They mentioned they heard ducks are better on grass than chickens (hence the comments about grass). Most of the thread was pro chicken, despite them asking specifically advice on raising ducks. Complaints about the ducks being messy with water, the poop being nastier than other animals, etc. My response (paragraphs added later):
Yes, ducks will leave grass standing whereas chickens scratch it up and destroy it. If ducks are in too small of an area, they will flatten it because they have flipper feet not because of behaviour.
They love water (ducks….of course!) and will make a mess. They’re poop is the same as any other bird, just more watery. I find I never step in duck poop after they’ve been in the yard, vs chickens that like to leave me piles and the dogs snacks. They actually can live without a pool (I have a bachelor pen that I use feed buckets for water and they’re fine) but they are a trip to watch. Yes, the pool will get dirty. The water is GREAT for watering gardens! I put a tree that likes a lot of water and nutrients on the other side of fence and dump my water there, it’s very happy. I use kiddie pools and siphon the water down until I can dump it. If you have sand around the pool, don’t wait too long between changes or it’ll have a lot in the bottom. What I’d love to have one day is a gravel bed with the pool up on pallets -gravel so they can’t dabble around the edges and then wash their dirty faces and repeat, up on pallets to stop them standing at the edge all day playing-in or out!
Mine are smart as the chickens if not smarter and they don’t attack humans/other animals/each other. Only nibbles I’ve had is when moving a broody hen or reaching under her to check eggs, just candled 40 eggs yesterday and simply picked the cranky one up and set her next to me. Try that with a 8 lb chicken with a sharp beak lol.
As far as heating the duck coop, you don’t need to worry about keeping them warm due to feathers, but make sure they have DRY bedding at night so it doesn’t freeze to them. I do not give them water or food in the night time pen , keeps it much cleaner.
Feedwise, My adults get the same layer pellets as the chickens, but the babies need supplimental niacin if you feed NON medicated crumbles. Don’t give them medicated ones! I use brewer’s years or niacin powder depending on what I have on hand until they are 3 months old…some only do it for 8 weeks. They get leg issues without it.
Breedwise, runners lay really well but mine are flighty and scatter. I like rouens and now buff , although 1/3 of my buffs are now broody so I get less eggs. Pekin ducks are loud and the messiest poop wise of any breed I’ve had. Muscovies are quiet but ugly and fly to your neighbors (related to geese). Khaki campell are good layers and friendly.
Pen wise, my nighttime pen is very secure (racoon tried its best to get in last night as a matter of fact but no go). I have a covered daytime pen since we have hawks and owls available too :).
The only reason I still have chickens is for their scratching capabilities as they are great for tilling the soil or turning over manure. They also make good garbage disposals, but now that I have pigs they’ve lost some of that.
Most of the problems with ducks is when people keep them in too small of an area and don’t make arrangements for water disposal. They are not good when caged animals unlike chickens and need room.