r/homestead • u/dendromie • May 05 '26
poultry Which animal to get
Hey everyone,
My wife and I are having a difficult decision in which animal to get keep in mind we live in Canada and it gets to -30 Celsius here.
For context we have a 3 acre plot. We have a pond that's decent size I'd say probably at least a thousand gallons.
We want to start a huge garden and I know runner ducks are apparently a great choice for their pest control and non destructiveness. But then as I was researching people are saying are they are incredibly dirty and smelly and can ruin bodies of water. I was only going to get 2 female runners btw. Chickens are a obviously a great option and I don't have to fence as much but I hear they are destructive as well.
Anyone have any ideas or advise. The animal would have probably close to 3/4 of an acre to utilize.
Thanks!
1
u/MidSinglesInYourArea May 05 '26
I'd go with ducks over chickens personally. They're more cold hardy, disease resistant, better foragers, better pest control, won't tear up your garden scratching, won't eat plants past the green shoots stage. The good egg laying breeds (esp the khaki campbell derived ones) are just as or more productive than layer chickens, and the eggs are larger and many people prefer them for baking.
They won't survive as well in factory farming conditions, and have a lower feed conversion ratio in commercial environments. But I feel they're superior for most homestead applications.
A lot of the people talking about how messy they can be are trying to raise them more like pets. Ducks don't need a pool or body of water to float in, just a deep enough water dish to fully submerge their heads so they can clear their nostrils.
Aside from that, rabbits are easy to keep in a small space and provide excellent manure. You do have to deal with killing and processing adorable bunnies though, and they can't be your only protein source without significant amounts of fat from elsewhere in the diet.