Chickens & Ducks

    We own 8 Khaki Campbell ducks and 18 Hubbard Isa Brown chickens. We purchased our birds from Townline Hatchery in Zeeland, Michigan. The ducks are extremely winter hardy, needing only a wind break during severe weather, however, the chickens require a coop. My husband built ours with the help of our sons and daughter. We warm the coop with a heat lamp during the winter months. Caring for the birds is not difficult, and we have many hands here to help with the chores of watering, feeding, and cleaning out the coop and duck pen. At night we make sure our ducks and chickens are secure in their houses because we've been visited by racoons and possum!
      We've had our ducks for almost four years and our chickens for one year. We enjoy them as pets, but they also provide us with a good supply of eggs. The ducks lay beautiful, pearly white, jumbo-sized eggs that are excellent for baking, scrambled eggs, and omelettes. If you prefer eggs "over-easy" we can't really recommend the duck eggs for that purpose; the egg yolk is a bit too thick. The chicken eggs are large, and produced in abundance! They are also very attractive because of their warm, brown coloration. There's nothing like a breakfast of fresh eggs, bacon, toast, and juice!
      Not only do our birds provide food for our family, but they supply fertilizer for the garden and spoiled straw for the compost pile. We are continually grateful for their contributions! This winter the ducks are occupying the vegetable garden. When spring comes, their droppings will be tilled into the soil as we prepare the garden for planting.
      We can heartily recommend you try your hand at raising ducks and chickens. They provide hours of entertainment, supply the family with good food to eat, and teach the basics of animal husbandry. There is a real feeling of satisfaction that accompanies raising these special birds.

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