Chickens vs Ducks for breeding?

What’s considered the easiest, hardy, most prolific?  We had muscovies years ago and they would hatch a clutch or two per year.  Looking to get back into breeding with the goal of a self sustaining flock for meat and eggs.  Thoughts?

From my experience, there isn't one answer. Many chickens and "Noisy ducks" (ie the females "quack" and they're domesticated from Mallard ducks) have had broodiness bred out of them. In fact in my area, it's getting harder to find Noisy Ducks and Geese that weren't incubator hatched and not actually raised by a mom.

Muscovy are batch layers, so they don't produce a lot of eggs much of the year. However, the *love* to sit on eggs and raise babies. I not only have them raise their own for meat, but I have them raise my Goslings and Noisy Ducklings. They may not quite speak the same language, but at least they have a feathered Mom that teaches them to watch for flying predators.

There are definitely some chicken breeds better known for broodiness. However, Banties often go broody and can be given full size chicken eggs to sit on. Their own eggs are quite small, but just as yummy as full size eggs.

So Hubby has Industrial egg layers for his chicken business. We have Muscovy mostly for meat. Khacki-Campbells for eggs, although we raise our own, so even though extra drakes are on the small size, they still go to freezer camp. And we have geese as flock protection, sell any extra eggs in the spring, and harvest extra geese in the fall. The goose fat is a valuable addition to my baking supplies!

There is a lot of small considerations when it comes to the care between Chickens and Ducks but if your goal is a self sustaining flock for both meat and eggs I would consider that Chickens might have the advantage.

The reason I say this is just the sheer variety of breeds available to really match what you want. You want a broody chicken? You can get that. You want a large bodied meat bird? You can get that. You want a dual purpose bird for both meat and eggs? You can get that!!!

I think chicken care is a little more straightforward seeing as it is a more 'mainstream' poultry option.