I'm looking at getting several ducks for egg production.  Living in Juneau, winters aren't too harsh, but from what I've read ducks are much more resistant to cold weather than chickens.  The zoning for our house lets us have 3 birds without requiring a permit (any more and we would be looking at $500 all told.  A little over the top, but so be it).  At this point I'm looking at Pekin ducks, given what I've read about their size, temperment, and egg production.  Is there anyone here who raises ducks who could steer me in the right direction for getting more info before I commit to this?  

Thanks.

Indian Runner ducks are considered to be very good egg layers if you can get past the fact that they look so goofy.  They also don't seem to require water to swim in that some ducks appreciate.

Particular breeds of chickens are much more comfortable in colder weather, but if you don't think they'll do well, I would look into quail. Quail have a very good temperature tolerance and are great egg layers. Ducks will obviously fit the bill for you as well, but I don't find their eggs are as good tasting and truth be told, they are very messy animals. They defecate anywhere and everywhere quite frequently.

I raised Pekin ducks for years but that was in Illinois and I never kept them over the winter.  They consistently produce nice large eggs.  Their regular eggs are bigger than x-large chicken eggs.  I did have some mallards that stayed around for a couple years and seemed to do ok in the winter.

If you want them for eggs , get egg laying specific ducks. Especially as you will only have three.

Depending on who you believe / what chart you look at etc a khaki Campbell will lay twice as many eggs a year as a Peking 250-300 vs 120-160

Pekings are optimized to raise for meat.

At the lowest production numbers (assuming the worst for your weather) you get just over a dozen eggs a week (14) from three Campbells and only 6-7 from three pekings.

That's the math before finding out how each breed deals with your weather and light.

This link also shows the feed consumption per egg and weight of eggs.  It looks like factoring increased pekin egg size pekins eat 50-75% more to make eggs

http://www.bigpictureagriculture.com/2012/03/six-duck-breeds-for-your-small-farm.html

To add:

I have no personal experience with either breed. I've had muscovies for just over a year and am raising some Saxonies right now to replace them with as meat birds.

Thanks for the link, that was really helpful. I'll have to do some more research into the Campbell and Runner ducks.

 

I was planning on building something out of scrap building materials.  From what I've read, it sounds like 4-5 sf per duck should be decent. My back yard is fenced, so I plan to let them run around there. I an on getting some kind of kiddie pool for water.

Pekin ducks tolerate the cold as do Indian runner ducks if you build them a shelter and put a 100 watt bulb in it they should do just fine. we over winter 20-30 ducks each year here in WI and the temps in late December and January get to -30 quite regularly.

With only three ducks just using a used insulated dog house like an igloo one. Something you can get eggs out of easily should work.

I'm in western WA so it doesn't really get cold so we just have a few used dog crates split in half with some straw bedding for the ducks and geese. They also like to go under the rabbit hutches.

We have a lightbulb on a timer on the side of the house and in the chicken coop that turns on at 4am and our first winter we saw no reduction in chicken eggs

Really too bad about the three bird rule.

I've really become convinced ducks and rabbits should be the bedrock of the urban homestead. Female ducks aren't really any louder than female chickens, and male ducks are basically silent. So with no significant noise you can have eggs AND raise ducks for meat. Incubate a few eggs a month and you have a constant supply of duck meat with very little load on your yard and still get a dozen eggs a week.

Rabbits are the real no brainer. Take up no room, breed like ...well rabbits...:-) We are eating one a week and have recently decided to basically give up on raising meat chickens and just eat rabbit. I think it's way better tasting. I raised two small batches of meat chickens this summer and I don't think I'll do it again.

If you have a green house putting your rabbits and nesting boxes, duck living space, incubators etc in it , means warmth and increased CO2 levels for plants and animals. Plus having lights come on for the ducks to lay in the winter means light for the plants. No waste. I bet you could teach the ducks to go through a dog door.

The only thing I can add is DONT get moscovy ducks.  I have 2 females and 1 male..In 2 years I have managed 3 dozen eggs, they only lay 2 to 3 times a year, and 4 ducklings, well 5 ducklings but 1 drowned in the water dish, I guess these ducks dont swim.    I didnt get them for the eggs, by the way the eggs are horrible unless you are starving, but for the ducklings.  My plan was to let the ducks reproduce and butcher the offspring.
Just my experience.

I agree . Only get muscovies if you live someplace too hot for other ducks or absolutely need silence. That's my opinion.

They are nearly useless for eggs but many people do get a lot of duckling for meat from them. Mine haven't produced much either though.

But they are a hot weather duck and wouldn't be a good idea in Alaska anyways :-)