Should you buy a domestic chicken or duck?

More and more people in the countryside are raising laying hens, so they can have fresh eggs every morning and enjoy the company of these fun birds. However, it could be more interesting to take domestic ducks. Here is a small comparison between domestic ducks And domestic hens.

The benefits of duck

• Resistance. Ducks are a little more resistant to cold and much better to humidity than hens.
• Sustainability. Ducks remain fertile and productive for up to 3 to 5 years and can even reach 15 years of age. Laying hens have a much lower average mortality than for hens (<3% against 5 to 25%)
• Best layers? The good ones domestic duck breeds produce 15 to 24 kg of eggs per year, compared to 10 to 16 kg for a hen. Eggs also contain more protein (13.3% versus 12.9%) and fat (14.5% versus 12%).
• More pleasant and can be emotional, unlike chickens.
• Ducks do not degrade soils by scratching excessively, as hens can.
• Ducks need less room to live than chickens.
• Their feathers are more useful.
• They help you manage harmful insects and weeds.

The advantages of chicken

• The price and availability. Due to the high demand, the supply of hens is very accessible.
• Meat productivity. It takes about 40% less food (2kg against 3kg) to obtain 1kg of chicken meat than as much duck. Nevertheless, the meat contains a little less protein (19.3% against 21.4%) and the carcass generally contains, in total, less fat (5 to 25% against 16 to 30%).
• The hen takes 50% less time to pluck.
• The noise. Ducks can make noise as soon as they are in a small group, especially Ducklings and Pekins.