Simple Farm — a 4 - Akko spread in Southern Indiana run by my family , the Bells — has supplied refreshed and delicious duck eggs to three food market computer memory , a local - intellectual nourishment purchasing club , a foodie restaurant and a bustling husbandman market .
With my husband Larry and our three Logos , we raised a flock of 90 duck after creating a market for their alimental eggs . It was an exhilarating experience . As fresh duck’s egg - egg farmers , we have a muckle to quack about !
For-Poultry Profit
gumptious lily-white ducks sprinkle the bright green landscape as you pull into our foresightful driveway . If you get early , you might see my oldest son herding the ducks to crop with a long , orange wheel flag — our home ’s herding peter of pick .
Some ducks roost under a transferable shade protection , while others totter about , actively seek for insects in the grass or go for a swim in one of the shallow kiddie pool replenish daily during the heat of summer .
The stage business of laying eggs usually bump in early dawn while the ducks are still inside their coop . However , sometimes a few large egg appear around the shade tax shelter and body of water pool , ready to be collected and added to the day-by-day ballock bucket .
Learn how to start raising ducks of your own !
A Ducky Side Hustle
We compare the undertaking required to tend our flock and the income we realistically make to induce a side job . If you already have a courteous outbuilding or barn and animals requiring casual precaution , adding a flock of ducks is an comfortable accommodation . It can pay off for itself and ply a small supplementary income .
This all depend on whether or not you have a good market for duck eggs in your area ! That wasa huge vault we had to leap : advance and marketing the note value of duck’s egg eggs to local stage business .
As the many benefits of duck egg — high protein enumeration , larger size , creamy perceptiveness — becomebetter known , your prospects for profit willincrease .
Katie Bell
Ramping up our farm good example was easy once we let the knack of raising ducks . If you ’re considering start a duck’s egg - egg farm , begin with a small flock to get an estimate of the provender costs , daily routine and local demand .
Then you’re able to well double or triple your mess size for more income .
Duck & Cover
Our raid into land began the same as for many homesteader . We longed to move to a more rural setting and find out a 4 - Accho art object of land with an outbuilding that seemed sodding for lowly farm animals .
We bestow a few duckling from a nearby farm for pest control and became possessed with the fat quality of duck’s egg eggs . Then , after discovering that no other local farms focused on modest - scale duck - ball production , we jumped into duck - egg farming and grade more ducklings .
The stock of duck you arouse is of utmost importance . In our case , we were limited by the space of our outbuilding . So choosing ducks cover specifically for eggs production was necessary .
Katie Bell
We explore breeds and hardiness , and pay the hatchery the additional fee to purchase only female person .
While it may be fun to order in a mix of duck breeds and genders , you need to adjudicate the focus of your farm . Is your finish to conserve rare duck , start a hatchery of your own or upraise a flock for egg product ?
Your finish should drive your choices . We eventually settled on White Layer Ducks . Katie Bell
Katie Bell
Good on Grass
pasture our ducks with fowl netting makes our low - scale farm possible . Cooped only at night for protective cover , our flock enjoys a rotational forage system , which provide them with fresh grassland weekly .
The netting is easy to move and set up once you get the knack of it , as long as your ground is not too rocky .
This vogue of fencing netting is jeopardize into the land with pre - attached rods that must go down into the ground about 6 inches . It can be used simply to hold small animals , or it can also be electrified if protection from predators is the goal .
Diligence in moving this pasture weekly is important . Ducks will gradually cause dirt erosion by make clay holes with their bills as they research deep in the soil for worms and bugs .
Hardy Birds
Concerning insensate or rainy conditions , ducks are one of the unfearing beast . Clothed by a buddy-buddy layer of down and plow in oil color - cake feathers , ducks are literally built for stay warm and dry .
On cold and frigid mornings , it ’s not unusual to look on our duck leave their coop and immediately head up to the kiddie pool for a swim .
have a shelterbelt where they can recede is important . unproblematic windbreaks might utilize the side of a building or be fabricate of a few hay Basle pile to form a short wall .
Deep bedding in the duck’s egg cage tote up lifelike warmth during long wintertime months .
Clean out your coop in the fall , then add a few in of shaved bedclothes or straw . scatter a fine layer of bedding over the top of the hencoop base each good morning when you pull in the ball .
These layers will bit by bit build up along with the rot duck manure , create inexpensive wintertime warmth .
take all the ways duck are great for the garden !
Market Smarts
If you need to become a fresh duck - egg farmer , you first need to determine your local market .
Do n’t skip this gradation . Put in a call to some local health - solid food stores , specialty grocer , eminent - end restaurants and commissioned allergists .
Do n’t underestimate the power of a smile and a dear shake . There is no shortcut to market your farm products . You must put the initial time and energy into forming facial expression - to face relationships with possible customer and grocers .
Ask if they have a local supplier for unfermented duck eggs , and tell them about your farm . Also , golf shot by your nearest farmers grocery , and investigate about other duck’s egg farms .
If you find a local demand for duck eggs that you may supply , go for it .
Next , produce a farm name and logotype that is easy to recollect and key out . We ask this to be the easy part , but it was really stressful . We eventually decided on a name and hired a graphic room decorator to avail make a professional logotype .
The iconic blank duck’s egg on our logotype now shows up on every piece of our marketing materials , from foodstuff memory invoices to farmers market green groceries labels .
Once you determine on a logo , stick with it and your brand will become memorable . Presentation is everything and can inculcate trust in client and potential commercial-grade purchaser . Katie Bell
Systemic Success
Start with a surefire scheme . Our duck’s egg flock is cooped every night and herded each morning to the pasture .
give several pasture adjacent to your chicken coop would be idealistic . An attached run allows you to make use of automatonlike fowl doors , which eliminate the need to be present in the morning to let ducks out and in the eve to put them off .
Also , owning an ball - washing political machine and creating an egg - processing area — where you clean , package and refrigerate your eggs — adds to efficiency !
Your local health section may require these country if you desire to deal commercially . Do your research and think through what your casual bit will be . Washing eggs by hand is definitely potential but wo n’t be sustainable for declamatory quantity .
Customer Service
Surprisingly , our most fast customers are people with intolerances or allergies to chicken egg .
After speaking with multiple client who are ineffective to consume chicken eggs yet have no chemical reaction to our duck egg , we became believers . The reason why some the great unwashed with chicken egg allergies may tolerate duck bollock is due to difference in the way the proteins are configured .
However , allot toAustralia ’s Department of Health & Human Services , “ The molecules that trigger allergic response can be either in nut White or ballock yolk , but allergy to testis White are more usual . The specific molecule in egg that triggers your allergy may be present in both poulet eggs and duck’s egg egg . Some hoi polloi can therefore be hypersensitive to both chicken and duck eggs . This is known as cross - reactivity . ”
As with any food allergic reaction , always speak with your doctor before trying duck eggs ifyou have any type of orchis allergic reaction !
mark out these 6 duck breeds that are great for eggs !
What Works for You
Ducks are an amazing add-on to a farm , but let out what work out best for your category .
presently , we are transition our farm into a seasonal duck’s egg farm rather of a yearlong one . After several years of impertinent duck - egg farming , we decided to carve out more sentence for our Word ’ winter sports activities .
Not require to miss basketball secret plan for put duck in by evenfall , I ’m forming a new seasonal model for our farm .
Nonetheless , each spring we plan to order a Modern batch of duckling , grow them on pasture to benefit from their bug control and nitrogen - rich manure , and then sell mature lay duck each fall to local Farmer .
This scheme will also allow the expansion of our seasonal flower and produce output .
We believe that each and every farm is unique . If you influence your farm to fit your category and life-style , it will become more sustainable and bring you much delight .
Sidebar: Breed Matters
Simple Farm ’s favourite duck’s egg breed for duck’s egg egg production on the small farm is the White Layer Duck . White Layers are available by chain armour order from many hatcheries . Other hatchery offer similar breeds .
This amazing duck can lay 230 orchis in 40 weeks ( a normal pose season ) . Each egg count heavy than other ballock - laying stock such as the Khaki Campbell or Runner .
White Layers are incredibly easy to herd and move together as a flock even when just several weeks old . They also conform to transfer quickly — fix them an ideal candidate for a rotational pasture system .
This clause primitively appeared in the March / April 2020 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
