I READ once that every millionaire has more than one avenue of income. Not putting all her eggs in one basket so to speak. Making a little money from a farm is not too hard but making a PROFIT is near impossible. And laughable if the farmer were to pay herself hourly wages! But, I have developed a market and, ever an optimist, I have a new idea. A new string to my bow!
DUCKS! Or more specifically Duck EGGS.
Yes, I know what you are about to say. You tried ducks before Celi and Boo carried their dead bodies back to you after he found them ‘escaping’! But BooBoo has developed a very healthy respect for the electric fence so I can keep him away from them while they are little. And he is better trained now. Plus he is OK with adult birds it is just the babies that are at risk from him.
I sell my pork and have orders for beef but not every week. I need a weekly income.
I sell fifteen dozen eggs every week for 2.50 a pound. Duck eggs sell for SIX dollars a dozen to the chefs in Chicago. And Jake tells me they sell out on The List every week. So developing the duck egg market would increase my weekly sales.
Of course, this is not millionaire money. Scoff. Who wants that? said Nobody EVER. But with the right numbers it could join with the small profit I make on chickens eggs and become grocery money.
And speaking of this weeks grocery money I have spent it all on pasture seeds for the pig fields. (Lucky I have greens in the glasshouse and a freezer full of meat). Here is the first bag of seed. This clover likes it cool so it is will be sown with the first wave of pasture. Crimson And Clover! If it does get to maturity it has vibrant crimson flowers that the bees will love too. Though I so seldom see a bee here.
Half of this seed will be held over for a fall planting (this is a good cover crop) mixed with rye or wheat – you never know, we may have a mild winter then it will all pop up again in early spring. The pigs clear their plates every year! And I MUST get these cover crops in this autumn. But let’s get to spring first.
If this does grow for this season it is a lovely dense plant for the hogs to graze on and you know how I love flowering fields for pigs. I have more seed coming, whatever was cheap frankly! This time of year is financially tough on a little farm and the spring this year is SO LONG in coming I am having to buy extra hay. You will have seen in yesterdays line up of pages from this month going back over the years of TheKitchensGarden, that we often have green grass by now.
Anyway – I wandered off the subject there. So, I am investing in ducklings, specifically Khaki Campbells. They do well in our winters and are easy to house and are regular layers. The ducklings were $7.63c each. I have ordered twenty to start – well you can do the maths. And it will take 6 or 7 months before they start laying. More maths that I don’t want to do. They will arrive in the second week of April (I hope we have warmed up by then) along with this years replacement layers. Khaki Campbells are reported to lay for three years nonstop. I am told they are tough, friendly and reliable.
Ducks are pretty cute too! And think of the CAKES! And icecream! Oh my.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
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The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “MORE BIRDS”
I have a relative that swears by duck eggs for baking. Morning miss c… did you get snow? We did.
Not yet- due on Saturday though/ Did you get much?
Only a couple of inches but there was a little bit of ice underneath that.
Oh Miss T – I hate the ice hiding under the snow thing!
And I never learned to ice skate 🙂 Hope you and the duckies work out.
How wonderful!!! We just love our ducks!!! This is super exciting news!!! I know you’ve had them before, but not with the weekly grocery money in mind, I don’t think. And with buyers already clamoring for them….they will be a fabulous addition to the farmy!!! 🙂
Yes! I have learnt to research the market before venturing an adventure now!
Interesting the price difference north and south of the border. Our chicken eggs go for five dollars a dozen. Several years ago when we had ducks – we were getting nine dollars a dozen, and twelve dollars a dozen for goose. Mind you – I think our feed up here is much more expensive. A ton of wheat (not ground) is near 500.00 Barley – 12 cents a pound. Oats – 10 cents a pound.
I am selling through a middle man? So I think that drops the price somewhat. Your feed is only a little more expensive than my transitional feed. I decided to add prices in the blog because it is interesting to compare!
This will hatch a lot of new story lines, too. Oh, yes, that pun was intentional. Good morning, c.
Well so it shall, Misky darling. May I say while I have you here that I am in Love with your poems. I know I do not comment often but I love your way with words! c
Thank you, my darling. And I read the Farmy everyday, but not always commenting. I am here though, up there in the rafters.
I am not sure I have ever tasted a duck egg, and as usual I am drooling over IG egg picture below. Don’t let Sheila see you constructing a bigger pond than her wallow 🙂 Good luck with new venture. Laura
I know – she would probably live with ducks very well – now theres a thought.
Would she not eat their eggs?
Oh yes- ha ha ha – she would eat the lot!!
Duck eggs are delicious and superb for baking. You’ll be making a bunch of chefs very happy. And of course when they stop laying… num num. Roast duck with rhubarb and balsamic vinegar compote.
Oh that does sound interesting – they say these are a dual purpose bird but I have fallen into THAT trap before – hopefully they lay for years like the adverts say.. c
Oh I can’t wait for the adventure. I wonder about Geese and their eggs. Geese are protective like the guinea – I wonder if they would run off the bastard minks? (wondered off also there) Oh Boo and the babies – he does overly love them.
Pat, we had geese when we first moved to start our very small farm in North Central Arkansas, and not only did they run off unwanted guests, dogs, cats, etc., they also ran off friends, neighbors, delivery people and anyone else who ventured down the drive! 😦 Too crazy those geese! But yes, as you say, very protective!!! We finally had to find them a home elsewhere, and immediately afterwards peace settled in on the farm! 🙂
Beware of ATTACK GEESE! 😉
No worries – i am not getting geese – just ducks – geese scare me!
He does not like the SOUNDS of baby chicks – I think – anyway – they will begin their journey in the Turkey house which is Boo proof. c
white pekin ducks are the best layer ducks that I have ever had.
much larger eggs . a much calmer duck
I had Pekins once – but they got SO BIG – they just smashed everything they walked through. This was long ago though – and they looks beautiful wandering about.
I pay a lot more for duck meat at the grocery store, I hope that translates to the farm too? Good Luck with the ducks and the clover.
We have 2 inches of fluffy snow on the 2nd day of spring. We too are having a nice winter this spring.
Is it the second day of spring already! Mercy! and snow – we have some forcast for this weekend – I hope they take THAT back out!
You are always thinking ahead! Smart woman!
dangnation….posted before I was finished! here’s my website…..
http://katheworsley.blogspot.com/2018/03/wow-wonderful-wordless-wednesday-march.html
Cheers and have a lovely day!
I am hopeless at chess though..
Thanks for the article, I was just going to ask down here in the comments on why these eggs are so special. What fun to now have an entirely new crew coming to the farm!
I am thinking ICECREAM!! of course! but we have some bakers on The List so I imagine they use the duck eggs the most..
I can’t wait to see the ducklings! I’ve long been thinking of ducks (Khaki Campbells, too) because I just think they’re so darn cute, and we have a pond, after all… The neighbors have put me off it for the moment by making me think of the poop. We have so many Canada geese in the summer that our yard is already a minefield. So I might wait until the kids are a bit older!
Oh – kids and poop – bad mix. Mine will be in their own enclosure because of dogs, etc. They do fly so I will have to clip their wings which is miserable – plus they lay all over the place so they need to be contained for the night time and early morning at least. Lucky you having a pond – no pond here but they say the ducks are happy enough with basins of water which will enable me to clean them each day. There is potential to use the duck water to water plants too – we will see. That is just something that wandered through my head as I was writing. c
In permaculture, they suggest you site the ducks on a slope if you can….or make one…..and have fruit trees at the bottom, so all the duck muck and pond run off feeds the orchard.
I read somewhere that feeding peas to cattle improved the flavor of the meat but I can’t find the article now. I do follow this newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/onpasture/february13-316809?e=9f536acf83) which had this article (https://onpasture.com/2018/03/12/scientist-finds-secret-ingredient-in-red-clover-that-increases-weight-gain-in-ruminants/) about red clover. I thought you might find those items interesting. My step son is a professional chef in Indianapolis and is always looking for duck eggs also pheasant eggs, I suspect pheasants would be difficult to deal with though. It’s always interesting to hear what ingredients he’s looking for.
Well thats good because my cow pea seeds just arrived. I am hoping to put the cows over my flowering pasture a few times before the pigs have at it esp as I am growing giant oats too! I never thought of pheasant eggs for the kitchen – interesting. c
The pheasant eggs were interesting. I guess my step son has several dishes that he needs them for. I know he’d like to be able to have a steady supply.
I used to live on a small farm, and they used an old plastic sand pit for their ducks to paddle about in. Love all the photos of your animals, they are great.
I had one of those for the pekins years ago but they were more interested in smashing the vegetable garden.
Oh, goodie! More delightful pictures – ducks are so cute and what personalities they can have! I know you’ll do well, Miss C.!