It is my opinion that ducks are the best egg laying poultry for the backyard or a small farm. More specifically, the Khaki Campbell duck. These ducks are low maintenance, eat the bad bugs out of your garden, are sociable creatures and can lay over 300 eggs per year.
From OSU: ”The Khaki Campbell was developed in England during the early 1900′s by Adele Campbell. It was admitted to the American Standard in 1941. Though originally a cross of Indian Runner, Mallard, and Rouen, Campbells [sic] exceed all of these and most chicken breeds in egg production, with some strains averaging 300 eggs per year. They do not require special care or artificial lighting to produce a large number of eggs, which are white and weight about 2.5 ounces (not much larger than a Leghorn egg)….. They eat large quantities of slugs, snails, insects, algae, and mosquitos [sic] from ponds, but do not require swimming water to stay healthy. ”
What about the nutritional value of the eggs? Here is a nutrition comparison between duck and chicken eggs. Ducks come out ahead in almost every category. In addition, when you raise free range ducks, you know the eggs are coming from animals that have not been abused or held in a pin for their entire lives.
The New Agrarian website has an outstanding site detailing the editors raising of 7 ducks in his back yard. His site holds a wealth of information and tips for raising your own ducks. I have attached 2 PDF’s detailing the construction of the duck pin that I will be building this fall. Unlike the drawing in the PDF, The pin will have 2 hinged ‘lids’ to the pin. I only show one for clarity.
Further reading:
