You enjoy the freedom of lifting weights to promote your cardiovascular health, after all, you’ve done research to determine that weight lifting provides the maximum amount of cardiovascular benefit in the least amount of time. Why should you add backyard ducks to your already time-squeezed routine?
EGGS: Ducks produce extremely high quality large eggs. They produce eggs prolifically, provided you have a “Standard” breed, i.e. Pekin ducks or others known to be good layers. Our Pekin ducks are big white birds that are very friendly and the females lay an egg a day until November, when they take a break from laying until the beginning of February. This break is caused by the lack of sunlight and is meant to protect little ducks from freezes. Which means early fall is the best time of year to buy ducklings, as they won’t be laying eggs in the dead of winter anyway. Standard ducks begin laying at 4 to 5 months of age.
SUSTAINABLE LIVING: All ducks eat kitchen scraps of all kinds, includng meat, as long as the pieces of food are duck-beak sized. Laying hens eat crushed chicken layer feed to ensure egg production. Our ducks enjoy chopped edible plants from the garden including Spanish needle (daisies), sage, cannas, and ginger. We also grow duckweed and water hyacinth specifically for the ducks to enjoy.
EXERCISE BENEFIT: Ducks need to have fresh water to eat their food, and prefer to have water to bathe in. Our ducks hop in the water as soon as it is changed and eagerly begin flapping and cleaning themselves. They are very clean birds, however, their water usually isn’t. This is where your exercise comes in, as you carry bucketfuls of water to your plants and refill the bathing water with clean water. Your plants will love you for this! Your tomatoes and potatoes will grow larger than you have ever seen them on that commercial fertilizer you previously had to buy.
You have heard of the weightlifting exercise known as the farmer’s carry, right? This is where you carry one or to bucketfuls of feed or water to the animals. Many weightlifters replicate this in the gym by walking with dumbbells. You, on the other hand, have backyard ducks, and you can carry dirty water from their baths to your plants, and then carry clean water to their baths, replicating the farmer’s walk.
This exercise benefit also gets you the weightlifter in touch with the outdoors, soaking up minutes of sunlight and relaxing in nature. Ducks have been known to form companionship bonds with their humans. Our ducks have been known to ask for head scratches and have never bitten a human.
Wow your friends and family with backyard ducks, the easiest to care for egg poopers!