Our animals – Ducks

In October 2017 we managed to get some fertilized duck eggs and bought an incubator – a machine that keeps the eggs at the correct temperature and humidity. And after a few weeks, we got ducks, 4 Cayugas and 2 Buff Orpingtons.

Duck eggs

The Buff Orpington Duck (beware, there are chickens with the same name, too) is a breed of domestic duck and of a yellowish colour.

A Cayuga Duck is a medium-class domesticated duck breed that has been a popular variety in the USA since the mid-19th century. They are used for egg and meat production, as well as an ornamental bird. Ornamental because of their beautiful shiny blue-black colour.

They are a bit shy (unless they’ll have their feed), can still be caught relatively easy for some patting but unfortunately do not appreciate it too much.

In December 2019 we acquired another 6 ducks with some of them being a cross between Cayugas and Peking or Buff Orpington and Peking. Now we have a total of 9 resident ducks with a varying number of rescue ducks.

It was getting too hard to manage them in their enclosure so we now leave them roaming free and so far they have all stayed.

 
In February 2020, Wasabi had 15 little ducklings that no-one expected, but suddenly 15 little fluffballs were waddling after mom. So cute.

Latest blog posts featuring our ducks

Apart from the usual winter farm activities, there has not been much exciting stuff happening. It’s been a typical winter with lots of rain, lots of mud but rather warm in comparison. It looks like nature has decided that it is spring.
Today, we made an attempt of getting the ducks out of the duck run and into the garden for some bug and snail control. They were not too keen to get out and needed convincing, some of them we simply had to literally throw out.
Lots and not so much happened. New ducklings, alpaca maintenance, Christmas, holidays and lots of animal fun.