Every once in a while I think to myself, "I miss having ducks ( and other poultry besides chickens)." Then I remember how much I spend on feed already, and I get over it pretty quick
Yeah. They are voracious, especially in the spring and summer when they are laying hard. I feed them commercial Purina feed in the AM and garden scraps or kitchen leftovers and scraps in the afternoon. In the afternoon when their feed is gone, they come up to the fence and absolutely beg. Add it to the pile of "stuff I read but didn't really sink in." That vomit looking stuff is leftover yogurt with coco powder mixed in. They enjoyed it.
Just sold my first duck. $25 for a mixed breed, 7 weeks old duck ain't bad. She was pissed while we waited.
Kind of? It's complicated. A 50# bag of feed is $25.99 for reference, the starter is $17 for 8lbs. For the feed the individual duck consumedvs the $25, yes, I probably made a little money. The problem is selling the animal before having to keep it too long. It costs money to get them to an age where they are producing value vs just being a cost. If I was able to sell them WHEN I wanted, I would offset a good portion of their care costs and come out on top. It's also a reason I don't try to hatch too many, in case I get stuck with an animal too long. Since I am working at such a small scale,it's more about offsetting costs and reducing expenses vs making money. Clear as mud,.I'm sure. For reference: $25-40 depending on the breed is reasonable for a young, healthy, active layer. I basically got to sell the duck early so it offsets more cost, getting rid of the bird early for the same price
Woo! I sold my 4 OG black ducks for $50 today. Not bad. I'll miss the ladies, but they are going to live with a family on 100 acres and a tiny existing flock. No more drake abuse from our jerk. The lady was literally kissing them when I handed them over.
For years when I collect eggs and there's one or two that are particularly messy, I don't bother cleaning them. I just throw them out into the field for the animals to find. What I learned was that the crows caught on and even when there's none out there, I'll see them looking around for one. Today as I went to let the chickens out, the crows were going crazy, making a racket. So I looked to see what the rumpus was and they were chasing a hawk away. I think they're gonna get some eggs later.
In the future, I will try harder to sell Drake's for next to nothing. I keep egger breeds, but cmon. I chose to breast him out because he was so small, not even much visible fat to render down. This is with slaughter at 12 weeks.
Anymore I just give unwanted birds away. I just got rid of all the three year olds and a rooster, leaving us with 10 hens, 8 of which just started laying. I put an ad on Facebook, explicitly explaining the birds are older and may or may not be laying steadily and I don’t want to feed them all winter. And I can usually unload them in a day or two. Seems weird to be thinking about winter already but that’s where my brain is looking to. I’ve got 100 bales of hay which is more than enough for the goats til late spring yet a farmer down the road has been selling some really good hay at his roadside stand. So I stop by and grab some here and there. The Old Farmers Almanac says we’re in for a cold, snowy winter and I’m kinda thinking it’s right. We’ll see I guess.
Yeah @walt, I'm definitely going to try harder to sell the baby drakes for next to nothing as soon as I figure out their sex. I discussed it with hubs, and upon further reflection, if we do slaughter drakes, I'll skin it and cook down the whole carcass for dog food. I just need to find a solid recipe. I may need to discuss it with my vet. Their dog food ain't cheap so this may help with our pet costs.