I was talking to my dad about him letting me get another fid. Either a Senegal or some budgies. (I would LOVE to get another quaker either blue or yellow face but my parents cant stand the noise of 1 quaker as is) He said he wont let me have anything with feathers in the house. So i asked him if I could have a duck if it stayed outside He said he doesnt care if it stayed outside.
Which brings me to asking if anyone has or had a pet duck lol. When I was little we raised a little duck from its egg but we couldnt keep it at the time so took it to a farm. We have this big kennel outside for our dogs but they never use it anymore and IF i did get a duck I would keep it in there.
Sorry for ranting on about a silly question

Oh and I hope I have this post in the right place

Yes we have had them. My daughter used to raise them when she was a little girl.

They weren't exactly ours, but we have friends who have a barnyard with chickens, a goose, bunnies and a couple of pygmy goats, and they had ducks for a while, but the ducks weren't very tame or friendly. I would suggest chickens, if you want an outside feathered friend. Four of the chickens are our friends' house belong to us, and they're very tame and sweet. They sit in our laps and snuggle and follow us around. I had pet chickens as a child, too, and I could tuck them under my arm and carry them around and they were perfectly content like that. One of the chickens that belongs to our friends will sit on their daughter's shoulder and lean against her head and go to sleep.

My cousin has pet chickens and yes they are sooo much fun So I could easily go down the chicken road and get some free eggs/chicks from her. I found a online site that will send you ducklings that are 1-2 days old. Not sure what Im gonna do yet if I do anything at all.

My brother-in-law used to have the largest Exotic Waterfowl Farm in the USA and was always giving us ducks and geese, but I had one duch that was such a pet. her name was Howard and she likes to stand on my feet, throw her head back and catch corn as I dropped it into her mouth. She also loved to be picked up and petted. But beware. In a small enclosed area, they get terribly messy because poop is what they do constantly. The area may need to be hosed out every day.

A girlfriend of mine has had both chickens and ducks... she'd agree with Siobhan. While you can get a friendly duck, most of them tend to be a little more on the wild side and when they do bite it HURTS. Ducks also fly. Chickens do not. You'd have to keep the duck clipped unless the kennel is a fully covered one and even then you might want to take off a couple of outer flights so the duck doesn't hurt itself trying to fly up into the mesh. Most ducks also migrate, where chickens don't. You can get some really cool purebred species of chicken if you do a little bit of research - just don't forget those roosters crow every morning! (The language filter took out the sound effect! LOL)

You SO have to put up pictures either way!

If you just get the white pekin ducks they wont fly away or migrate. They make the best duck pets if that's what you are wanting. Just remember the old saying "your mouth runs like a ducks butt". A small area will become soiled in a days time and it is really nasty. Slippery, smelly and filthy ducks. Unless you have like a small yard or field area where they can have a pool to swim and clean themselves in and not have to be on bare ground. But, again the pool has to be emptied and cleaned every day too. They poop in the water too.


Some nice bantam cochin chickens would make some really good pets as far as attitude and laid back personalities. You don't want game birds as they are bred to be aggressive and they are some of the prettiest chickens. And after a few days of hearing the roosters crow you get used to it and sleep right through it. Trust me. LOL

Chickens fly better than you think. Ours can get out of the pen without even much effort, and the top of the fence is at chest level on me, and I'm 5'9"! They also fly up and roost in the rafters of their shed (yes, they have nests, but they prefer the rafters!). So don't count on them not flying. They can't just soar around the yard, but they can certainly achieve liftoff.

And roosters don't just crow in the morning. They crow whenever they take a notion to crow. Hens make better pets, generally speaking, and you get eggs out of the deal, too. They don't care if you take their eggs if they're not fertilized, and the ones I had as a kid used to show me where they'd left them, honestly they did. I'd be looking for eggs and one of them would waddle over to her spot and cluck at me until I went over there and picked up her egg! We had one rooster who was cuddly and friendly but the other one was MEAN, and none of the hens were a bit mean. They followed me around and loved to be petted, and these were just garden-variety white chickens. The ones we have now are black, and our friends' are speckled.

Siobhan... is there anything you DON'T own?

And can I come live with you? I'm jealous! *grins*

Thanks for all the info! I was looking into the flightless ducks like a pekin but I read they have a really loud quack? And as I mentioned earlier since my cousin has chickens so I know more about them then I do ducks. She has chicks every spring so I could get some of those easily. When im over there we are in the coop almost the whole time! As for the ducks, as I mentioned we have this large kennel and when I say kennel its actually a fenced in area about 10x10. I would put in a little pool for them and we have a HUGE yard that gets VERY swampy when it rains and the ducks love it! (There are actually some outside as Im typing this lol) We have this ditch that runs through some of our yard. Its there to drain some of the water and that will fill up and we see ducks swimming there lots. I read they are very loyal and my hopes would be I could let them walk around the yard when im out there with them.
Also Im not sure if the winter is the best time to get them?
Thanks again!

Winter is not the best time to get them if they are young...And if you truly want them as a pet, you'll want to get them when they are young so they get used to being held etc.

We've had just about every kind of animal imaginable since I was a kid living on a farm till after Andie came along and has grown to an adult... And we're getting more exotic as we go.

White Pekins make great pets. But as everyone has said...Ducks are Messy...and unless you keep up with the cleaning every day...your neighbors will soon be complaining about the stentch.

Not sure if you live in the country or are inside city limits but you should probably check the ordenances to make sure its legal to own farm animals there...It may also be against the conveninces if you live in a community...so check those things out before you get started with either. I know here where I live, inside city limits, we are allowed to have 3 of anything that isn't cloven footed except roosters...We aren't allowed roosters because of the noise. However, just remember, some hens will also crow! Yes, they do...I've had several.

Something else you need to think about...you said you have dogs that don't use the kennel anymore...Dogs and fowl don't usually get along too well in small enclosed area's especially if they weren't raised together. Even the most docile dog can take to chasing them just out of fun.

Also remember, the commitment to having a farm animal is even greater because you still have to go out and take care of them when its freezing outside, make sure they have fresh unfrozen water available 24/7 etc. You'd need to make sure there is some sort of heat source that keeps it above 40 degree's at night such as a small heat lamp etc, especially if you only have 1 animal...And also you will need to make it preditor safe.

Again, ducks and chickens are flock animals, and do better in groups of at least 2.

This is a really interesting thread! I don't know a thing about ducks or chickens, so I'm learning all sorts of new things!

*wicked grin* I eat ducks and chickens... I never considered one as a pet!

Mind you, there are some cultures that still serve budgie-on-a-stick and I don't think I could ever eat one of those....

LOL "Budgie on a stick"! I'm sorry, that sounded funny...

We had a duck when I was very young. It was kept in a large dog kennel. Best guard dog the neighbor hood ever saw. Talk about loud. My sister could go in the pen and play with him, any one else would come out with stumps. No idea what kind of duck.

Ducks eat, swim and poop!! Seems thats all they do!! They can be friendly, but all they do is eat, swim and POOP!!!!


Chickens can be VERY tame, AND very beautiful. Someone (I forget who, probably Siobhan ) has/raises silky chickens and they are very pretty little things. You do need more than one, as Connie said, they are flock animals, but a small flock of 3 or 4 is very manageable and you can keep them tame and play with them. Get them as chicks and you can have the tamest little chickens in the neighborhood.

You DO need to take care of them every day, rain, snow or shine, but if you have dogs, you have to do that with them too!!

Good luck with the new feather dusters!!