Khaki Campbell ducks can fly! (really well!)

We've had Khaki Campbell ducks for 2 years now. They are well known as excellent egg layers, but I'm often asked if Khaki Campbell ducks can fly. They can. I was actually told once that I was wrong and that they can not fly. (hmmmm) 

Now I've dodged flying ducks enough to know what's happening above my head, but I understand where some confusion may come in. After all, many people are familiar with the Pekin duck. If you're not...it's that big, fat, white "Donald duck" looking guy. Except they usually don't wear hats and shirts, but I digress. 

Khaki campbells are lighter than you think

Those ducks are a cross breed created for a large sized meat bird. Meat birds seldom get off the ground! They just have too much weight to them. They cannot fly. Just because those ducks cannot fly however, does not mean that other ducks cannot fly. Khaki Campbell ducks are less like a Pekin and more like a Mallard.

In fact, khakis are technically part mallard (going way back) so it makes sense that they would be a lighter more compact duck. Khaki's however, are a much lighter multipurpose breed and while they can be used for meat, they do make for a smaller dinner then the Pekin. They only get to be about 3-5 lbs full grown as opposed to the 9-10 lb meat duck. 

The Khaki Campbell breed

The Khaki Campbell breed was developed in England at the turn of the 20th century. They are a cross breed between Rouen, Mallard and Runner ducks though the exact breeding was never revealed. 

On average, the hens lay 300 eggs per year. Khaki Campbells can lay at this rate for around 5 years. Their eggs are equivalent to a large chicken's egg and are white but seem sort of opaque. They are smoother than a chicken egg (more like marble) without the slightly rough texture.

Khaki Campbell ducks are pretty much all brown, from their feet to their heads. The female has slight color variations in her body feathers and the males head is markedly darker then his body. They're definitely not the fanciest duck breed to own! They do make up for it in their friendly disposition though. This is one of the reasons I decided to raise them. Their just such sweethearts and make excellent pets!


I keep my ducks in a run with a pond and their coop. Unfortunately the run does not have a roof on it and they like to fly out of it every morning and visit all the chickens before returning to their run and begging me to let them back in. Why they don't just fly back in, I'll never know! 

We originally built this coop and run for the geese. I had heavy geese that couldn't fly so a roof was not an issue at the time. Since deciding to sell the geese, we've moved the ducks over to this run because the pond was twice as deep as theirs!

Since my trio of Khaki's is so darn predictable, I decided to post a little clip on our YouTube channel to show that yes, they do fly. In fact, they fly quite well. Here they are during their morning flight. Please excuse the camera shake...obviously I'm not real good at this video thing!

Khaki Campbell ducks flying

If you're thinking of raising some ducks this year, I talk you through their setup in Ducklings! Everything your need to raise them! Ducklings are about the cutest things ever, so you really should get some! 

~L

If you're looking to buy Khaki Campbell ducks, Metzer farms sells and ships them!

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