I am loving being a duck owner

[bayyjayy]

The thing is, I am IMPATIENT to get more. I want Anconas soooooo bad! I am loving going outside each morning, setting up my babies daytime pen...filling the pool, setting it up so they can get in and out, filling their feed bowls, carrying the babies to their pen, spraying down their night time pen. At night, I love doing it all in reverse. I love feeding all of my ducks. I LOVE the Cayuga babies freaking out when they see my hand coming toward them and then when they really look and see that I have peas.....I LOVE how they peck and peck and peck and get every last one, including the fatty part of my ring finger between my ring and the backside of my knuckle...doesn't hurt...makes me LAUGH. I am looking forward to them being free ranging and still coming to me to get some peas out of my hand (THEY BETTER DO THIS WHEN THEY ARE OLDER, DANGIT!).

We are moving our pond from the front half of our pasture to the back half. I am sooo looking forward to the trek out there each night to bed them down. I am going to get some kind of shed to put out there to put their food and supplies in. When I go to a neighbors house at night to watch her round up her horses, feed her pig, Arnold, feed her turkeys and chickens, feed all the wild ducks that swim the creek, it just gives me an overwhelming feeling of wanting time to HURRY up and make spring get here so I can order some more ducklings. I am hoping I can find some this year when it isn't quite so hot, since Turkey Heritage emailed me and told me it was too hot for them to lay and that they MAY have more before the end of summer. FINGERS CROSSED!

Anyway.....it is still amazing to me how addicted I am to these cute little twerps. I so love them, and I am totally enjoying the crap out of them. LOL.

Who woulda thunk?

 

[aineheartsyou]

Oh I know! When I first planned on getting ducks I was just gonna have 10... HAHAHA that lasted all of 2 seconds when I first saw my fuzzy ducklings

 

[Senna95]

That's really cute! I started with 5, and now have over 100! I love letting them out in the morning and watching them hunt bugs and play in the pool. oh, and there is nothing cuter than a baby duck!

 

[Amiga]

What is it about ducklings, and then ducks, that touches such a chord in many of us?

My newest duck helper called them "natural antidepressants." She loves them so much, and has only worked with them a few days!

I am looking forward to getting three or four ducklings next spring, has this flock and I have been together about 18 months, now, and I feel we're fairly comfortable together. I learned tons about ducklings and myself last year, so I've already decided that something like a rabbit hutch (a micro hutch) in the spare room we used as a brooder last year should work for a small number of ducklings. I can subdivide an area of the day pen so the babies can be near the adults and become part of the flock.

I know our limit is about a dozen, maybe max of fifteen runners. I know the dynamics change as the flock size and age mix changes. Things are good, now, but I also know that ducks don't live forever. I love these birds.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Ducks are hugely entertaining.

Keep in mind that small numbers are lots of fun and huge numbers are simply a lot of work.

Somewhere in the middle is a point for everyone where they tip from fun into work. So as you add numbers, keep in mind hauling water in the winter and how many buckets you want to carry every day.

Also, get out a calculator and figure out your feed costs. It's really cheap to feed 3-4 ducklings. It is not cheap to feed 50 ducks, and feed costs are going up. Everybody has a budget. Also keep in mind that food is not the only expense.

 

[Senna95]

Quote:
VERY good point. I'm lucky to be able to sell my duck eggs (for eating year round), and I sell hatching eggs and ducklings in the spring. This is NOT a money-maker, but it helps cover the feed bill and the upkeep on the fences and pens, which is important in these tough times. I love having ducks, and don't mind the work, but it does take a TON of time!