Duck Update

It has been a little over a year since my family added ducks to our tiny urban homestead. Man, they sure were cute as little ducklings! I haven't posted about them much lately, as I honestly haven't seen them that much this winter. Todd took over duck duty while I was pregnant, and the ducks have (very unfortunately) turned our backyard into a mud pit, so it is actually somewhere I have been avoiding. At least until the sun comes out and dries things out back there.
But those ducks are still darn cute, even though they are all grown. And they certainly are as un-smart as ever. We got ducks (instead of chickens) because the research I did lead me to believe that they were less destructive than chickens. They aren't supposed to do as much damage to gardens as chickens as they are pickier eaters and don't scratch the dirt. Well, what no one tells you is that they may not scratch the soil, but once it is muddy their big ol' feet stomp around on it, killing all vegetation and turning things into a swamp. And they seem to eat whatever grows in their reach. They also live for getting wet and splashing around, which makes mud, well.... muddier. Don't get me wrong, I am still happy that we got ducks. They are goofy. Fun to watch. And have big personalities. However, we will likely be purchasing some pea gravel for the backyard to cover the mud pit they have created. So, our thoughts of an idyllic backyard with ducks roaming around is not quite that. Instead of roaming, the ducks are wallowing in mud and digging holes with their bills. Instead of flowers and vegetables, we have mud. But hey, we are working with it, and hope to make some improvements this summer. But I do think ducks would be better suited on a large farm than in a tiny backyard.

And, as far as egg production? Well, the 3 females we picked out ended up being 2 males and only 1 female. We were not able to fully sex them until they were about 4 months old, and at that point, Finn was pretty attached to them all. And if we sent the males away, we knew that they would end up as someone's dinner. We thought a time would come when we would have to get rid of at least 1 male, as they say you can only have 1 male for every 3 or 4 females, but our little flock loves each other so much that the males share their lady and they have all been able to stay together in peace.
So, our 3 egg layers are now 1 egg layer. And she has laid an egg every single day since she started. Seriously. I don't think she had missed a day, even through our long and rainy winter. Pretty amazing. Looking forward to drier days and more time in the backyard with our funny flock!