Indian Runner Ducks

What is is about poultry? Throughout history humans have kept ducks and chickens close at hand, for food, manure and pest control in the garden. They also make wonderful companions and educational resource for children and young adults. So how did this relationship come to be?  And what is it about the come back of raising poultry in urban gardens?
One aspect to consider is the current movement of not only organic food but local food and people wanting to have more control and say over where their food comes from, how it is grown and transported. A recent study has started a ripple effect in the growing community that has separated consumers into two different groups; those who buy organic for its supposedly nutritional benefits and those who purchase local/organic for community, society and environmental benefits. The study recently conducted by Stanford University found organic food has no nutritional advantages over conventionally grown food. Take what you will from the study, but I think for most people that choosing organic produce and meats over conventional is also a matter of choice concerning the environment, keeping antibiotics out of our families bodies, how the farmer treats their land, livestock and the chemical companies they choose to NOT support and the workers they hire. By keeping it local we are reducing our carbon footprint and keeping the economy within our community. Its not just about eating well its about making the right choices that in turn effect our environment, health and welfare of our community. Also, growing our own food and raising our own poultry keeps us connected to our land and agricultural roots. Secondly, don't we want to be self-sufficient and sustainable? To rely on ourselves to grow healthy fresh food for ourselves and the community? I would like to see a study that shows the benefits of visiting the farmers market, meeting up with your NSA (Neighborhood Supported Agriculture) every week to garden together, having a connection with urban poultry, nature and the pride in growing your own food.
Back to ducks...at our NSA we decided to keep ducks to help maintain our dedication to not using pesticides to control bugs like the harlequin beetle, stink bug, cucumber beetle and bean beetle. Ducks also produce wonderful manure that they automatically add back to the soil through walking and foraging deeply with their bills. The water they bath in can be directly applied to crops for an immediate fertilizer boost. Not only that but they lay delicious rich eggs, containing high levels of Omega 3's and vitamins foraged from the garden; not from medicated feed in cages. Ducks, unlike chickens, are easy to train and herd; show a duck once or twice and they will remember! One example is in southeast Asia; Indian Runner ducks in the thousands are herded from rice paddy to another by the community of farmers to eat bugs, lay manure and eggs. Then herded to the next paddy and finally to a large outdoor pen for the night. This has been done for centuries. At our garden not only will we be using them for pest control but also to educate our community at large the benefits of using ducks in the garden and possibly partnering with local public schools to teach children about the ducks, how they "work" the garden and the act of growing your own food. Being a NSA we have a responsibility to educate and share with our community about locally supported agriculture and being kind to the environment. Mostly I think the recent lure to raising and keeping poultry in the urban garden is a longing to have a connection to our food once again.  Along with the knowledge of chickens being raised in confining cages, fed antibiotics and the waste created by big factory farms. After all isn't the food we produce and consume as a society reflective of who we are, what we find to be important and fulfilling? Urban farming and homesteading is on the rise because we know that it is the right thing to do for our health, for our community and environment.
Just in; article about homesteading in the New York Times 

Fawn and White Indian Runner Ducks in the garden by P. Allen Smith

Weekend Maximization: Birthdays and Ducks

Summer is fading...the light is changing and the nights are getting cooler. For some the summer can be a break from the daily grind and others look forward to the return of the cooler weather. I LOVE the summer, everything about it; unpredictable weather, swimming, bare feet, early morning runs, long days and all the garden fresh food; even the 100+ degree days. My energy is boundless.
As we drove back from a afternoon of birthdays last night it suddenly dawned on me, there is only two weekends left of summer, Labor Day weekend is only one weekend away. Soon the pools will close, school will begin for me, wedding season will kick into high gear for the fall for Shane and before we know it Thanksgiving and Holidays and a New Year. Time flies and this summer flew by especially fast. A lot happened and I am grateful for every moment of it. Some highlights; my first DC show, the Sandor Katz workshop at Stone Barns, hiking and camping in the Catskills in the rain with Shane, raising 6 Indian Runners and growing lots and lots of food. It has also been challenging as well; raising the ducks has taken a lot of our time, mostly away from the work we want to complete on our house for refinancing (so adult I know) and mostly finding a nice balance for all the things we want to do...like going on productive adventures, putting by as much food as we can, creating art and feeling centered. So perhaps summer winding down is a good thing, fall is for reflection after all and taking a little time to relax...well sort of...
Some highlights in image from the weekend...non-photographed highlights: yoga workshop with Edie at Charm City Yoga and trading one of my Kombucha Scoby's for Kefir grains from a kind woman in Hampden.

Duck House Building

Lucy's Bug Box

Ducks in Transit

Bonnie and her Birthday Scepter 

Sam with all the moves...

Earl presiding over all...

XOMC

Indian Runner Ducks: Week Five

As the Runners grow taller and fuller they require more nutrients than what their starter feed offers. This past week we have switched up their feeding routine to mimic their upcoming garden schedule.  Ducklings more than chicks require an ample amount of Niacin (B3) and Calcium in their diets. You can simply give them a water soluble "multi-vitamin" or you can supplement their diet using whole foods. Tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, carrots and nutritional yeast are just some of the niacin rich foods that ducks can eat. Without ample niacin ducks can experience a lack of growth and have a difficult time metabolizing their feed for energy which in turn gives them weak muscles, especially in their legs. Calcium is also an important addition to their diets right now so we have been giving them a treat of yogurt with live cultures. As they grow older niacin and calcium are important supplements for egg laying as well. Their daily "duck-feast" is a mash-up of dry pellet starter feed, a large ripe tomato, 4 scoops of Nutritional yeast and a green leafy vegetable, mixed with some water, yogurt and feed. They LOVE it.

These ducks (the ladies) and drakes (the gents) grow up fast and as they await their entry to their home in the garden I can't help but be a bit sentimental. Just this morning I was remembering the first night we had them - so small and vulnerable! - their little chirps and leg stretching, first swims and first feathers, quacks and individual personalities. A.J. is still the biggest and is most definitely the flock leader (pictured above in the pool in the middle) and Ressie is in the front on the right. Also on the Duck Front we will begin construction of their new home "Fort Knox" over the next few days. We are very excited to have them part of our garden community and community at large, we know that they will make a wonderful addition not only to the garden but for educational purposes within the community as well. Many people inside and outside of our garden community have offered their support (from vet care to solar heating!) and have volunteered their time to care for the ducks. It takes a village after all! And we are one committed village...

XOMC

Indian Runners: Resurrection

One week ago today we had a scare. I was already nervous to leave them for the weekend and had been running around all week coordinating with folks to make sure that they were cared for. About 15 minutes before we were slatted to leave for NYC I went to check on the ducks and what I found was a dying duck. She was breathing hard and twitching, her neck flopped down, eyes closed; belly up. I gently picked her up and she responded by freaking out and squawking, immediately we placed her in the box with burlap we use to transport them. Shen went right back into her "coma", belly up, neck floppy, eyes closed. Quickly we tried to google search all her symptoms. There is not a whole lot of info out there for ducks, but the first thing I read was sugar water, get them to drink! So I whipped up some sugar water and called my duck gurus. Kirsten and Jason have been raising ducks for a long time; Kirsten ironically was driving in upstate New York but Jason was at the record store so I called him. He was so helpful, hopeful and full of great advice, stories and general support. He said the best thing to do is to be with her and that anything could happen. Of course we stayed with her. Shane rubbed her belly and I kept dripping sugar water across her bill. We did this for about 45 minutes, she was unresponsive the entire time. Then...she pooped. Then she moved. I kept up with the sugar water and could feel her sucking it through her bill off my finger. We kept doing this. Then she would peck the side of the box, looking for food. I had read a while ago that you should give a sick duck hard boiled egg yolk. We just happened to have one so Shane prepped a mash for her. While he was doing that she went from belly up to on her belly. I dipped her bill in the sugar water and she started to drink, then peck for food so I added some dry food and she went for it! Then the yolk and she gobbled it down voraciously. We could not believe it. She was coming back. Then her eyes started to open and she kept eating and drinking. After about an hour she was on her feet and chirping to get back to her buddies. We gave her a quick bath and placed her back with her flock. We named her Resurrection or Ressie for short.

The crazy thing about this situation is that we have no clue what happened. Perhaps she ate something strange in the yard? Hardware Disease was a possibility; when they ingest a metal object. Maybe she had a seizure? Who knows. I do know though that our constant presence with her was a huge part of her surviving. Now a week later you would be hard pressed to tell that anything even happened. And since last week they have grown dramatically! This past Wednesday was their one month birthday and since two days ago they have become ducks. Quacking, moving like ducks and wanting to be outside.

Indian Runner Ducks: Three Weeks Old

Raising six ducklings is what I imagine raising a new born to be like except on accelerated speed and no baby-monitors. On second thought its probably not even close but for us right now its the closest we are going to get. My most recent worry has been focused on "legalities" (of which I will not divulge here, yet) and getting them outside as much as possible. You see they are getting big. Real big and stinky. Their adult feathers are coming through on their wings and upper torso and the chirps are tiny quacks with chirps sprinkled in. Still cute, still relatively young, they are strong, healthy and definitely ready to get into the garden. However they are still too small and not quite ready to go off to college just yet. We switched from pine shavings in their brooder to straw and they are going through their duckling starter feed at a steady rate. Once the bag is gone we will switch to the adult mix with vegetable supplements and ample foraging time. They are wonderful and I adore them. Enjoy the photos from the sharer taken over the past week. The image second from the top and last image were taken last night.

You can see their downy feathers coming out on the duck butt on the left!

XOMC

Indian Runners: 2 Weeks Old

Everyday they grow. It's crazy. And every morning when they see me they expect a handful of fresh greens. They are becoming less skittish and more confident in their environment. Their feathers are starting to come in and their chirps are becoming more quack-like. The Indian Runners have entered adolescence.
On Sunday we took them to the Eric Waller Community Garden for their first visit to their future home. They immediately began to forage for bugs in the dirt and took to being in the garden very naturally. I quacked and they followed me around the bean rows; it was so cute it nearly broke my heart. They then went for a swim in the kiddie pool and I feed them the dreaded harlequin bug which they gobbled up with gusto. They won't be ready to be in the garden full time until they have all their feathers, which may be a while. However they soon will be too big to stay at our house which will mean driving them up to the garden in the morning and retrieving them at dusk; before the foxes, raccoons and other mystery predators come out to hunt. BUT. I am worried about them, already losing sleep over them. I am not sure what I expected from raising these amazing creatures but I am definitely attached and will be very heartbroken if anything happens to them. Tonight we begin building the duck house at the garden. If it were up to me I would be building Fort Knox but we are only a small community vegetable garden with limited funds and time...The first night they spend at the garden I just may camp out because I will not be getting ANY sleep at home.

If anyone out there in internet-landia has any advice or suggestions for deterring foxes (just short of fox hunting) I would greatly appreciate the message.
XOMC

Indian Runner Ducks: Week One

Today marks the one week anniversary of raising the Indian Runner Ducklings. If you have ever raised ducklings or chicks then you are then familiar with the growth rate that is occurring which is equivalent to mach speed. You are also familiar with the amazing amount of food and water consumption and vocal range of their little-big chirps. Instead of running in fear when we approach the brooder they chirp loudly at us demanding the kale, cabbage or other fresh food we may have with us. They eat unabashedly from our hands and calm down quickly when we hold them. Tonight we are going to bring them to the Community Garden to waddle around and give them their first bath in our tub. A good friend of mine and a duck raising expert said that it was time for them to meet the water and since it is so hot they will dry off quickly under the heat lamp. She said to be prepared for amazing tricks and pure duckling bliss. Both Shane and I woke up this morning already excited for bath time tonight.

She also said to bring them outside and to the community garden to get them familiar with their future home; this will make their eventual transition much easier. Once they are teenagers and have their breastplate feathers they can be left outside 24/7. Until then our responsibilities as duck parents will grow with trips outside and to the garden, daily bath time and eventually pool time to whole days at the garden and nights at our house. Having six ducks versus two or even four they become a community, moving en masse from one place to another, they do everything together, one eats they all eat, one drinks they all drink. So when we took two of them away to our raised beds they freaked out. Chirping so loudly in the direction of the porch where the others looked for their buddies and chirped back. We learned quickly that their bond is strong and where 1, 2 or 3 go the rest will follow. Hopefully we didn't traumatize them too much.

XOMC

Indian Runners: Day 1 to Day 2

So they are pretty darn cute. By the end of the first day I could see developed strength and curiosity. They're beaks and feet were significantly pinker and their bodies plumper. All they do is eat, drink, sleep and poop. Last night as we were making dinner I heard a cry coming from the porch. Loud chirps over and over again. I went to the brooder and sure enough one had already figured out how to get out and her buddy was sounding the alarm. S to the rescue! We nicknamed her Air Jordan or A.J. for short; she is a bit bigger than the rest and very active. Than S fashioned their cardboard barrier so "A.J." wouldn't try any moves in the middle of the night. We sat on the couch and watched them eat and drink and tumble over one another. One of the gals was so tired she fell asleep standing up and then fell over. When they were all done eating they arranged themselves into a pile and slept.
I woke up a lot during the night, at one point I checked in on them, they were sound asleep under the light. Whew! Now I can go back to sleep. This morning they were all huddled in their box shelter, more cuteness and we gave them some finely chopped kale from the garden. It was an instant hit!

First five images by SC

XOMC

Indian Runner Ducklings

5:34am my phone rings; I of course don't hear it because I am out cold. When I do get up and check my voice mail the man on the other end tells me that my chickens have arrived.
OMG! He means our ducks are here! In the meantime S and I are getting the brooder set up in our screened-in porch and flitting around like nervous ninnies.
I get another call at 7:45am from Yvonne at our Post Office, "Mrs. Carpenter, your ducklings have arrived, you can pick them up at 9am." So we waited and at 8:56am we are on our way to the Post Office. We are standing in line waiting our turn when I hear "Chirp!" then a chorus of chirps, and I notice the box on the counter with holes and coming from that box is our hungry Indian Runner Ducklings!
We drove them home and I could feel them moving around in the box on my lap, every once in a while I would see a bill peaking through or an eye. These poor little guys and gals just made an epic journey from Texas and they are not even 48 hours old yet!
Of course Earl is very very curious about the little ducks and we will keep him at bay for the time being.  We placed them in the brooder asap... It was so crazy to hold them, they are so light and soft. They found the water right away and also started to eat the wood shavings! So I quickly did some research and covered the shavings with towels. The shaving won't hurt them but you want them to get used to what their food is first. Then they were off and eating and drinking and eating and drinking, chirping, running! tumbling and just plain old being adorable.

Needless to say we are loving the early moments of duck-parenting and I can't wait to get home and quack at them (my instincts tell me that that's what I should be doing, so they know my voice). Before we know it they will be big and placed in the Eric Waller Community Garden to forage for garden pests, provide additional fertilizer and eggs. 

XOMC