Hey friends!
Have you ever considered raising ducks?
Before moving to the ranch, we mulled over which farm animals we would want to commit to. In theory, all animals are fun. In reality, they require a lot of time and energy on our part. We didn’t want to overextend ourselves so we took our time making this decision. Since we were just getting our feet wet with this kind of lifestyle, we determined that ducklings would be a prudent first addition to Gowler Farm.
After a great deal of research, we knew a few things:
- Ducklings grow extremely fast. They are cute and tiny when you first get them but are almost full grown by 1 month old.
- They are filthy animals. They must have access to water at all times. They love to play and make a mess. They poop…a lot.
- They require a heat source when they are young. They are not born with feathers. Instead, they have fuzzy covering until their waterproof feathers grow in.
- They need protection from predators.
After thoroughly researching everything I could about raising ducks, we were ready! Because we wanted to ensure that we were getting only female ducks (hens) and no males (drakes) so we could have duck eggs, we ordered our ducks from Metzer Farms in California. We let each of our children research the different breeds and pick the ones that they wanted. We settled on ordering 2 Pekins, 2 Black Swedish, and 2 Cayugas.
Mail order ducks…who would have thought?!?
We placed our order and, less than 2 weeks later, our ducklings arrived! At Metzer Farms, the ducklings are born each Monday and arrive in your town on Wednesday so they are only 2 days old when you get them. It was so strange to me that we picked them up at our local post office. Seriously, this was mind-boggling to this city girl!
We were still in the process of building our new farmhouse and didn’t have the duck coop fully built yet so the ducklings stayed inside with us for the first few weeks until it was finished. It was fascinating to watch them grow!
As a family project, we built our first duck coop. Unlike chickens, ducks do not lay eggs in nesting boxes. And, unlike wild ducks, domesticated ducks do not fly so we needed everything to be ground level. Our coop has a metal roof, chicken wire walls, and a fully enclosed portion filled with bedding to keep them warm and comfortable at night. We even used reclaimed wood for an accent wall because the designer in me thought they needed a little style in their house.
Because our ducks free range all day long and are only in their coop at night for protection, we put rubber mats [HERE] in the bottom of the “main room” so that it is easy to clean. *Please note that it would NOT be appropriate to have a mat as the primary flooring if the ducks were always in their coop. It is important that they have the daily opportunity to forage the land and they cannot do that if they are only living on top of a mat.* The coop is tall so that we can walk in and clean in without having to bend over.
When the ducklings were a month old, they were ready to move into their new home! Fun fact: Pekins are fuzzy and yellow when they are first born but turn a beautiful white as they get their adult feathers.
It has been almost 2 years since we got our ducklings and we adore them. If you are thoughtfully considering getting backyard ducks, I highly recommend doing your research. They are messy and require DAILY care, but we would do it again in a heartbeat!
