Ducks

If you love and care about animals, it’s heartbreaking to imagine life without them. Once you invest your blood, sweat, and tears into raising them and caring for them, they can start to feel like a real part of you. But, sadly, death is a part of all life on Earth, for humans and animals … Read more

The most precious, adorable time in a duck’s life is when it is still a fuzzy little baby duckling. I’m telling you, there’s nothing on Earth cuter! But, they really do grow up fast and as much as we might want them to stay small and fuzzy forever, getting their feathers is an important milestone … Read more

No matter what you do in life, if you want to get good at it you’ve got to pick up a new vocabulary. Call it lingo, shop talk, vernacular, whatever. Sometimes it’s complex enough to border on a different language! Surprisingly, or maybe not, it’s the same with ducks. If you’ve ever listened to two … Read more

Understanding various developmental benchmarks is also crucial for timing when your ducks can go outside and for how long. Speaking of benchmarks, ducklings don’t cheep and peep for very long, either. When exactly do ducklings start to quack? Ducklings will start to quack anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks old. Various breeds develop at different … Read more

Ducks are always in chickens’ shadows when it comes to poultry. Though they’ve been domesticated for ages, the greater productivity of chickens in terms of meat and eggs saw ducks relegated to the specialty market for a long time. That status is slowly changing today since folks are coming to appreciate the richness of duck … Read more

Ask anyone who’s ever gone duck hunting, or even tried to photograph ducks, and they will tell you: these birds seem to have supreme eyesight. The slightest movement, even a little something out of place, and they will fly away. It’s amazing, but it can also be completely befuddling: how can any bird’s eyesight be … Read more

If you want to raise ducks, keeping the right ratio of males to females is crucially important both for the well-being of your flock and your own sanity. If you want lots of eggs, you’ll need plenty of females, but getting a good return of meat is best done with a flock that has more … Read more

I don’t know about you, but I can honestly say there’s nothing cuter than an adorable baby duck. That’s reason enough to get them if you ask me! But ducklings will eventually grow up into adult ducks, and if they’re going to get there, they need lots of help from you… Ducks are notable for … Read more

Most of the animals that we keep, whatever species they are, tend to follow the same schedule that we do when it comes to sleeping. They get up with the sun and go to bed or at least settle down at dusk. But that’s not always the case with ducks… Ask anybody who has kept … Read more

You hear about some pretty strange lore concerning ducks and other poultry when you hang around the scene long enough. Tales of drakes laying eggs, flocks consisting of nothing but hens suddenly producing ducklings, and more craziness besides. It’s easy to roll your eyes at such things, but now and then you’ll talk to people … Read more

Cute, precious baby animals are one of life’s greatest pleasures. But just like I always remember my parents saying, they don’t stay small for long. Babies tend to grow quickly, quicker than we expect, and before you know it, they have reached adulthood. That’s certainly the case for ducklings, but there’s a little confusion out … Read more

Do you want know what the very best part of raising ducks is? Getting baby ducks! Ducklings are incredibly cute and precious and I always love watching them grow and getting them to bond with me, but they’re also delicate and fragile. But as you might expect, baby ducks are particularly prone to chilling and … Read more

Our ducks exhibit all kinds of strange and sometimes humorous behaviors. They tend to be inquisitive and sometimes playful with people and each other. Some of my fondest afternoons are spent watching my ducks roam around and explore the yard. But for more than just fun, it pays to be acquainted with the way they … Read more

I’m happy to report that ducks are making a big comeback in the world of poultry. Compared to chickens, ducks can still be surprisingly productive in terms of egg output, and they are also much healthier. I also tend to be smaller and significantly easier to handle than geese. Ducks have been domesticated by humans … Read more

If you’re interested in raising ducks, you probably already know that every breed has something to offer you. Whether you want them simply as pets, exhibition birds, for meat or eggs, or both, there is bound to be a kind of duck out there that is just right for you. To help you find that … Read more

The one question I hear over and over again from prospective duck keepers is how they can keep their birds from flying away. It makes sense, of course: we watch ducks fly all over the place out in nature. But it’s different for domestic ducks, as most of them cannot fly. Most, but not all! … Read more