I can never decide what to call our property...We live within the city limits, so we could be considered a "city mico-farm" or "urban homestead." But people growing produce and raising chickens on 4,000 square foot lots in the city would laugh at that - we live on over half an acre that hardly looks like the city.
Being such a small city, our property seems quite suburban even though it is in the city. We are on a street with picket fences and large yards, half a mile from major shopping.
What makes our neighborhood fantastic and unique is that despite being two miles from downtown, we are zoned semi-rural and are therefore zoned for livestock and have very few restrictions on the management of our property. So we have quite a bit in common with the "country" as well!
All to say, I don't know what label to give our little homestead endeavor. For the purposes of this post I'm going with "suburban", since we have a large yard, but close neighbors, our two main considerations for keeping livestock.
So far, no eggs. We are disappointed, but not surprised. The move from their former home stressed them into molting. Over the first four weeks they were here they started losing their feathers and replacing them with new ones. This new growth takes a lot if energy, so molting birds tend to shut down egg production for 4-6 weeks, from what I've learned. 
Now we are heading into fall, and days are getting shorter, so if we want eggs before next spring we need to artificially lengthen their expose to light. Right now, naturally our daylight is about 14 hours long. We will incrementally increase their light by 30 minutes every few days to get them to 17 hours per day. This increase should stimulate their hormones and send them into egg production. We hope!
We still need to install a permanent light fixture in their house ( which will require drilling a hole through our garage wall) so right now I am improvising by hanging a flashlight in their house at night for the needed extra light hours. Not ideal, but it should work for now.
Keeping ducks in the suburbs poses a few more challenging issues than chickens. The most obvious is their need for large amounts of water. Even if you do not provide swimming and bathing water, they still drink a LOT and need to be able to put their entire bills into the water, so a regular, very shallow chicken waterer will not work. We use a large tupperware storage container with two large holes cut into the lid. The ducks can get the entire heads in the water, but cannot climb in or splash the water creating a mess in the pen. We also do provide the ducks with a tub for swimming, which stays in the yard (not in their run or house) and is dumped, moved, and refilled everyday so no muddy areas are created. One or two ducks can fit in at a time and they are lovely and fun to watch splash and dunk their heads under.
Because ducks drink so much water, they poop a lot. I can't compare the amount to chickens, since I have never kept chickens, but from what I read it is more and more watery. Makes sense. If you have a small or average sized suburban yard and let them free range, your yard will eventually be covered in duck poop unless you have a plan to manage it. Out of deference for your neighbors - please do! We have a large yard, so I did not think duck poop would be a big problem. However, I did not consider that they might choose one spot of the yard as their territory and stay there. But that's exactly what happened. On the half acre they have access to, they spend 90% of their time on a patch of lawn that is about 15' by 10'. I'll talk about how I maintain it in a minute. Don't forget that like any poultry, their enclosure and house/coop will require regular cleaning or a deep litter method (that could be a separate blog post).
Those are the only "downsides" I can think of and ducks have plenty of benefits, which is why we keep them!
Unlike chickens, they do not scratch, so our garden beds, grass, and mulch are not dug up and strewn around. They webbed feet are very gentle on the ground.
Laying breeds, like ours, lay lots and lots of eggs. Good Welsh Harlequins can lay more eggs per year than even the BEST egg-laying chicken breeds! It is only their need for water and space that keep these amazing birds out of commercial egg production - not their egg laying ability.
Laying breeds, like ours, lay lots and lots of eggs. Good Welsh Harlequins can lay more eggs per year than even the BEST egg-laying chicken breeds! It is only their need for water and space that keep these amazing birds out of commercial egg production - not their egg laying ability.
Their manure is watery, which make it very easy to clean up with a hose. My cleaning routine is below.
The ducks we are keeping, Welsh Harlequins, and other breeds, are excellent foragers. They can get a good amount of their dietary needs met through foraging for larvae, slugs, snail, grass, weeds, and other tidbits. They will eat fish, frogs, and I hear even mice, if the opportunity presents itself!
They love the water, of course, so we do not overly worry about keeping them and their area dry. With chickens and with our quail, you must make sure that the birds' feet sty dry or health problems can ensue. The ducks, on the other hand, run outside on wet days and literally dance in the rain and wash themselves under the water pouring out of our gutter spouts. They love it. Their hardiness in poor weather is one less thing to worry about.
My schedule for managing the ducks probably looks different than it would if we were on several acres. But here I we do it :
I let them out of their house (where they are fully enclosed overnight) at 7am. Give them their layer feed. They have access to a sandy run that is about 3' X 6'. I usually open that gate also and let them out into the yard in the morning.
I spray out their waterer and refill it with fresh water.
I fill their pond.
I spray the grass where they spend most of the time and the watery poop just dissolves away into the soil. If the manure has dried too much or the yard is covered in feathers (likewhen they were in molt) I rake the spot of yard they favor and scoop up the piles of feathers and manure and move it to the compost bin.
In addition to spot cleaning when needed, I rake this area of the yard every week on Friday morning so that when the neighbors are home and out in their yard over the weekend the area is nice and clean. On Friday I also pick out their house (which is a large walk-in shed attached to our garage) and the sandy run with a pitchfork, like you would clean a horse stall. I scoop out the wet bedding, pick out the manure, and try to leave all the clean shavings I can in place to save money. I add new shavings when needed.
In the afternoon, since we are home I have the boys help me pick some big dandelion leaves and some overgrown lettuce from the garden. We shred it up and sprinkle it over the top of their pond water. The ducks LOVE to dabble for this, and we sit and enjoy watching them.
In the evening around our dinner time either my five-year-old or I go out to give the ducks their dinner. They get another big scoop of feed. This time we usually sit in the grass and toss it to them by hand. This has worked wonders in helping them become friendly and confident around us. Sometimes they are too pushy, and have tried to nab the food out of my son's hand, so he carries a stick with him now to push them back if they get in his face.
At 8pm when it is getting dark I go out and dump their pond water so it doesn't attract mosquitoes over night. Plus it is usually at least a little dirty. I move their waterer into their house so they can have it overnight, but take the feed dish away and lock it in the feed room so it doesn't bring hungry rats or raccoons to the duck and quail pens.
I close the ducks up in their house, right now with a flashlight hanging in the rafters for their extra "daylight" hours. This won't always be the case, since we are working on an automatic timing system that will turn on a light at dusk and off after they have met their 17 hours light requirement.
So for now I have to go back out at 10pm and take the flashlight down.
That's life with ducks in the suburbs! It could be more streamlined, but I really enjoy spending time around them, so i don't mind one bit! They are worth the work for their beauty and entertainment value, but we are certainly looking forward to the day we are getting fresh eggs and eventually hatching out beautiful little Welsh Harlequin babies!
Questions about ducks or suburban homesteading? Leave a comment!
My schedule for managing the ducks probably looks different than it would if we were on several acres. But here I we do it :
I let them out of their house (where they are fully enclosed overnight) at 7am. Give them their layer feed. They have access to a sandy run that is about 3' X 6'. I usually open that gate also and let them out into the yard in the morning.
I spray out their waterer and refill it with fresh water.
I fill their pond.
I spray the grass where they spend most of the time and the watery poop just dissolves away into the soil. If the manure has dried too much or the yard is covered in feathers (likewhen they were in molt) I rake the spot of yard they favor and scoop up the piles of feathers and manure and move it to the compost bin.
In addition to spot cleaning when needed, I rake this area of the yard every week on Friday morning so that when the neighbors are home and out in their yard over the weekend the area is nice and clean. On Friday I also pick out their house (which is a large walk-in shed attached to our garage) and the sandy run with a pitchfork, like you would clean a horse stall. I scoop out the wet bedding, pick out the manure, and try to leave all the clean shavings I can in place to save money. I add new shavings when needed.
In the afternoon, since we are home I have the boys help me pick some big dandelion leaves and some overgrown lettuce from the garden. We shred it up and sprinkle it over the top of their pond water. The ducks LOVE to dabble for this, and we sit and enjoy watching them.
In the evening around our dinner time either my five-year-old or I go out to give the ducks their dinner. They get another big scoop of feed. This time we usually sit in the grass and toss it to them by hand. This has worked wonders in helping them become friendly and confident around us. Sometimes they are too pushy, and have tried to nab the food out of my son's hand, so he carries a stick with him now to push them back if they get in his face.
At 8pm when it is getting dark I go out and dump their pond water so it doesn't attract mosquitoes over night. Plus it is usually at least a little dirty. I move their waterer into their house so they can have it overnight, but take the feed dish away and lock it in the feed room so it doesn't bring hungry rats or raccoons to the duck and quail pens.
I close the ducks up in their house, right now with a flashlight hanging in the rafters for their extra "daylight" hours. This won't always be the case, since we are working on an automatic timing system that will turn on a light at dusk and off after they have met their 17 hours light requirement.
So for now I have to go back out at 10pm and take the flashlight down.
That's life with ducks in the suburbs! It could be more streamlined, but I really enjoy spending time around them, so i don't mind one bit! They are worth the work for their beauty and entertainment value, but we are certainly looking forward to the day we are getting fresh eggs and eventually hatching out beautiful little Welsh Harlequin babies!
Questions about ducks or suburban homesteading? Leave a comment!
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