Skip to main content

Getting started with ducks - Tracy from Sunny Corner Farm

I wanted to know more about ducks, so I've interviewed a few other bloggers who keep ducks.  A couple of weeks ago we heard from Megan, and today I have an interview with Tracy from Sunny Corner Farm.



I asked Tracy to tell me a bit about her farm to start with:

Tracy: My garden and farm is situated in a very pleasant valley outside of Tamworth, NSW. We have lived here for over 15 years but my heart has been in the area much longer as it is where many of my forebears are from. The climate ranges from hot, dry summers with temperatures reaching into the mid-40s to very cool winters with snow occasionally and frosts often. The garden is quite substantial but I always have ways of extended it in mind. I have an orchard of over 60 fruit trees too. My blog is what I call a no-niche blog, a little bit of everything about our life on a small-holding. The good and the bad.

The first ‘livestock’ we kept were a couple of bantam chickens back when we lived in the suburbs of Sydney.

The first real livestock we kept were sheep which we started keeping in 1999. We are registered Suffolk sheep breeders. We also have Scottish Highland cattle, chickens and bees. Up until this April we also had turkeys but lost our whole flock in a brutal attack by a quoll. I’m just now considering keeping them again along with some geese.

I first had ducks as a child. Just some run of the mill ducklings from the markets. I knew I wanted ducks in general and black Indian Runner ducks in particular after reading an article and seeing a picture of the Indian Runner ducks owned by Prince Charles. They are just stunning. We have had ducks on the farm now since 2005.

Farmer Liz: Tell me about your ducks, how many do you keep and what breeds? What do you keep them for? (meat, eggs, other?)

T: The ducks I keep are Indian Runner ducks. The number I keep varies depending on the time of year. Currently I have seven. The number will increase once their laying season starts and we hatch out some new ducklings.

Indian Runner ducks are renowned egg-layers and can lay up to 200 eggs per year. Not everyone likes to eat duck eggs but they are very good for baking. I find the shells are stronger than chicken eggs and the yolks are larger.

We do eat the meat from the birds too but their long, slender build really doesn’t lend itself to meat production. I’m thinking of taking the next step of keeping a meat breed too.

FL: What sort of housing do you provide for your ducks? Do they free-range? Do you have to lock them up at night?

T: My ducks free-range all day but are locked away in a pen at night for their own safety. They have a large night pen with a small shed which they can go in and out of. Generally they choose to sleep outside of the shed but if the weather is particularly inclement, they will take cover.


FL: What sort of water do you provide for your ducks?

T: Ducks love water. It goes without saying. My ducks have a couple of water drums in their pen which are changed twice a day because they really do make it muddy. They also have access to a dam during the day which they sometimes paddle in. If its particularly hot, I also give them a kids paddling pool full of water.

It is not essential for them to swim but they do like to sometimes. As long as they can submerge their heads somewhat, they will be happy. Having said that, it is very entertaining to watch them take a dip in a newly discovered puddle.

FL: What’s the best thing about keeping ducks?

T: The fresh duck eggs are wonderful but in all honesty the best thing for me about keeping my ducks is the element of fun and beauty that they bring to my farm and garden. They are excellent controllers of pests such as slugs but contrary to what some say, they will eat your garden vegetables too. Particularly leafy greens.


FL: What do you wish you knew about ducks before you got them?

T: I wish that I knew that they were such fun. I would have had them earlier.

We hatch our ducklings naturally using a broody duck. Sometimes I think it would be easier to use an incubator.

FL: Any last advice to someone wanting to get started with ducks?

T: Keeping ducks is very much like keeping chickens. They really don’t make too much more mess of a yard than chickens (I do have a large yard though).

Drakes don’t quack. They do have a curl in their tail most of the time. Females can quack VERY loudly. And it’s cute.

FL: Thanks Tracy!  So interesting to read a different perspective, it seems there are many duck breeds to choose from, but you make it sound very easy to care for them.  Do you keep ducks?  If you have any comments or questions for Tracy, head over to her blog to leave her a message.

Getting started with ducks
Getting started with ducks - Megan from Purple Dancing Dahlias

Getting started with homestead dairy
Getting started with homestead dairy - Mark and Kate from Purple Pear Permaculture

Getting started with homestead dairy - Kim from the Little Black Cow

Getting started with homestead dairy - Rose Petal

Getting started with homestead dairy - Marie from Go Milk the Cow

Getting started with homestead dairy - Ohio Farmgirl

Getting started with homestead dairy - Gavin from the Little Green Cheese

Getting started with homestead dairy - interview with myself

Getting started with chickens
Getting started with chickens - Ohio Farmgirl

Getting started with chickens - Gavin from the Greening of Gavin

Getting started with chickens - Madeleine from NZ Eco Chick

Getting started with chickens - Tanya of Lovely Greens

Getting started with chickens - Adam and Amy from Sustainaburbia

Getting started with chickens - Linda from Greenhaven

Getting started with chickens - interview with myself

Getting started with growing vegetables
Getting started with vegetable gardening - Linda of Witch's Kitchen

Getting started with vegetable gardening - Gavin of the Greening of Gavin

Getting started with vegetable gardening - Ohio Farmgirl

Getting started with vegetable gardening - Emma from Craving Fresh

Getting started with vegetable gardening - Tanya of Lovely Greens

Getting started with vegetable gardening - interview with myself

Popular posts from this blog

The new Eight Acres website is live!

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here .  You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!).  I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months.  I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

Chicken tractor guest post

Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about chickens, soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post!  New soap website and shop opening soon.... Tanya from Lovely Greens invited me to write a guest post on chicken tractors for her blog.  I can't believe how many page views I get for chicken tractors, they seem to be a real area of interest and I hope that the information on my blog has helped people.  I find that when I use something everyday, I forget the details that other people may not be aware of, so in this post for Tanya, I tried to just write everything I could think of that I haven't covered in previous posts.  I tried to explain everything we do and why, so that people in other locations and situations can figure out how best to use chicken tractors with their own chickens. The dogs like to hang out behind the chicken tractors and eat chicken poo.  Dogs are gross! If you want to read more about chicken tractor

How to make soap with beer (and tallow)

I may  have mentioned this before.... soap making is addictive!  Once you start, you just want to keep making more soap.  And not the same soap, you want to try all sorts of different soaps.  I made the mistake of joining a facebook group called Saponification Nation  and now my facebook newsfeed is full of glorious soaps, in all colours and shapes, which makes it even harder to resist the urge to experiment.  One soap that kept popping up a few weeks ago was soap made with beer. I generally prefer not to use ingredients just for the sake of it, I like to know that they are adding something to the properties of the finished soap.   As you know, I don't like to use artificial ingredients either (colours or fragrances).   When I read about beer in soap I found out that beer adds sugar to the mixture, which increases lather.  I use tallow in my soap, which has limited lather, so anything that adds lather could improve the soap.  It also contributes a tan or brown colour to