Someone recommended a book to me that I picked up at the library. It's called, "The Resilient Gardener, Food Production and Self Reliance in Uncertain Times", by Carol Deppe. It has a chapter on raising a backyard flock. They author has a preference for ducks and a good portion of the chapter is dedicated to ducks. Found her thoughts on alternate foods (other than commercial foods = potatoes and squash) to be helpful, particularly in the current environment when price of feed keeps going up! The author is from Oregon, so I found it particularly interesting since I am in the Pacific Northwest as well. The book was published in 2010. She also writes from a different perspective in terms of the gardening topics - she focuses on five crops: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs. I found it helpful, and thought someone else might as well. Also checked out the movie, "Million Dollar Duck", which I haven't seen since I was a kid!
I'll have to check that one out. I actually got started with ducks from reading about them in Eliot Coleman's book "Four Season Harvest". He also devoted a chapter to garden ducks, or "schmoos" and just basic care and housing for them. As for personal experience now that I've had the ducks a few months, I'm really enjoying the whole process. I found out my ducks love japanese beetles and for the first time in years I had a shortage of beetles because I would feed them to the ducks as soon as I found them. I'm in the process of preparing my fall/winter garden and I have a weed bucket and grub bucket that I keep close by. Once I fill those up or need a break I'll give those to the ducks. It's really cool to think of a garden pest or chore turning in to additional food. I am still waiting on my ducks to lay their first egg, but in the meantime it cuts down on the feed bill.
I love both Eliot Coleman and Carol Deppe! Tons of great information in both. Do you know that Eliot Colemand and his wife Barbara Damrosch have a 4-season garden in MAINE?? they're my hero's
