Rice duck farming

[Duckmom27]

Current status on the rice. It's growing a lot bigger. The ducks still love to stand there and forage in the mud/water but it's been a while since anyone jumped in.

The reason I'm so small scale this year is the area where I wanted to establish a larger rice paddy I needed clear for a friend to drive her truck through when delivering a playhouse for my kids. She said she would bring it in April but didn't get it here until last week. So the pond/paddy didn't get built in time for transplanting what I had growing in the house, and this is just a small scale start this year and next year I'll try to do more of what I had originally had in mind for this year.

 

[Duckmom27]

The rice keeps growing! And my swedish blue drake decided to hop in today.

 

[CuddleNest]

The rice keeps growing! And my swedish blue drake decided to hop in today.

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This is such a great idea! The small scale is perfect for showing kids where rice comes from! I might have to try it next year! Keep posting!

 

[Duckmom27]

This video is from about a week ago, but I didn't get around to uploading it until today. The rice keeps getting so much taller! Nobody's hopped in in a while but they still like to stand around the edges and nibble in the water/mud. And occasionally nibble on the plants...

It's been pretty hot here in central NC so I'm actually having to add water almost every day or it would dry out. I water it with water from the pool they swim in so it's still getting fertilized even though the ducks aren't going in among the rice much anymore.

 

[Duckmom27]

They're finally starting to grow the rice!!

 

[Ratchnick]

Pretty cool

 

[FloorCandy]

This is such a great idea!

 

[Duckmom27]

Rice update!
I am pleasantly surprised at how much is growing. I really wasn't expecting this much and I'm excited to see how much it is exactly when I harvest

A day or two after my last post I looked out the window and saw my pekin, Potato, going to town on one of the stalks of grain so I rushed outside with the chicken wire to protect it. Now the ducks walk over to it and then look at me and start quacking like "hey Mom what's the deal there's food in there"

I picked two grains just to see what they're like right now. The brown one I picked, when I tried to open the husk it popped and a bunch of white liquid came out. I'm not sure if that's normal or not? There's a fair number of brown grains so I'm hoping those aren't all bad or something. I also picked a green one and when I tried to open it, it didn't pop out liquid like the brown one, and I could see what looked like the start of a rice grain growing inside. From what I've read I'm supposed to harvest when the stalks turn yellow so I'm thinking that'll happen in a couple of weeks

 

[Duckmom27]

Three of the proud farmers

 

[Duckmom27]

It's ready to harvest!