I thought it was time for an update on the ducks.

I told you before about the ducklings we brought home from a nearby farm last July. I wrote on the calendar: “July 1st, 2022: Brought home 8 ducklings, and 24 duck eggs to put in the incubator.” We hadn’t raised ducks here in many years, and it was our very first time hatching out duck eggs in the incubator, and we were excited. On our way home from the farm that day, we also stopped by our friend’s place and added a few duck eggs from their flock for fun, and for some variety. I wrote down that the first duck egg started to hatch on day 26 in the incubator. On Day 28 we had 7 ducklings, and by Day 29 there were 11. I wrote down that out of 24 duck eggs in the incubator, we had 11 hatch, and of those 11, 10 survived. When we read about incubating duck eggs, many sources said it was more challenging than hatching out chicken or quail eggs. We were pleased with our hatch rate for the first time doing it.

Here’s how it all turned out:

Of the 8 ducklings we brought home, hoping for layers, we ended up with 3 females, and 5 males. (You can see them pictured in this post, when we first brought them home in July.) The farmer thought they were Khaki Campbells. There were some mixes, the farmer agreed. Upon seeing their coloring, and then watching them grow, it looked like some Buff Orpington was mixed in, and also a wild Mallard had taken up residence in the farmer’s pond (and the coloring on the head of one of our boys looks like he has some Mallard mixed in.) They are some really beautiful and healthy ducks, and we’ve been pretty pleased with the mix they are.

With the eggs we put in the incubator, there were some of the Khaki Campbell mixes described above, as well as Pekin duck eggs. The farmer raised both kinds of ducks and we wanted to raise ducks for eggs, as well as for meat, so decided on both. Also, like I mentioned, there were a few eggs from our friend’s flock in there. We ended up with 10 ducklings. Here’s what we got: One of the Khaki Campbell mixes (sadly only one, but thankfully it was female!), one Swedish mix female from our friends, one Cayuga mix boy from our friends, and 7 of the white Pekins.

Currently, we have eleven ducks: Mo, Chester, Honeydew, Goldberry, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Maple, Zorro, Daphne, Daisy, and Trillium. You can see the whole gang pictured above. Mo (short for Mohawk, he had quite a distinct mohawk for awhile, he’s the one that has Mallard mixed in) and his brother Chester (Khaki mix), Honeydew and Goldberry (they look exactly alike, you can really see the Buff coloring in them, they are such a pretty golden color), Nutmeg (the Khaki mix from the ducklings we got) and Maple (the Khaki mix from the eggs we hatched out, they are both so pretty), Cinnamon (the Swedish mix, has one Cinnamon colored spot on her chest, is one of our sweetest ducks and B’s favorite), Zorro (the Cayuga mix, he has the most beautiful coloring, and green head), and the three Pekin sisters: Daphne, Daisy, and Trillium (they are some of the friendliest ducks we have, I absolutely love their personalities.)

Now our flock consists of 8 females (4 Khaki/Buff mixes, 1 Swedish mix, 3 Pekins), and 3 males (2 of the Khaki mixes, 1 Cayuga mix.) (Ideally, there would be less males for that many females, we want to find a good home for one of the boys we’ve grown so fond of.) The Pekin ducks will give us eggs, but they are not a breed raised for egg laying, but rather for meat. We have five females considered layers. Ideally, we’d like to have more layers, so we’d love to increase our flock. (Do you have any favorite breeds? We’d love to hear from you if you have any duck experience to share!)

The three of us have come to love having ducks in our life again so much! I love the way the ducks greet us in the morning, how they’ve learned to follow us up to the garden shed to get treats when we let them out of their house (Jeff taught them that one), the way they waddle when they run (so cute!), the way they wag their tales in happiness, and the incredible joy they find in even the smallest amount of water to swim in. I have come to feel that ducks are absolutely delightful! I love that they are so happy all the time. When it’s pouring rain outside, and all the other animals on the homestead are miserable (you won’t find the goats out in it, they’ll be hiding), the ducks will be having the time of their life, happy as can be. Ducks are happy in the rain, happy in the sun… happy all the time. Their happiness is contagious, and I find them so uplifting on a dark, rainy day. It can be a soggy mess outside and I think about all the projects I need to get done in the mud (not very appealing), but then I look over at the ducks and I laugh. They are so happy, they always make me smile.

I hear many people say how messy ducks are or tell me they raised them before and would never want to raise them again, I know ducks might not be the best fit for everyone, and at one point when we were traveling more, having a few chickens was an easier fit for our lives. But now we are really glad to have ducks here again! I wanted to share our experience and some of the great things about raising ducks in case they might be a good fit for you. Ducks are very resistant to disease, they are great foragers, and we’ve found them to be much better at eating up garden leftovers than other animals we’ve raised on the homestead.

Being such water lovers, ducks are very well suited for the climate we live in (the rainy Pacific Northwest), and they also eat slugs and snails that can be quite a problem in gardens in our area. Our ducks have been doing an incredible job of cleaning up our garden beds this winter and eating up lots of slugs. (Yay!) Today Jeff and I put some fencing up around the garlic beds to protect them from getting trampled, when the ducks were starting to gravitate towards that part of the garden, but that’s really the only thing in the garden right now that needs protecting from them. This time of year, when the garden is mostly asleep, the ducks get free reign of the place. I love watching them wander all over.

Have any of you raised ducks before? Did you find ducks to be a good fit for you or not? I’d love to hear about your experiences if you feel inspired to share in the comments!