Such practical duck owners.

[Going Quackers]

This is hilarious and so true!

 

[Apyl]

I can't say I'm the same way. I have my ducks and chickens for 3 reasons. 1) eggs, 2) meat, and 3) bug control. I also don't take them to the vet, I see no reason racking up a $600 or higher vet bill for something I paid $4 for and plan to eat. I also dont medicate or vaccinate. I want my meat pure an it's survival of the fittest here if its not strong enough to make it to butcher then it was a faulty bird. I know I sound appalling to some but I view my livestock as just that livestock. I will use the females to provide my eggs and babies but once done they become stew. Its all part of being self sustainable, which is my main goal.

 

[nickie]

I can't say I'm the same way. I have my ducks and chickens for 3 reasons.  1) eggs, 2) meat, and 3) bug control. I also don't take them to the vet, I see no reason racking up a $600 or higher vet bill for something I paid $4 for and plan to eat. I also dont medicate or vaccinate. I want my meat pure an it's survival of the fittest here if its not strong enough to make it to butcher then it was a faulty bird. I know I sound appalling to some but I view my livestock as just that livestock. I will use the females to provide my eggs and babies but once done they become stew. Its all part of being self sustainable, which is my main goal.

You have a point, and that's exactly what I do with my chickens and turkeys. I don't, however, look at my ducks as meat

 

[grandma duck]

Good for you - I'm glad you are able to eat your livestock. We just live on different planets. I can only kill a creature if it is suffering (excluding most insects.) I can skin a deer and butcher if it is already dead. I'm not squeamish.
Some critters just bring me great joy. They don't have to be "useful" in a production sense. Just being beautiful, cute and funny to give my spirit a lift is useful enough for me. Ever stand behind geese and watch 5 of them walk, butts swaying in unison, as they march to the barn in the evening? I'll never stop loving that.

Buy the way, I didn't say we had a $600 vet bill for our goose. It was my daughter and a rat. She hand-feeds her toads!

 

[Apyl]

Good for you - I'm glad you are able to eat your livestock. We just live on different planets. I can only kill a creature if it is suffering (excluding most insects.) I can skin a deer and butcher if it is already dead. I'm not squeamish.
Some critters just bring me great joy. They don't have to be "useful" in a production sense. Just being beautiful, cute and funny to give my spirit a lift is useful enough for me. Ever stand behind geese and watch 5 of them walk, butts swaying in unison, as they march to the barn in the evening? I'll never stop loving that.

Buy the way, I didn't say we had a $600 vet bill for our goose. It was my daughter and a rat. She hand-feeds her toads!

I said $600 to give an example. I never said you spent that much on your ducks vet bill.

 

[grandma duck]

Sorry. Yes, that was one golden rat. (Dumb emotions)
If there were not practical people like you, we would all have to be vegetarians! My son is practical, so we have oryx in our freezer. (He loves our ducks, though, and lovingly buried our last goose when she died.) Not that he wouldn't go duck hunting! (But he knows better than to bring a dead duck home...)