Hooked on Quack
After having ducks now for about 3 months now, I wanted to share our experience. We purchased ducklings online and received them at just a few days old. All of the little critters survived the shipping just fine (yep, you can get birds mailed to you). We have had good luck with orders from Meyer Hatchery.
When the ducklings arrived, we immediately put them in the brooder we had set up outside under a lean-to. The kiddos LOVED checking on and holding the cute little fluff-balls. They did just fine being outside which was a blessing because these are some messy birds. Other than having to clean out the litter and waterer more frequently, the ducklings are about the same as keeping chicks in a brooder. As mentioned in a previous post, The Mauldin Poultry Wars, pekin ducks grow very fast. They go from egg to 8 lb of deliciousness in a mere 49 days! After only two and a half weeks, they were ready to be pastured.
Ducklings getting fresh air from day 1
I spent a lot of time trying to design a mobile duck coop but from my brother’s experience, the ducks don’t always want to go into a coop at night. So instead of spending lots of time and money building a fancy coop that they might not use, I opted to make a simple little duck house out of nothing but some hay and spare metal roofing. For water, we used one of those 300 gallon tanks that can be moved with the tractor forks. The feeder was little more than a 5 gallon bucket with a hole cut into it. We then put some electric netting around them primarily to keep predators out since we couldn’t lock them up in a coop for protection. This setup worked pretty good for us.
Fancy duck house - let us know if you want the detailed architectural specifications
Between putting the ducks on pasture and slaughter time, we only lost one duck. It was of course during the one night that we accidentally left the dog, Belle, inside the shop. We think it was most likely a coyote or bobcat that Belle usually keeps at bay at night.
While on pasture, we noticed that the ducks are good foragers though not as good as our chickens whom we hardly ever feed. Surprisingly, these have been the easiest animals to herd. They tend to bunch together and are not very fast. This makes them very easy to wrangle if they get out of the fence and when it is time to put them in the freezer. These silly birds also have a very good temperament; the kiddos can go right up to them and when I have to pick them up, they don’t try to peck and claw me to death like a chicken might. Even when introducing them to the kill cone, they remain relatively calm.
The wife and I both agree that ducks are probably the most pleasant animals we have processed on our farm. Their temperament makes the handling and the kill about as gentle as you could hope for. The duck feathers take a little longer to pluck than chicken feathers because they are denser and waterproof but we didn’t think it was a big deal. The rest of the process is almost identical to processing a chicken.
After processing and packaging the ducks, we took them to the Mid City Market to sell. The few birds we brought with us all sold in the first half of the market! Thank you to our patrons for supporting local and responsibly raised meat! We always want to be as transparent as practical so I will be writing another post soon detailing the diet, living conditions, and slaughtering process more thoroughly. If you would like to see for yourself, feel free to contact us as contact@apolloacres.com to schedule to visit. For those who purchased a duck, we would love to know what you thought of it. We will be processing more birds soon so it’s not too late to claim yours now in our online shop.
Packaged ducks
After reflecting on raising ducks and our success at the market, we decided to order more ducks (gaining ground in the Mauldin Poultry Wars). If we sell out of our current batch, just know that more are on the way. We expect to have lots in stock by the holiday market. Don’t forget that for each bird you buy from us is one more bird that lives happily outside eating bugs and one less bird crammed in some warehouse halfway across the country being shoveled full of corn and drugs.
