Ducks!

It is fabulous having ducks once again! When we moved to McCarthy Park 2, there was so much to do we needed to limit the animals we brought, so we sold our Pekin ducks, geese and turkeys, bringing only the chooks, fish and bees (that was enough at the time!!)

But…… we really missed them! We did some research to find the best type of ducks to keep in the orchard to help keep the bugs at bay and to tidy up any fallen fruit. We had enjoyed our Pekin ducks, but discovered Ancona ducks are a similar dual purpose duck (meat and eggs) but tend to be quieter and calmer- this was attractive as we were really loving the peace and quiet of our new McCarthy Park!

As they are a heritage breed, they were not easy to come by but we managed to get very young ducklings at the perfect time to slip under a clucky hen!

Australorp hens make fabulous mothers, and have regularly brought up turkeys, ducks and guinea fowl for us rather than using an incubator!

Over the next few months while they were being nurtured and kept warm, we started building the ‘decagon’.

experimenting with the location and layout….

When all was complete and ready to receive, and the ducks were big and strong enough to live alone…………

………they were carefully transported from the chook run to the duckagon in the orchard!

They are loving their new home, and are certainly calm ducks! Once they have really settled in and are used to their daily feed in the same place, we will be able to let them out to roam in the orchard, and return each night to be safe from foxes.