Goodness gracious, great balls of fluff!
Khaki Campbell (a heritage breed) babies have arrived on the urban homestead. This batch will be our third go around raising Khaki Campbell ducks and we ordered more than we needed but we've split the order with two other people. Heck if we had more land we'd keep all of them. Can never had enough critters.
Khaki Campbell's are an excellent duck breed for the urban homestead. Medium size, they are relatively quiet, good layers (they don't go broody) and are consider land ducks so all the need is a shallow tray of water to be happy.
Was it eight or so years ago when we raised our first batch of KC's? I can remember how scared and intimated we were wondering were we going to screw up somehow. Anxiously watching their every move, were they warm enough, etc, etc. The second batch came four years ago and our anticipation of screwing up was lessen and with this batch it's like "ho-hum." However, one still worries over the little girls but it's not a big to do! Instead it's more comfortable, been down this path before routine. Even our kitty seems bored.... I have to admit I did wake up 1/2 dozen times last night to check on the babies!
Check out these cute lil quackers. Everyone say "ahhhhhh"
Out of the box and into the brooder
Ducky luv
Checking out their new surroundings
Cuteness
This one we nick named "hot lips" because of her pink bill
What a trip! Stuffed our face with water and feed and now for some much needed zzzzz
Some camp out by the watering hole
Others by and in the feed trough
Sleep tight babies
Someone else is getting tired too. Spanky, out kitty, seems slightly bored with the new amusement
Ok you can stop drooling over the keyboards now.
Out of the twelve that arrived yesterday, only four will join our expanding backyard barnyard menagerie. Five left with newbie urban homesteaders yesterday afternoon and three will leave us this morning to join another urban menagerie.
We'll start bonding with the four right away - it's really a good idea to handle them at an early age. And if it warms up (yep still wearing a sweater - can you believe that?) we'll bring them out for a swim. Jordanne's non conventional way of raising poultry is not something you read about in books but it works!
Now what to name them?
Suggestions?
Another Arrival!
In between us peering over the brooder ooohing and ahhhing over these fluff balls, Jordanne's mixing her natural duck supplement in the organic starter mash that contains brewers yeast and tonic herbs. You can now purchase it online - great for grown duckies and there's also a mix for chickens too.
Make sure to support Jordanne and her new efforts. What "effort" is that you say?
Remember the other day when I said she was working on something and think now is a good time as any to make a HUGE announcement. Jordanne's launched a new social network just for animals called Barnyards & Backyards. There's still a bit of dust as the site is a work in progress; however, there's no need to wait -- come join this free community!
Barnyards & Backyard Features
Contributing articles from passionate and critter caretakers
:: Resources ::
Khaki Campbell's - ideal for urban homesteaders
34 Comments: "BABY QUACKERS!" »
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They are so cute! We recently got 12 more chicks (bringing our chicken total to 23). They are running around like crazy. We're raising them differently this time to help reduce the incidence of coccidiosis (by actually slowly exposing them to it from the very beginning), which we lost a chick to last round, and to help integrate them better into our existing flock. So far so good. Everyone is happy and healthy.
We have three Khaki Campbell hens, and they are prolific layers - three eggs per day, every day - except during the coldest, darkest part of the winter (from about January to about the beginning of March). I love to watch them playing in the kiddie wading pool. It's pretty funny.
@Wendy: Like a duck to water! Yep, they are pretty funny and entertaining in the water. Love it when they go "torpedo"
Love the pic of the baby in the feed trough. She looks like I feel this week, too much standing at the stove and canning and processing.
Love the babies, everyone, my problem is I would want to keep them ALL.
Take care all
@Vicki Schoenwald: Hey you got your own blog - so cool. Look forward to reading about your UH adventures. I know, the last three left today... sniff. But gonna LOVE these four to death.
AWWWW... they are SO CUTE! I love baby duckies!
@Miss Ra’chel: FLUFF BALLS! LOL
@Anais, LOL exactly!
Yep, "Hot Lips" is our keeper! She's already quite a diva. But she's also very sweet and doesn't mind being held.
Lucky Ducks! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!
@Joleen: Lucky ducks indeed!;)
"Now what to name them"?
Captain Quackers
Bill
Petunia
Miss Margaret
Violet
Webster
Dan Fouts (famous ex Duck)
@Dan Langhoff: Well, that's a good start! Love the name Captain Quackers, but not too sure if our little GALs would like it... perhaps Mz Quackers.
Sis and I are leaning towards more hillbilly names... but I do like the sound of Ms Margaret. 
Oh, cuteness overload!! How do you get anything done - I'd want to watch those precious babies all day.
For name ideas, how about going with the female names from Little House on the Prairie - Laura, Mary, Carrie and Caroline?
Or since they will be laying eggs for you, how about egg-related names - such as Sunny (for sunny side up), Scramble, etc.
@Susan, So funny you mention that! My two kids (actual baby goats, not children) are named Mary and Laura for that very reason! :O) I second the LHOTP names.
@Susan: Yeah, it's hard to tear ourselves away from their fluffy lil butts. Today I put all four in my lap and they all snuggled together. OK is there another word for CUTE. LOL Boy, you guys are good. LHOTP names came up today too. Love it.
Congrats on Barnyards & Backyards! Jordanne seems to have that gift with animals and I'm glad she's got another way to share it. // I'm still a henkeeper wannabe: waiting until next year when our City Council votes on legalizing hen keeping in our little city. Fingers crossed.
Names for your sweet babes?
'Melissa', of course. It means 'honey bee' and I'm sure you've got one that's just that dear.
@~~Melissa: Thanks for the positive comments. Jordanne's been working hard on this and am so proud of her. Good luck with the City Council. Hopefully we'll see/hear about chickens on your urban homestead soon. Melissa is a cute name too.
Name 'em Martha, Mabel, Matilda and Myrtle.
Well here are the 4 names I have named my little khaki gals:) lol kinda hillbillyish....lol
Betty Lou
Georgette
Lorabelle
Elle-Mae
that might get the mind thinking on some hillbilly names...hahahaha
@Jeni: Funny, Elle-Mae was a name that came up today! Lorabelle is cute too... choices, choices, choices....
I just ventured into duck keeping a couple months ago with two khaki campbells and two cayugas! They are a lot of fun. Even though I made sure to handle them daily, they are much more skittish than our chickens. They're now about 10 weeks old, is there anything I can do to help them not be so afraid of me? They definitely recognize me as a food source, and quack excitedly when I come out of the house, but they also run in fear when I approach. Any suggestions would be welcome!
@marné: This one's for my sis (aka Ms Doolittle) Jordanne - your thoughts?
What a bunch of cuties! What made you decide to get more ducks?
@Annette Triplett @ CoMo Homestead: There's always room for more! Besides duck eggs are one of our biggest sellers.
OH! What cute widdle quackers! Jordy does such a good job with them. Maman Betty is knitting and having a great time. Glenn says he will fight me 'tooth and nail' about having ducks -- says they are too messy. I never want to fight with him... I told him how tidy your ducks are. Is it hopeless?
@Michelle of Riverdwell: Hi, hope your trip to Texas went well. Hmmm, how can we convince Glen... will think about it! LOL. Tell Betty "howdy" for us.
Wish we had been able to share in the the ducklingsyou ordered, bad timing.
Let us know if you decide to order some more in the future. The timing should be better for us, therefore, netter for the ducklings.
They are adorable. Now, I just have to keep my eleven year old from seeing your pics you have posted.
What happened to the Khaki Campbells you had earlier? I know the craze for chickens has resulted in some people not realizing that the intense lay cycles for female birds drops considerably after 2 or 3 years. My oldest hen, a Cochin/Polish cross is almost 8 years and a few of my others are 5 and 6. They don't lay anymore. I recently rescued a Pekin duck hen from the shelter in West Valley, as a companion for my drake. I don't know what the lay rate is of Pekins, but I imagine it is not much, since they are a meat breed.
@susan rudnicki: We still have our ducks... the oldest one is eight years old!
Beautiful pictures, adorable babies! We have raised Khakis on our farm for a few years now and just wanted to address the common misconception that this type of duck doesn't get broody. Twice in the past 3 years we've had female Khakis make nests and sit on them faithfully. In fact, they are very tough little mothers and can be quite aggressive when approached. So yes, they DO get broody and they usually take the job quite seriously! As with any broody bird, though (hens included), the well-meaning mother will need to be watched because they have been known to abandon a nest before hatching time, or to mishandle the eggs/ducklings during hatching.
As I write, our khaki female is faithfully tending a nest of about 6 eggs. She has been on it for 14 days and hardly ever leaves except to eat or drink a tiny bit.
@Anne: Thanks for sharing your ducky experiences!