My wife found someone giving away birds. I picked some up last night. We now have two more red hens and four white ducks.
The previous owner says the ducks are good layers and the eggs are large. I'm not sure what to do with ducks but if they lay eggs I guess I'll take them. They have more ducks and I may pick up some more.
Funny thing is these people had two hens and seven roosters. I told them I would take the roosters but I would just put them in the pot because I've already got more than I want. They said they thought they could find someone that wanted to keep roosters. LOL because I can't wait until I get a day or two off to thin mine out.
No pics yet but I'll post some when I get the time.
A Primer on Primer Storage
2 days ago
6 comments:
You don't know what to do with the ducks?
I bet I could think of something.
Duck eggs are quite tasty so even keeping them for their eggs is not a bad idea.
We had ducks on our farm when I was growing up (along with a few head of cattle, chickens, geese, sheep and goats...oh...and a pony, but we didn't eat him).
Duck eggs sound tasty... You'll have to post your results with this. We never kept ducks. I'm wondering how the ducks will rank compared to chickens in ease of keeping.
I laughed at the rooster dilema. I read about suburban "green" movements toward yuppies raising chickens in their backyards in rich neighborhoods now - for the eggs. Apparently its all the rage right now. All the cool environmentally conscious folks are doing it....
I'm wondering what these people will do in a couple of years when the original chickens (all of whom they've named, of course) get too old to lay. Somehow I don't see them culling old hens for the stew pot.
Paladin, I suspect the city folks will get rid of their hens the same way they get rid of the dogs and cats they don't want: take them out of the city and dump them. One good reason to have dogs is for them to run off all the strays that people dump.
Sailorcurt, the think I'm not sure about ducks is how to take care of them. Can I put them in a big cage like I keep the chickens in to keep predators away?
I'll find out one way or another.
Sailorcurt humor=fail
We had a good sized barn lot so I can't say what the best way to raise them in limited space would be.
I know the Chinese raise ducks in cages, but they force feed them and don't allow them exercise to make them as big and fatty as possible (makes them more tender). I don't imagine they get many eggs out of them that way.
The biggest problem we had with our ducks was keeping their wings clipped so they couldn't fly over the fence. They liked to wander so if they could get any altitude at all, they'd be over the fence and wandering out into the road or through the fields.
We didn't have too much trouble with predators and when the occasional fox or feral dog would cause issues, dad would take care of it by staking out the henhouse with a shotgun overnight.
I suppose you could just try keeping them in the facility you have available and, if that doesn't seem to agree with them, there's always the "roast duck" option.
They freeze just fine after being butchered and cleaned.
Good luck with the ducks! They need water to be happy, but they STINK! I'll take the smell of horse or cow any day over ducks!
"Been there, done that, got the T-shirt" as my dad says :)
Two hens and seven rooster's that sounds a little out of balance. I can invision a lot of fights in the barnyard.
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