Hi folks. Yeah, I'm new to the forum and new to the world of breeders. I live just south of San Antonio in cattle country, but cattle ranching just isn't for me. I was looking for ways to supplement my Social Security income, decrease the food budget, and eat a little healthier. I looked into chicken farming, but everyone in this area has chickens. After some intense research, I opted for Pekin ducks. The wife, kids, and grand-kids love the idea, and jumped on the bandwagon. The wife also suggested I use the 12' X 12' tool storage room of her barn for a duck coop, (yeah, she has her 36' barn, and I have my 3 car hot rod garage). We figured on starting with 2 Drakes and 8 laying hens and see how it goes from there. We have a 100' X 100' welded wire fenced area for them to run in, so no worries there. I'll be on the forum daily looking for info on my newbie questions and new ideas.
Hello there and welcome to BYC! Ducks are quite enjoyable to keep. Have you stopped by our Ducks section yet? You can share your experiences, pictures and all your stories about your journey with ducks with other duck keepers....https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/42/ducks So glad you could join our community and we do welcome you to our flock!
Welcome to Backyard chickens. I would suggest you follow the link 2 Crows has given you. The Duck folks would be best at answering your questions.
I'm a chicken person but hope to get into ducks next year, they look really interesting from what I've learned about them here on BYC. In addition to the great duck forum TwoCrows gave you the link to, the Learning Center has some good articles on ducks: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/other-backyard-poultry-ducks-quail-turkeys-geese-etc I hope you're having fun with them!
Sorry for my tardiness in responding, but I've been all over the forum reading as much as I can. To date, I figured out what size and shape I'll build the duck coop (using the wife's tool shop right now), the size shape and equipment for a brooder, and what hatchery I'll buy. The only decision right now is eggs, chicks, or full grown. My whole family sat down to discuss what job we'll do. I'll handle the financing and building, my wife will handle egg collecting, my daughter will handle the hatchery and brooder, my son in law will handle the butchering, and my grand son will handle the killing. He's looking forward to chopping off their heads and watching them run around (yeah, gotta have a long talk with that boy). Yup, we're definitely going with Pekin's. The girls are already practicing running around yelling AFLAK.
