Jumping in head first-in the PNW

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JillZaHulk said:
Hello, my name's Jill. I am new to this forum and new to backyard bird raising. I am a stay at home wife and mother of 3 humans, ages 12, 4, &19mo. We bought and moved to a new house in April with plenty of room for animals and much of the farm life I've always wanted. About a month ago my husband found someone on Craigslist in our town who was moving and couldn't take their 6 month old ducks with them. He had her call me and we quickly adopted her birds. I've been in touch with her almost daily as we just seemed to really hit it off and became quick friends. We want to raise these birds as pets not food, except their eggs of course. And soon hope to expand the flock with chickens and a few more ducks. In the current situation these 4 ducks have a whole barn to themselves and currently share the yard with my kids but soon a couple pigs. The pigs will have their own pen area and my husband built a large enclosed secure run for the birds for when they don't have yard access. We have 3 Drake's and 1 duck hen. In desperate need of more girls tho her frequent mate does a good job protecting her. The female and one Drake are pekins. There's one Mallard or Rouen Drake (not sure which he is) and there's one khaki Campbell Drake. All are the same age and were raised from hatchlings together. Aside from the ducks we have 2 adult male cats who weren't raised around farm animals but for the last 5 years have been around our neighbors chickens and the cats are curious but really seem to care less about large birds, these days they are so spoiled and becoming elderly they don't care much about any hunting or playing with live food like critters. Tho for some reason the mama deer that lives on our property seems to really dislike one of our cats and will often chase him off lol I figure he probably peed on their bed or something lol cats have a way of annoying wildlife.

As far as the birds go, I'd like to get more females of both duck and chicken varieties. In still learning what it takes to keep them happy and healthy and laying plenty of eggs. We still have yet to see her first egg but I know she's gonna be ready soon. I have plans to plant a garden in their run that they'll have access to whenever the barns open. A low maintenance garden full of all the goodies they like munching on that will keep growing back.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions for me, please feel free to say something. Anything is helpful. I'm researching and taking notes as much as I can. I want them to feel the love we have for them and know we're here to care for them and I want to be able to see that they're happy and not anxious or scared. They've come a long way since we got them and I know we'll only make progress. I just want to do what I can for them and make them happy.
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Enjoyed your post Jill. I also have two ducks that I’ve had just over a year and enjoy them so much. I keep them locked up at night and let them out early each morning. They roam around close to my house all day. I keep two little wading pools filled with fresh water for them and they never go to far. I keep their door open to their pen where they have a big doghouse where I keep their food bowl filled. They often come sit close to the porch when I sit outside and always come running to me when I walk out the back door as I usually have a handful of treats. They bring me so much joy.
 
Hi Jill and welcome to BYC :frow We're so happy you've decided to join us :ya

Loved your intro, side note on the garden... They can demolish it roots and all in record time, think about how to let things grow through the wire so they can't get to the roots. A lot of folks will add boxes covered with HW cloth and plant grass and other plants in them in the run.
 
Willowspirit said:
Beautiful ducks! Welcome to BYC. Be sure and look up your state thread in the forum “where am I? Where are you?” You might see some female ducks available or chickens.

I have chickens and they make me happy every day. :frow
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So true! It just wouldn't be"home" without the chooks!
 

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