Saturday, May 30, 2015

Make Way for Ducklings!

We added four to the Barnhart family this week when we picked up some suckling ducklings. 

We picked two Rouen, which look similar to Mallards, and two Khaki Campbell
which are supposed to be good for egg production.  Our plan is to take them to the Rowe's where we'll have them run around eating all the bugs and create a fun diversion for the kids.


 The ducklings are set up in the basement where they have had a lot of attention from the kids since we picked them up on Thursday.  They were probably 2-3 days old then and are around 4 days old in this photo.

And no, they're not under a red light to prepare them for broasting, it's just their heat lamp.


Make way for ducklings!

5 comments:

Dan said...

That is so cool!! How old can they live to be?

I would love a pet duck. Not sure how Twilah and Nikki would feel though...

Mom said...

Very sweet, Steve! Don't know that I've had duck eggs, and will be interested to hear how they are. Bet the kids are lovin' it! Hope they (the ducks) thrive well and accomplish your purposes for them.

Lisa said...

Awwwwww, so cute and fluffy! Can I come live with the Rowe's?

Steve Barnhart said...

I had to look up the life expectancy of a duck, Daniel - looks like usually 4 or 5 years but could be 12 or even a little more. I guess it will be a couple months before we can really let them loose at which point most of the summer will be over. So we'll have to overwinter them if we want good bug control next spring.

Ben said...

Well, isn't that ducky. (sorry, couldn't resist).

Very cool, Steve. I love the picture of the kids crowded around the warming box. I bet those ducklings aren't lacking any attention.

And if you find yourself with a surplus of duck eggs, I hear Honey is quite a fan.