We have a new species on the farm: ducks! We have discussed ducks for a while, but we didn’t want to commit to more animals unless they added value. Since our eggs are selling like crazy, we realized we could use more egg layers. I’m happy with the number of chickens we have and didn’t really want more. That led us to having a reason for ducks! Ducks don’t scratch in the garden, thanks to their webbed feet. Plus the males, called drakes, don’t crow. Ducks are supposed to be great at eating harmful bugs and slugs, too! They’re known for being sturdier than chickens, and from the minute the ducks arrived I’ve seen that to be true as all the ducklings are thriving.
The new ducklings, only a few days old
We went with the breed Khaki Campbell for several reasons. First, they’re on the “watch” list for The Livestock Conservancy, so they fit with our commitment to heritage breeds. They’re also supposed to have pretty high egg production, which was obviously important. They aren’t known for flying away, which can be a challenge with some other duck breeds. We have seen khaki campbell ducks at friends’ farms, and liked their demeanor and appearance. Overall we’re very excited about adding this breed to Independence Homestead.
Right now the ducklings are in a brooder. In the below video you can see the ducklings, and the brooder we use. Once they are fully feathered, they will move out to the hoophouse and live with the chickens for the winter. In spring we will build the ducks their own hoophouse and place it by our orchard so they can perform pest control for our fruit trees!
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