Tag Archives: homesteading

What’s One More? Adding Ducklings to the Homestead

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So, what’s a homesteader’s biggest challenge?

Frozen water buckets? Nope.

Cost (and sourcing!) of feed and hay? Nope.

Storage for all the equipment, feed, animals, building supplies, and miscellaneous stuff that you need around?

Not even that, I think.

ducklings 1

It’s the “what’s one more…” mentality that fuzzy feathers and woolie faces triggers.

What’s one more mouth to feed?

What’s one more bucket to empty?

What’s one more noisy inhabitant clamoring for food, water, shelter, and attention every day? {smile}

ducklings 3

Last year we did an Easter event and had a couple ducklings around for a few days (we bought them for display at the event because we had already made arrangements for them to have a new home afterwards) and they. were. adorable. Then, of course, we spent all that time visiting Bluebird Gap Farm over the summer and noticed that they’re just as cute when they grow up!  And then one of the Ladybug’s egg customers mentioned that they like duck eggs too…

Mr. Fix-It was even enamored with the idea, but we knew we definitely wanted runner ducks and egg layers (thankfully runner ducks are egg layers!) and that’s not really something you just run across at the local hardware store. (Um…regular white ducklings, yes. Egg-laying Khaki runner ducklings, no.) So the idea just sort of floated out every once in a while.

We’ve learned our own lessons about the dangers of giving in to the “what’s one more…” {grin}

ducklings 2

Until last Saturday.

Speedracer and I had to go a little far afield, alone, for a load of feed and Tractor Supply was having a “chicken swap” (which is actually just a chicken, and stuff, sale).

And there they were–at the very first vendor we stopped at! And she only had 8 left (supposedly of 50!). It was meant to be!

Now, I did restrain myself and managed to only scoop four of them into the box.

But yes, I admit that I caved.

They are just so darn cute! They’re adorable! And they’re getting along fine in the brooder house with the other chicks. (I didn’t completely throw caution to the wind, they were about two weeks old, so they were of an age and size to fit into our current brooder flock. Under a week would not have been a good idea.)

And when I explained to Mr. Fix-It that they were right next to a pen full of 7 week old German Shepard puppies and he really should be congratulating me on my self-control, he totally embraced the idea! (Although he was a bit bummed to discover that the “case of Girl Scout cookies” Speedracer brought home didn’t actually include any cookies.)

runner ducks

I’m sure I’ll be sharing more of our adventures in duck rearing as the summer goes on. In the meantime, can I just tell you how much I appreciate and adore the book Barnyard in Your Backyard?! That book really does have everything you need to safely get started with just about any basic barnyard animal. I’ve read over it several times over the years as we’ve started a new adventure and it’s just perfect for starting out! (It would also be the perfect book for your homeschooling research shelves to teach your kiddos a good practical lesson on any farm animal!)

Of course, there’s always more to any enterprise, so the kiddos and I are supplementing our read-loud time right now with Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks–and I can’t recommend this series higher for the homesteader! We have a volume for each species on the farm (plus a few that are in our future–oink, oink!) and they are the most dog-eared and highlighted books on our shelves. (If you’ve got a kiddo doing any research on livestock, these are the one-stop-shop books they need!)

But if you’ve got any other recommendations, let me know. We love growing our farm library!

What’s new around your place so far this spring?

You can find me linking up at…

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Homestead Updates: Lettuce and Lambs

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It’s turned rainy and chilly again, but Spring is definitely here.

Mr. Fix-It's already got some cool season plants in.

We’ve got lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, onions, and potatoes in the ground. We usually start with small plants for the early planting, while starting seeds inside for later planting. We find that the little plants are hardier for early season starts than our own seedlings. I haven’t gotten the knack of “hardening off” yet.

We planted head and leaf lettuce.

We also find that having those good-sized plants out there to start with get everyone more excited about getting out and helping and make it easier for the kids to get involved. They can tell what’s a plant and what’s a weed. I love Joel Salatin’s book Family Friendly Farming. (We have all his books, but this one is definitely my favorite!) It talks about setting your family up for success, not failure, to encourage everyone to love and enjoy the farm. This is a little bit of the same thing.

We'll be mulching this weekend. Besides weeds, our soil is very sandy and perks FAST. Moisture is always an issue with baby plants.

And we’ve very excited that we finally have grass!

We’ve been working the sheep back and forth from winter pastures to the backyard and pasture alleys to wean them on to the spring grass. They are half-crazy loving it, but you have to make diet changes slowly. They could bloat on the rich, new grass.

Oh yeah, and it's spring gobbler season around here again.

The new-growth grass is better for milk production too. The lambs are getting to the age where it’s hard for their Momma’s to keep weight on while feeding them constantly–especially if they have twins. The lambs are already starting to wean on to the fresh, tender grass and it’s helping flesh out the ewes again too.

Look at Mr. Fancy-Feathers there...we can see this little flock from our porch pretty regularly. They live down the gas line and power line easements adjacent to our top field.

Our little Washtub Willie is still out with his Momma and twin and seems to be doing just fine. Neither of those two lambs are as big and sturdy as I would like, I certainly would say “thriving,” but they’re hanging in there. And compared to the barely breathing puddle of baby he was when we found him, I think that’s pretty good.

They’re about a week old now. We kept them penned up with their momma alone for a few days, until I was sure they both had a good grasp on nursing and all three of them could find each other in a crowd.

Look at that grass! We joke that "one man's weeds are another man's sheep food!" {grin}

That ewe is certainly not up for any Mom of the Year awards. She takes care of them, but only as long as nothing else comes up and they keep up with her. She won’t go back for them if they get left behind and she’s very flighty so I have to be careful not to accidentally corner her or anything. She’ll freak out and plow right over top of them. We probably should have kept her penned up with them a few more days, but she was clearly getting stressed out being separated from the rest of the flock and she needs the fresh grass too.

Anyway, I’m off for Easter break with the kiddos today and Monday and my sister is coming to visit with my niece and nephew tonight, so we’ll be living it up on our 4 stay home days.

Do you have special plans for Easter?