I would like to introduce myself, my name is Katie. I am a mom, a sister and a daughter. I live with an amazing man that helps make my dreams come true and together we have 5 children, 6 grandchildren and 2 grand puppies.
When I moved onto the farm he raised veal calves and a hand full of chickens. Oh and lets not forget the roosters 🐓 lol. Living on a farm isn't new to me. I grew up on a hobby farm where we had a pig, cow and chickens. But mostly horses. So just having calves and cash crops wasn't enough for me I thought we should add more animals. Well I got shot down with every suggestion until I thought I would like to have a duck.
Well to my surprise one day last April I was asked if I would like to go for a ride. I of course said count me in where are we going?? Well lets just say it was the beginning to my addiction. He took me to get a duck.... but the first thing I learned about ducks is that they don't or won't just sell you one. That day I became the proud owner to 3 adorable 3 day old Indian Runner ducks. I held them on my lap all the way home, while taking one at a time out of the box to cuddle them. It hit me half way home that I am now a duck mama and my babies need names. Now what route should I go? Normal names? Weird animal names? And the whole way home as I am talking to my new babies, and not really knowing what sex they were I hear my side kick telling me that they are ducks, you are making a big deal about nothing. Well let me tell you - they are not nothing, they are my babies and they will be named and loved like no other duck!
So as a new duck mama I was not prepared for them. Brooder box - well they were in a box so that would work till I found something bigger. They needed feed and water. I got that covered on our drive home. Remember I didn't know I was getting them so I didn't know I needed a place for them when I got home. So I can sweet talk when I need to, and I needed to cause there was no way I was going to let these sweet little babies sleep in the barn alone. Heck no they stayed in the house for a week. I found a tote and made it into a home for them. Once I felt that they would be ok in the shop I agreed to move them.
I couldn't stop thinking about ducks and I was dreaming about them and there were mornings that I was afraid to go the the shop just in case they were not dreams and I had really taken over Farmer's workshop. My dream was to start breeding and raising ducks. That dream is still a dream but I work towards it every day. So I started doing research, buying books and I joined groups on facebook so I could learn more.
My family and a few friends (who am I kidding all of my friends) make fun of me and my Duck Empire. Well to have an empire I needed more ducks.... so I searched all the groups that I joined and well I found 3 more ducklings that needed new homes and I had an opening so they moved in 2 days later 😂
The second trio to join our farmPhoebe, Rachel and Chandler
You can only imagine how excited I was, I was on my way to an Empire. The only problem was that all 6 of my babies were just that babies. I now have to wait for them to get bigger and old enough to lay eggs so my Empire can grow. So fast forward, we are now in January 2024 and the eggs are coming faster than I was prepared for. Yes I knew that I would get at least one egg per day from my babies, but I guess I wasn't prepared to know what I was going to do with them all. I know that I wanted to hatch them, and I also wanted to sell the eggs. Now I feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of eggs I have and the timing of them starting to lay.
I have my first test batch in the incubator (12) and I have dozens for sale. This is all a learning curve for me, and I am trying to get it organized before I feel like I'm sinking in eggs.
Incubated eggs waiting to hatchI hope that you enjoy following my journey with all the ups and downs of being a Duck Mama 🦆🥚
I will try and explain what and why I do the things I do around here. This is a learning experience for me and I hope it brings some light to others that may want to start their own Empire of ducks 🦆 or chickens 🐔 or goats 🐐....LOL I am far from an expert, I just love ❤️ animals and want to raise them the best way I know how.
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