My duck adventure began a couple years ago when we decided it would be nice to have some ducks for our pond. They could keep it clean for us. We saw they had Rouen ducks for sale at the local farm store so we thought that would be a good breed for us. A heavy weight duck that we could butcher if we so desired. As they got bigger, we would lock them in the barn at night and then let them out during the day. One day they took flight and flew out over the cornfield, and I was standing there in shock thinking they weren’t going to come back. I thought that heavyweight ducks didn’t fly? They don’t! These ducks were Mallards. They came back and it took them all summer to discover the pond. In the fall, they all flew away except for one. We called him Ducky Momo.
Ducky Momo would fly up to our big pond and made friends with all the wild ducks. I always knew which one was him because the dog would jump in and they would all fly away except for one. Unfortunately one day he flew away too. We were hoping maybe he would come back in the spring but I don’t think he ever did.
We learned our lesson and last year we ordered 10 domesticated ducks that didn’t fly. They are so cute waddling around the yard and swimming on the pond. Right now, they like to make our backyard look like a giant mud puddle. We are getting about a half dozen duck eggs each day. Did you know that duck eggs are great for baking? They make my muffins so fluffy. This year we decided to incubate some eggs to hatch our own ducklings. My husband put a couple dozen eggs in the incubator. He was watching and candling them and weeded it down to about a dozen that looked like they might hatch.
The day came that our first little duck hatched. It is so cute. About a day later, it looked like another egg started to hatch but then it stopped. We are now up to a week and I think our little duck is not going to have a playmate. Luckily he has playmates that aren’t ducks.
This little duck has made our house his home. My boys let it out and it chases them all over the house. You hear its little pitter patter of feet on the wood floor. The dog even likes the duck. Of course, we had to name this duck Ducky Momo also. It cuddles up in our lap at night watching TV. When it’s in its box, it cries whenever anyone walks into the room. He wants to come out and play. We have always been very clear that these are farm animals, but how can we help making this little guy or gal a pet? In a couple of weeks, I am doing a career day for my boy’s school, Ducky Momo will be a great show-and-tell animal.
If you want to learn more about my journey into hobby farming or see more photographs of Ducky Momo, visit my Facebook page.
