Well Howdy Ma-am,

Welcome ! I also moved from South King County Washington. From the town of Slaughter, most people now it as Auburn . I didn't move as far as you did. I moved to San Juan Island, Washington. 6.5 acre parcel. I have a large orchard, vegetable patch, 2 dogs and 16 ducks.
Don't be kidding yourself, homesteading is a lot of hard work and fun too.

Eric

Well, hiya! How are things in Auburn? Let me guess...WET!! I have never heard it called Slaughter! We lived in Sumner to be specific, just "down the road a piece'. Indiana weather is definately seasonal, and more extreme than 'temperate' Washington. I am a native of Washington, born in Yakima. I used to kid 'outsiders' about me having webbed feet. Now I'm the outsider! People are very friendly here though and the peace and quiet is wonderful. The Puget Sound area is getting more like Los Angeles every day...crowded, noisy, congested. I never did get up to San Juan Island, but I have heard it is just beautiful. I do miss the scenery.

Ducks eh? We're thinking about getting geese. Never had geese. Perhaps ducks are better? Maybe you can give me some advice there? I don't mind the work involved caring for animals or the land or growing things, I just can't do major things like erecting buildings and plowing fields! I think animals like horses, cows, and such would be too much work though, at least for us.

We have nine cats, three dogs, and five cockatiels and two parakeets. Yes, I love animals so 'farm livin' IS the life for me! HA.

Nice meetin ya!

soteriagal,

Auburn's original name was Slaughter. Named after military officer "Somebody Slaughter" Moved away from Auburn 4 years ago, so my webbing is shrunk up a bit! The San Juan Island are in a rain shadow. The Olympics get most of the rain. Our average is about 25 inches a year. No LA. here. No chain fastfood, no street lights,no intersection lights. There's an on going joke. If you have to wait for two cars to go by, its time to move. Oh! and you probably have heard this before. Sumner is also known as "Some-manure"

I'm opperating a Duck CSA (community supported agriculture) There are 5 families involved. We all share in the expenses and labor. The return is duck eggs. We selected Khaki Campbell as our breed. Campbells lay an average of 300 eggs per duck, per year. We currently have 13 hens and 3 drakes. The extra eggs are sold to the local B & B's. If you have any questions on raising ducks let me know.

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Eric

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I don't know if they even say it in northern IN, but it's y'all(pronounced YAWL), not ya'll.

Actually I don't hear y'all or yawl at all here. [Just a little 'country' humor I guess. Or not!]

Yes, Eric, I grew up in 'some manure' right next to 'P U allup' and 'puke all up.' Yes, small town humor!!

I didn't know that about Auburn. I mentioned it to my husband and he had never heard it either. He worked in Auburn at Peterson Company, a food delivery service. He said, "Well, there has been a lot of crime there recently." HA. Glad it was only named after a person, not increased crime!

As to ducks, I know nothing about them so please bear with me. I will probably ask some really stupid questions.

Since ducks can fly, how do they stay put with you?

What kind of set up do you have for them?

Is it anything like chicken coops? [I know almost nothing about chicken raisin' either!]

Are they costly to buy and raise?

Can you eat the eggs? Do they taste like chicken eggs?

Other than eggs, what other perks do ducks provide? I have heard geese eat grass, weeds, bugs and such and help keep the land cleaner, if that's the right word to use. Right now a duck that would eat asian ladybugs would be worth it's weight in gold to me!!

I already told hubby we are NOT eating anything we raise, cause I don't kill pets! Although I have a couple of cats I've come close with! HEH.

From what I've read, there seem to be as many duck varieties as chicken varieties. I have NO IDEA where to begin. Guess I'll begin at the beginning. Excuse me now, I need to kill more ladybugs. If you need any, I'd be glad to ship you a few tons of them. Oh, they aren't American ladybugs. They are mean, biting, nothing will kill em but squishin' ladybugs and they're taking over major parts of the midwest and east coast.

Ok, I've rambled enough for now!

soteriagal,

"As to ducks, I know nothing about them so please bear with me. I will probably ask some really stupid questions".

No questions are stupid.

"Since ducks can fly, how do they stay put with you?"

I find the domestic duck fat and lazy. They do fly, about three feet off the ground, short distances. We feed them twice a day and give them shelter. They don't need to migrate.

"What kind of set up do you have for them?"

I have two fenced in ponds. The fences are only 3ft tall. Metal Tee post and vinyl coated wire. I alternate pens, so one can recover. The one in recovery is seeded with soil builder seed mix. (Soil Builder Mix - Peaceful Valley) Great for nitrogen fixing and organic matter.

"Is it anything like chicken coops? [I know almost nothing about chicken raisin' either!]"

The duck house is a lot like a chicken coop, but simple shed will do. You can use a chicken feeder and waterer. Ducks require deep waterers to keep their nasal passages open. I've read that ducks don't use nesting boxes. I've found that not to be true. My 13 Campbells have 4 nesting boxes. Most eggs are found in the boxes.

"Are they costly to buy and raise?"

My Khaki Campbells came from Murry McMurry. 15 ducks minimum. They always throw in an extra and its a male 90% of the time. So my 16 ducks cost about $70.00. They arrive 2 days old. Cute little buggers. Monthly costs are $5.00 bale of straw and 1 to 1 1/2 bags of feed at $9.50 per bag. I buy only Organic feed. Campbells are good foragers. they keep down the slugs, snails and many other bugs.

"Can you eat the eggs? Do they taste like chicken eggs?"

Yes, most definitely. That's why we chose Khaki Campbells. They out produce most chicken. 300 + eggs per year, per duck. They are better tasting than a chicken egg. IMO. They have a richer flavor, darker yolk. One problem with duck eggs, they don't hard boil very well. The white sticks to the inside of the shell.

"Other than eggs, what other perks do ducks provide? I have heard geese eat grass, weeds, bugs and such and help keep the land cleaner, if that's the right word to use. Right now a duck that would eat asian ladybugs would be worth it's weight in gold to me!!"

Bug patrol,weeding,hours of entertainment. Ducks are a quack-up! I wouldn't say ducks and geese keep the land cleaner. Ducks are messy. Water water everywhere. Turn an area to mud pretty quickly.

"I already told hubby we are NOT eating anything we raise, cause I don't kill pets! Although I have a couple of cats I've come close with! HEH."

I try not to get to attached to the ducks. They have no names and are not treated like pets. I have two black Labs for that.
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Greetings from Jordan's Croft, down the road a ways in Kentucky. We also raise ducks, Moscovies, which are quackless. Mine are mostly black.

I raise duckings to sell. I haven't found a market for duck eggs yet. We also have chickens, and I keep the two flocks together in the barn. We feed scratch grain in the winter and let them forage all summer, with just a little feed for the peeps.

We keep the birds mainly to get rid of the bugs. We had a real problem with ticks in our last place. HAD. The ducks cleaned up the flies (3 horses generate a lot of flies) the little black face flies and the 1 inch or bigger horse flies, deer flies, sow bugs, grasshoppers etc. I haven't had to spray the horses much, or get a bug zapper or anything like that.

We bought the chickens (four hens and a rooster) strictly for eggs. (Hubby doesn't like duck eggs.) They free range around the place, which has been a bit of a hassle. Bird droppings everywhere are a pain.

There are plenty of chicken and duck postings here. Do a search and you will get a pretty good idea of how to take care of either type.

Take care!
Kitty

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Wow, was going through the site here again and getting caught up. It's been awhile! We've had our chickens almost a year now. Over half of the 30 were roosters! We were going to have them processed [polite way of saying killed for meat], but apparently it's a lost art and we couldn't find anyone to do it around here. Hubby was sure he could do it, but after he killed the first one, he came back into the house looking green around the gills and I told him just forget it, we'll keep em. So they are free range in the warm weather. The hens are in a coop/run area and have provided us with ample eggs, enough to share with friends.

Anyhow our big veggie garden ended up being way too much trouble and it was in a place that got flooded a lot. So this year I am creating a smaller garden right outside my front door. I also bought a small greenhouse which I love. Right now I'm looking for some place to buy some plants and seeds.

If anyone is still passing by from the original postings, say HI.

Eric forget to mention that duck eggs, while they don't hard boil well, are surperb for cakes and other baked goods. The egg whites (albumin) seems to be a thicker consistency and cakes are higher and light when made with duck eggs. We, too, had Khaki Campbells. We live on a small lake and the ducks "free ranged". We collected the eggs by canoe daily. Unfortunately, the Bald Eagles got all our ducks, so we switched to chickens and geese. We are infested with wild mallards in the spring, summer and fall--unfortunately, it is illegal to harvest the eggs. They are like an infestation of feathered rats as they swarm all over eating domestic poultry food and anything they can get that the goats drop.