Your first decision is whether you want ducks, chickens or geese
Then what you want the birds for: pets; eggs; meat; showing; breeding;
Then you get to choose the ones you like best in character and shape etc.
then you need to decide : what age is right for me?
CHICKENS:- hybrids : purebreeds : eggs : meat : other
These, in general, lay more eggs and produce meat quicker. Feed is generally available in feed stores and pet shops. They will range around your place happily eating bugs, clearing weeds, fertilizing your vegetable plot and laying in Nest boxes. They do tend to be a little more prone to disease than ducks even with the best care. Roosters can be rather noisy and disturb neighbours (some urban areas will ban the ownership of male birds).
The choice of breed depends on the use you have in mind:
HYBRIDS
For lots of eggs every year then you should look at the hybrids. These have been created by recent intensive selective breeding by Man. Most are almost entirely 'man-made' for the intensive production of eggs and in our opinion they are not as good for backyard and free ranging.
We use, rear and sell the Black Rock which is a first cross rather than a hybrid, and is bred from specially selected pure breed parent stock. The result of this breeding is that they are much more productive than the present day utility pure breeds and have superb disease resistance in comparison to the other hybrids.
You can only get females (pullets) and the very high productivity falls off after a couple of years. However, for backyard birds, for family eggs, they will carry on laying and being friends for many years. Commercial free range producers such as ourselves may sell birds at the end of the second year very cheaply and these can make a good introduction into poultry keeping. The birds are worldly wise and the cost is lower. They may die suddenly occasionally but we have old customers with birds that are 5-6 years old still laying a few eggs every week.
The Bovans Nera is the nearest cross in the USA I think to the Black Rock but from experience over here they are not as good.
People in the United Kingdom should be aware that some unscrupulous folk are selling the Bovans Nera and others as Black Rocks - if you are at all wary contact Peter Siddons at Muirfield Hatchery, Kinross, in Scotland- he is the sole breeder and he will know all the genuine agents who rear Black Rocks.
If you want birds for lots of meat you need to buy broiler breeds- probably at the growers stage or even day old. These birds are specially bred to mature very fast (and really are not for keeping over 18 weeks as they can get quite severe structural problems ).
They need special food but give a good product quickly.
One of the best for free range is supposed to be the Sasso - there are now hatcheries in the UK selling them.
UTILITY PURE BREEDS
If you like the idea of pure breeds you will get birds with fascinating history, a wider variety of sizes and plumage and, if you choose carefully, birds that will provide you with eggs and meat that will easily fulfil a family's needs. You need to ensure that the stock you get are from known utility parent flocks. There are places where lots of birds are produced and little selection for good birds and good productivity happens. From such places the results can be variable and the birds can be poor examples of the breeds. The other consideration is that exhibition birds are often not as productive as the breeding programmes are concentrating on feather and form not meat and eggs.
Egg layers
- do you want white eggs? YES - Leghorn
- do you want brown eggs? YES - deepest brown - Welsumer and Marans : mid brown - Rhode Island Red
Of these breeds there are only a few strains left in the country that are really productive, you have to ask the breeder what selection they have been doing in the past few years. If there is none for egg production the strains usually weaken, and egg numbers can be disappointing.
Meat and eggs
These are called Dual Purpose breeds and used to include the Orpington's, White Wyandotte, and Light Sussex back in the first part of the last century. The aim for these breeds was to lay a reasonable number of eggs, mostly mid brown, and produce a good carcass for the table. Good selection meant that the young males matured more quickly so could be reared separately and culled for the table. A lack of demand for pure breed table birds over the past 20 - 30 years means that there are only rare strains of any of these breeds that make a good table weight by the time they are 18 weeks, when the meat is still useable in modern recipes. Hopefully, with the increase in demand, more breeders will start working on improving the lines they have.
Yard Art
For a great looking flock get a mixture of breeds - the contrasting colours moving across your land is delightful. Apricot Buff, speckled Marans, deep red Rhode Islands against the clean white of Leghorns or fluffy Wyandotte and glossy black Leghorns, with the classic Kelloggs cockerel that is the Welsumer make wonderful moving pictures.
Temperament and other features:
(this is just my opinion chosing from the utility breeds.)
Which are the most friendly :- Orpington Buff and Blue generally considered quiet - we also find our Black Rocks to be great characters - will be in the back door given half a chance
Which are the biggest :- Light Sussex, Orpingtons, White Wyandotte, marans
Which are medium sized:- Rhode Island Red Black Rocks
Which are the smaller :- Leghorns and Welsumers
Which are the smallest :- the bantams such as the Scots Grey. Many of the breeds of large birds have a bantam counterpart. Most are not really very productive but are great fun.
OTHER PURE BREEDS:
Many of the pure breeds were created exploiting the genetic diversity of the poultry genome and don't have any productive value for eggs or meat, but come in just about every colour, shape, and form.
There are well over 300 breeds and varieties of poultry in this country, with others throughout the world. Each of these breeds has distinct attributes and character, and is classified by The Poultry Club accordingly. This can also be based on a breed's historical origins, original purpose, popularity, or size. They are not the ones for a consistant egg supply or providing chicken for the table but they do make great garden pets.
Two sizes of fowl exist - Large Fowl and Bantam. Both sizes can be found in many breeds, the Bantam version having been created as a miniature of the Large. 'True Bantams', are those with no Large Fowl counterpart and the breeds under this heading are usually for ornamental purposes. Waterfowl are similarly divided into 'Light', 'Medium' and 'Heavy' Geese, and 'Heavy', 'Light', and 'Bantam' Duck.
SHOWING:
If you want to enjoy the hobby of showing you will be looking for exhibition quality birds. It is important to tell any supplier of your intentions. Go to shows and ask the exhibitors for ideas. Get to know the breeders of the birds you like, they are always keen to share their knowledge with interested newcomers.
British Poultry Standards - this book will show you the standards expect for each breed; what faults to look out for and how the judges score birds.
Good utility pure breeds can give you a modicum of success at smaller shows depending on the concentration of exhibition breeders in the area but don't expect to be taken too seriously.
For exhibition information see British Poultry Club
DUCKS
These are, in general, somehow more disease free than chickens, although can sometimes get foot problems.
They need at least enough constantly clean water to be able to dunk their heads in but prefer (and look wonderful on) a pond. This will get bigger over time as they eat away at the edges, and fill up with silt.
Ducks are absolutely charming to have around, will keep your garden slug free, but will walk over plants and make mud pies out of the ground if there is limited space.
They love to dibble into lawns - which makes holes for the hens to scratch up so aerating and de thatching it!!!!
They are, however, fairly easy to fence out of sensitive area, unlike chickens who won't fly but can flap over quite a height. Most ducks don't fly but, just in case, clipping one wing prevents disappearances or predators taking them.
The commercial egg layers such as the Cherry Valley 2000 probably out produce the likes of the modern Khaki Campbells, and Utility Runners (if you can still find them) but they will provide the family with plenty of eggs for quite a bit of the year. Birds from good lines should produce nearly 300 eggs a year, but pure strains like these are probably lost now. In practise most breeds of ducks are seasonal layers nearer 100 eggs so during the winter you may have none. If some crossing has occured between the commercial strains and the pure breeds then you can get better numbers.
For the table the choice used to be the Aylesbury, Muscovies, Rouen, Saxony and the heavy breeds. Nowadays its once again one of the Cherry Valley birds that is the best duck for producing meat for the table but, hopefully, more work will be done with our current strains of pure breeds to bring them back to their former glory!
There used to be a number of dual purpose breeds like the Blue Swedish, Buff Orpington and Magpie. These are really attractive birds and make great pets, even though their productivity may be low now. You should be able to expect around 150 eggs a year from them.
For sheer character - Call ducks are small, cute but noisy pets.
Mostly just choose the ones you like - there is plenty of choice.
There really doesn't need to be a reason to have ducks - they will keep the whole family entertained and are simply delightful to have as part of the family, as long as you can provide them with their basic needs of constant clean water for swimming and cleaning themselves and a good sized area to dibble and roam. The range of colours is beautiful especially when against the reflection of a sparkling pond.
But BEWARE they are addictive - one or two can lead to a large number somehow. 
