach about 90 percent of their adult weight by seven weeks. A grown Pekin weighs 8 to 10 pounds and lays 100 to 180 white eggs a year. Creatures keeps separate pages for the American Pekin and the more upright, yellow-tinged German Pekin, and the Pekin breed profile explains how the two types differ and what fast growth means for a backyard bird.

The Aylesbury, England’s classic table duck, is white too but has white skin and a long pinkish-white bill, and it is now critically rare in the United States, by the Livestock Conservancy’s account. The Rouen, French in origin and enlarged by English breeders, looks like an oversized mallard and matures slowly, over six to eight months. Standard exhibition Rouens reach 9 to 10 pounds, while production Rouens run about 2 pounds lighter, according to the Livestock Conservancy’s Rouen profile.

Two newer heavy breeds lay surprisingly well. The Silver Appleyard, developed by Reginald Appleyard in England, averages 220 to 265 white eggs a year, and the Saxony, bred in Germany in the 1930s from Rouen, German Pekin and Blue Pomeranian ducks, lays about 190 to 240. The APA admitted both to its standard in 2000. Heavy breeds have their own management points: their weight makes them prone to bumblefoot on hard or rough ground, very deep-keeled show birds can struggle to mate naturally, and because they are slow and cannot fly, they need solid protection from predators.

Medium breeds: dual-purpose ducks

Medium breeds give a respectable carcass and a fair basket of eggs. The Cayuga, black with a green sheen, comes from ducks introduced to Cayuga County in New York’s Finger Lakes around 1840, and it was in the first APA standard in 1874. Its eggs start the season black and lighten through gray toward white as the season goes on, according to the Livestock Conservancy’s Cayuga profile. The Swedish, a slate-blue duck with a white bib, traces to blue ducks recorded in Pomerania in 1835 and has been in the APA standard since 1904. The APA’s Buff is the duck that William Cook of Orpington, Kent, bred from Cayuga, Runner, Aylesbury and Rouen stock; it entered the American standard in 1914 under the single word Buff, and Creatures also has an Orpington duck page. Livestock Conservancy breed profiles put these breeds at roughly 100 to 220 eggs a year, and show strains can lay fewer.

The Crested duck carries a ball of feathers on its head, and the gene behind it causes real problems. The crest gene is lethal in a double dose, so when two crested ducks are mated about a quarter of the fertile eggs never hatch, and only about two-thirds of the ducklings that do hatch have crests, as University of Kentucky poultry extension explains. A 2000 imaging study in the journal Avian Pathology found skull malformations and fatty deposits inside the skull in crested ducks, a breed already described as having high losses before and after hatching. Buy crested birds from a breeder who selects for health, and do not expect every duckling to carry the crest.

The Ancona is a hardy all-purpose duck with a broken pattern of white and color in which no two birds look alike, and it lays about 210 to 280 eggs a year. It is not in the APA standard. Its origin was long thought to be British, but the Livestock Conservancy now identifies it as an American breed, announced by a New York breeder in 1913.

Light breeds: the egg layers

Light breeds are slim, busy foragers built for laying, and good strains often outlay egg-laying chicken breeds. The trade-off is temperament: Runners and Campbells tend to be nervous and will stampede when startled, so they do best with calm, consistent handling.

The Khaki Campbell is the classic. Adele Campbell of Gloucestershire, England, developed it from Runner and Rouen stock and introduced it in 1898, and the Livestock Conservancy credits good strains with 250 to 340 eggs a year, while Kentucky extension’s breed table gives 200 to 300. The Indian Runner stands upright like a wine bottle on legs, runs rather than waddles, cannot fly, and reached Britain from Malaysia around 1850; some utility strains have laid more than 300 eggs in a year, and the APA recognizes eight Runner colors.

The Welsh Harlequin began in 1949, when two pale mutant ducklings hatched from Khaki Campbells in the flock of British breeder Leslie Bonnet, and the Livestock Conservancy puts its laying at 240 to 330 eggs a year. The Magpie, white with a colored cap and a colored saddle down the back, was developed in Wales by Oliver Drake and M. C. Gower-Williams and entered the British standards in 1926. The Livestock Conservancy credits it with 220 to 290 eggs a year, while Kentucky’s table gives only 30 to 60, a reminder that strain matters as much as breed when you buy for eggs.

Other light breeds you may meet include the Abacot Ranger, a British breed with a fawn hood that German breeders kept going and that lays up to about 200 eggs a year; the Golden Cascade, an autosexing utility duck developed in Oregon in the late 1970s; the Dutch Hookbill, an old Dutch breed with a down-curved bill, described as early as 1676, that flies strongly and is critically rare; and the Shetland, a small crofting duck from the Shetland Islands that joined the Livestock Conservancy’s list in 2026 as critical, with fewer than 200 birds estimated in the United States.

Bantam and ornamental ducks

Bantam ducks weigh roughly 1 to 2.5 pounds, eat little and are kept for showing, as pets and for pest control in gardens. The Call is the smallest domestic breed, under a kilogram. The British Waterfowl Association traces it to decoy ducks used to call wild mallards into traps in the Fens of England and the marshes of Holland, and in Britain Calls are now usually the largest entry at waterfowl shows. Call hens have a very loud quack, which matters if your neighbors are close, and the APA recognizes nine Call colors.

The glossy green-black East Indie, called the Black East Indian in Britain, is the oldest bantam duck breed and, despite its name, was developed in the United States, according to the British Waterfowl Association’s breed page. The Australian Spotted has a misleading name too: it was developed in Pennsylvania in the 1920s, weighs about 2 pounds, lays 50 to 125 eggs a year, the most of any bantam, and is critically rare. The Silver Bantam is a British breed that Reginald Appleyard developed in the 1940s.

The APA also recognizes the Mallard itself as a bantam breed, in gray and snowy varieties. If you keep or sell birds as mallards in the United States, a federal rule applies: under 50 CFR 21.45, captive-reared mallards may be kept, sold and moved without a permit only if each bird is marked before six weeks of age, by removing the hind toe of the right foot, pinioning a wing, fitting a seamless metal leg band or tattooing the foot web. The exception does not allow catching live wild mallards or collecting their eggs from the wild. Several of the lighter breeds fly well, including the Call, the Mallard, the Australian Spotted and the Dutch Hookbill, so plan a covered run for them.

Muscovy and mule ducks

The Muscovy looks like a duck and the APA lists it in its heavy duck class, but it is a different species, Cairina moschata, believed to come from South America. Drakes grow far larger than ducks (about 10 to 12 pounds against 5 to 6), the face carries fleshy growths called caruncles, and the eggs take about 35 days to hatch instead of 28. On Creatures, Muscovies have their own page: see Muscovy ducks on Creatures. In the United States the Muscovy is also a federally listed migratory bird, and under 50 CFR 21.48 live Muscovies and their eggs may be acquired and kept only to raise them to be sold as food (birds lawfully held before March 31, 2010 excepted), and may never be released; check with your state wildlife agency before you buy. Cross a Muscovy with a mallard-derived duck and the offspring are sterile hybrids, called mule or moulard ducks; Cornell notes that a Muscovy drake crossed with a Pekin duck gives the Moulard. Creatures has a Mulard page for them, but since they cannot breed, they are a meat bird, not a breed to build a flock around.

Breeds from Europe and Asia

Creatures also has pages for breeds that are rare in North America. Across Europe, bib-marked farm ducks in blue, black or yellow were developed from local land ducks by the 1700s under several regional names, including the Pomeranian and the Duclair, according to the German special breed club for ducks, which also describes the Challandais as a very old French breed from around Challans, known since the 18th century. Sweden’s breeds include the Swedish Yellow, which became a distinct breed in the 1920s from yellow drakes of the Swedish Blue and was rescued in the 1970s when a surviving flock turned up in Skåne, and the Blekinge. In Indonesia, the Alabio and Bali ducks were selected over generations for herding, gleaning their food from harvested rice fields, as Cornell’s Duck Research Laboratory describes.

Rare and heritage breeds

Many of these breeds are scarce. Four duck breeds sit in the critical category of the Livestock Conservancy’s 2026 Conservation Priority List: the Australian Spotted, Aylesbury, Dutch Hookbill and Shetland. For poultry, critical means fewer than 500 birds in the United States and no more than five primary breeding flocks. The list puts the Magpie and Saxony at threatened; the Ancona, Cayuga, Buff, non-industrial Rouen, Silver Appleyard, Campbell, Swedish and Welsh Harlequin on watch; and the Runner as recovering. If you want to help a rare breed, buy from a breeder who keeps a purebred line, and keep hatch and parentage records of your own.

What ducks cost to buy and keep

Duck prices depend on breed, sex and how many you order. In small orders, unsexed ducklings of common breeds such as the Pekin and Khaki Campbell run about $10 to $15 each, with prices near $7 only at bulk quantities, and a sexed female duckling costs roughly 40 percent more than an unsexed one. Show breeds cost several times as much: Call ducklings run about $35 to $45 at the largest waterfowl hatchery and up to about $125 from specialist color breeders. Started and adult ducks change hands farm to farm with no published price, so local asking prices are the only guide. The How Much Does a Duck Cost? guide shows where each figure comes from (its prices were checked in July 2026), and we rechecked the main hatchery’s prices in October 2026.

Most of the money goes on everything around the birds. You cannot keep just one, so the real purchase is a group, and the setup costs more than the ducklings: a heated brooder for the first weeks, a predator-proof house for every night after that, fencing, and waterers that suit a bird that splashes. After that, feed and bedding for a small backyard flock commonly run about $100 to $200 a year, more if the ducks cannot forage.

How long ducks live

Most domestic ducks live about 8 to 12 years with good care, the average the Association of Avian Veterinarians gives owners in its client brochure on caring for ducks. The species can live much longer: the AnAge longevity database records a maximum of 29.1 years for the mallard. Commercial meat ducks live a few weeks, not years, because they are processed young; the RSPCA reports that farmed ducks in the UK reach slaughter weight at around 42 to 56 days old.

We could not find a primary source that publishes lifespans breed by breed, so treat breed lifespan tables with suspicion. What decides how long a backyard duck lives is how it is kept: predators, dirty water and wet bedding, the strain of heavy laying, and foot and leg problems are the documented causes that cut lives short. How Long Do Ducks Live? goes through each one and what the sources actually support.

Housing, space and water

Ducks need more room than chickens and a secure place to sleep. Cornell’s Duck Research Laboratory lists the basic needs plainly: protection from weather and predators, a clean and dry sheltered area to rest and preen, clean drinking water, a complete diet and protection from disease. Most breeds cannot fly away from danger, so shut them into a predator-proof house every night.

Space. The Merck Veterinary Manual’s guidance on backyard poultry gives ducks and geese about 3 to 6 square feet each inside the house and 15 to 18 square feet each in the run, and notes that ducks and geese need much more space than chickens. It also advises burying run fencing at least 12 inches deep so foxes and raccoons cannot dig under, and covering the top against climbing and flying predators and wild birds. Protecting Your Flock From Predators is written for chickens, and its fencing and housing advice applies to ducks as well.

Ground and bedding. Avoid concrete, which contributes to foot sores; grass and dirt are best, and the Association of Avian Veterinarians suggests turning over or re-sodding dirt runs once or twice a month to keep parasites and bacteria down. Ducks soak their bedding, so remove wet patches and add dry litter often. Damp, moldy bedding is a real risk to ducklings.

Water. This is where ducks differ most from chickens. A pond is optional, but water deep enough for a duck to dunk its whole head is not: a welfare review of captive waterfowl states that domestic ducks need troughs that allow complete immersion of the head, and that waterfowl without adequate bathing water develop poor plumage that leads to chronic health problems. Bathing water helps too. RSPCA Australia reports that ducks prefer fairly shallow bathing water, about 10 to 30 cm deep, so long as they can immerse their heads, and that open water keeps their eyes, nostrils, feet and feathers cleaner and helps them cool off. A tub or small pool you empty and refill often is better than a pond you never clean, because dirty water spreads disease, and RSPCA Australia recommends separate drinkers as well as bathing water. The RSPCA’s advice on pet ducks and geese adds two cautions: give ducklings water they can climb out of easily so they cannot drown, and keep water free of ice in winter without using chemicals.

Flight and local rules. Bantams and light breeds that fly need a covered run or netting. The Association of Avian Veterinarians notes that some states and countries prohibit free flight of domestic ducks, which means a covered enclosure, trimmed wings or pinioning; ask your veterinarian and your local authority which rules apply where you live.

Company. Ducks are flock birds. Plan on three or more that get along: that is the RSPCA’s minimum, and it also warns that mixing birds of very different body sizes can lead to bullying. Ducks often share a yard with chickens, but they make bedding wetter and need more space, and the chicken guide covers the hens’ side of that arrangement. The Association of Avian Veterinarians warns that larger waterfowl such as geese can sometimes be aggressive, so read the goose guide and plan separate space before you mix them.

Feeding ducks

Feed ducks a complete waterfowl or all-flock ration as the base of the diet, with greens and foraging on top and clean water beside the feed at all times. The one nutrient that separates ducks from chickens is niacin. The Merck Veterinary Manual notes that ducks are much more severely affected by niacin deficiency than chickens, which shows as badly bowed legs and swollen hocks in ducklings, and it gives an allowance of 55 to 70 mg per kg of feed for ducks against at least 30 mg per kg for chickens. A chick starter made for laying-hen chicks can fall short, so buy a waterfowl starter where you can. The Association of Avian Veterinarians also warns against medicated chick starters containing amprolium, a drug not approved for use in ducks.

Switch laying ducks to a layer ration for the extra calcium once they start laying, and keep drakes and non-laying birds off it. Foraged grass, weeds, slugs and insects are good for ducks, while the Association of Avian Veterinarians advises against feeding bread, crackers and corn. What Do Ducks Eat? covers starter, grower and layer feeds, how much protein each stage needs, grit, safe treats and the foods to keep away from ducks.

Health basics

Find a veterinarian who sees poultry before you need one; How to Find an Avian Vet Before Your Bird Needs One explains where to look. The Association of Avian Veterinarians advises a check soon after you buy ducks and then a yearly visit, and it lists the signs that should send you to a vet: limping, swollen or reddened feet, decreased appetite, lethargy, tail bobbing while breathing, sneezing or nasal discharge. If a duck dies, a necropsy can tell you whether the rest of the flock is at risk. Wrap the body in a plastic bag and refrigerate it, do not freeze it, and call your vet or state veterinarian, as some states offer reduced-cost testing.

Biosecurity for a small flock centers on two routes: new birds and wild birds. University of Kentucky poultry extension advises keeping new birds in quarantine for at least two weeks before they join the flock, because a bird can carry disease without looking sick; longer is wise for birds from a swap or auction, and Adding New Chickens to a Flock walks through quarantine and introductions in detail. Avian influenza deserves particular care with ducks. USDA notes that wild birds can carry it without appearing sick, and its Defend the Flock guidance is to use covered enclosures and netting to prevent contact between your birds and wild birds. Do not let your ducks share a pond with wild waterfowl. Report sick birds or unusual deaths to your veterinarian or state veterinarian, or to USDA’s toll-free line at 1-866-536-7593.

Never give a duck medication without veterinary advice, and if you eat the eggs or meat, write down the date your vet says they are safe to use again.

Breeding and hatching ducks

Egg breeds such as the Campbell usually start laying at five to seven months old, and ducks lay most of their eggs within a few hours of sunrise, so shutting them in overnight makes eggs easy to collect. Getting the sex ratio right matters for the hens’ welfare as well as for fertility. A smallholder duck manual hosted by the FAO suggests about one drake to six ducks in meat-type flocks and says fewer than four ducks per drake is not recommended, because extra drakes make the flock restless; the welfare review linked above names an appropriate sex ratio as the way to reduce harassment of females.

Common duck eggs hatch in about 28 days and Muscovy eggs in about 35. Cornell’s Duck Research Laboratory sets out its incubation method for duck eggs: 99.5°F at 55 percent relative humidity, eggs turned at least four times a day, candled at about seven days to remove clear eggs, then moved to hatching conditions with higher humidity on day 25. Hatching Eggs in an Incubator covers the equipment and routine for chicken eggs; follow the duck timings above, not the 21-day chicken schedule.

If you would rather let a bird do the work, choose the breed carefully. High-production egg breeds seldom go broody: Campbells rarely sit, and Runners rarely go broody. Call hens will sit and raise their own ducklings with care, the Saxony is more likely than most breeds to hatch its own eggs, and Cornell notes that Muscovy hens are very good sitters (in the United States, the federal rule above limits keeping Muscovies to raising them for food) and that a broody chicken hen can hatch duck eggs too, which Broody Hens: Hatching Eggs Naturally explains from the chicken side. Two genetic cautions apply. Mating two crested ducks loses about a quarter of the fertile eggs, as described above, and some colors are sex-linked: a chocolate Ancona drake mated to a black duck gives all-chocolate daughters and black sons, according to the Livestock Conservancy.

Where to buy ducks

Where you buy depends on what you want. Large waterfowl hatcheries ship day-old ducklings of the common breeds, usually with a minimum order, and that is the cheapest way to start a laying flock. For a particular breed, show stock or a rare heritage line, buy from a breeder who will tell you about the parents. To find duck keepers near you, search the Creatures breeder directory by breed and state; each profile gives the farm’s location and, where the breeder has shared them, contact details. Rescues and sanctuaries sometimes rehome adult ducks, often with little known history but at the lowest cost to start. The Creatures duck marketplace lists ducks from sellers who have passed verification when they are available; listings are still rare, so set an alert if you are waiting for one.

Whoever you buy from, ask:

• the hatch date, the breed and variety, and the sex, with how it was determined;
• whether the birds are purebred and meet the breed standard, which the Livestock Conservancy encourages buyers to ask because it cannot vouch for every breeding program;
• for egg breeds, how well the parents lay, since laying ability depends heavily on the family;
• what health problems the flock has had, and whether it takes part in the USDA’s National Poultry Improvement Plan, whose classifications include U.S. Pullorum-Typhoid Clean and U.S. H5/H7 Avian Influenza Clean.

Walk away from limping birds, swollen feet, nasal discharge or listless ducks, and be wary of a “Campbell” with mallard-like facial stripes or a weight over about 6 pounds, which the Livestock Conservancy warns are signs of a cross that will not lay like the real thing. If the birds are sold as mallards, check that they carry one of the federal markings described above. And plan to bring home at least three.

Records to keep

Ducks look alike, so records are how you tell your best layer from the bird that stopped, prove a rare bird’s parentage or answer a vet’s questions. Keep, from day one:

• hatch date, source, breed, variety and sex;
• a leg band number for each bird you will breed, show or sell (band sizes vary by breed);
• egg counts, by bird if you can tell them apart, or by flock if you cannot, with the date each duck started laying;
• weights, health checks, vet visits and every treatment, with the date eggs and meat are safe to use again;
• breeding pens and pairings, incubation start dates, candling results and hatch counts;
• every purchase, sale and move, plus any National Poultry Improvement Plan test dates.

On Creatures, each duck can have a free profile that holds its band number, photos, parents and records, with reminders for follow-ups. If you keep a flock rather than individuals, a Count group holds one shared history without a profile for every bird, and records can be applied to a whole group at once; see tracking animals without individual profiles and applying records to a group. Chicken Flock Counts shows the same Count group with chickens, and Livestock Record Keeping has filled-in examples of what to record for each event. For breeding birds, recording a breeding and recording a hatch explain the hatch trail: a completed hatch creates a group for the ducklings, from which you can give any keeper its own profile. Show and breeding birds can carry a printed three-generation pedigree with band numbers from the free pedigree chart maker, no account needed. A duck you sell can be transferred to its buyer with every record intact, and the duck name generator helps with names for new arrivals.

Frequently asked questions

How many breeds of ducks are there?
Seventeen, if you count the breeds in the American Poultry Association’s standard, which groups them by weight as heavy, medium, light and bantam. One of them, the Muscovy, is a separate species. Many more breeds exist outside that standard, from American heritage breeds such as the Ancona to European and Asian breeds, and Creatures has pages for dozens of them.

What are the main types of domestic ducks?
Heavy ducks such as the Pekin and Rouen are raised for meat, medium ducks such as the Cayuga and Swedish give both meat and eggs, light ducks such as the Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner are the egg layers, and bantams such as the Call are kept for showing and as pets. The Muscovy is a separate species, and its crosses with other ducks are sterile mule ducks.

What is the best duck breed for eggs?
The Khaki Campbell, Welsh Harlequin and Indian Runner are the best-known layers, with good strains laying 250 eggs a year or more; the Livestock Conservancy credits the Campbell with up to 340. Among heavier breeds, the Silver Appleyard lays about 220 to 265. Strain matters as much as breed, so ask how well the parents lay.

Is a Muscovy a duck?
It is called a duck and the American Poultry Association lists it with heavy ducks, but the Muscovy is a different species, Cairina moschata, with fleshy facial caruncles and a 35-day incubation. Crossing it with other domestic ducks produces sterile mule ducks. In the United States, federal rules allow live Muscovies to be kept only to raise them for food, apart from birds lawfully held before March 31, 2010.

How long do ducks live?
About 8 to 12 years with good care, according to the Association of Avian Veterinarians. The mallard, their wild ancestor, has a recorded maximum of 29.1 years. Commercial meat ducks are processed at a few weeks old, which is a farming decision, not a lifespan.

What do ducks eat?
A complete waterfowl or all-flock feed, plus greens, insects and other forage, with clean water beside the feed. Ducklings need more niacin than chicks, so a waterfowl starter is safer than a chick starter, and laying ducks need a layer ration for calcium. Avian vets advise against bread, crackers and corn.

How much does a duck cost?
In October 2026, unsexed ducklings of common breeds cost about $10 to $15 each in small orders and sexed females roughly 40 percent more. Call ducklings cost about $35 to $45 at the main hatchery and up to about $125 from specialist color breeders (a July 2026 check). The setup costs more than the birds, and feed and bedding for a small flock commonly run $100 to $200 a year.

Do ducks need a pond?
No, but they do need water deep enough to dunk their whole heads, kept clean, and most welfare sources want bathing water too. A tub or small pool that you empty and refill often works well, and dirty water is worse than none.

Can you keep just one duck?
You should not. Ducks live in flocks, and the RSPCA’s guidance is a minimum of three birds that get along.

Do this next on Creatures

Whether you are choosing your first breed, bringing ducklings home or already running a breeding flock, these are the useful next steps, in the order most readers need them.