Thread: Well...It's been a while. What have we been up to? (Part1 - We became Duck Farmers!)

No...PJ did not bury me in the grounds of TD Towers!

We are both alive and well, and I thought it was time to do a few updates on what's been happening

So, as the title suggests, we became duck farmers! Well... to be more accurate, PJ became the duck farmer and i got to clip the wings, feed the flock, and transport the eggs for sale.


With the large 'mango-land' plot doing not very much, we got an excavator in, and an afternoon later, we had a 13m x 8m pond, going down 4.5m.

Next came the duck. 30 ducklings - Khaki Campbells, in fact, who proceeded to eat themselves to maturity in about 5 months. Initially we had them in a small holding pen, and they were quite tame, but somewhere along the line they became scared of us and still are to this say!

The thing about K Campbell ducks is...they are good layers. Once they got into the rhythm, we were getting an egg a day from each duck - a tray a day. Obviously, we would not be able to eat that many so we started selling them. Well...once the word got around, everyone wanted to buy. I never knew duck eggs were so popular!. Right now we are selling for 145THB/30 eggs...don't know if thats good or not.

I will try to dig out some photos shortly! By now, those 30 ducks were in a duckshed, again, built by PJ...she's v practical, which is great - it's her enterprise after all but she wanted to do it herself so...I let her!

All went v well for the first few weeks, then we had 2 duck fatalities - one choked on something, the other got its head stuck in the doorway while in the shed. ahh well...these things happen. buoyed with the initial duck intake, she purchased 10 Barbary ducks. those of you in the know, will know...they are an altogether much LARGER duck! think small goose and you won't be far off. they are quite friendly and once again, after a few months of growth, started producing eggs...much larger eggs.

There was however a couple of problems with them. firstly, they are not all female - Ooops! 4 males in there and you can guess what has been going on. suffice to say, we have about 25 eggs in an incubator, now. second issue is they are fussy eaters. while the KC ducks would happily eat chopped banana stem (free food), the Barbary ducks will not touch it. they want grass, and sweetcorn, and a lot of dried duck food. this requirement together with reduced egg production means they just about break even - not what we wanted, because food prep takes a lot of time. on the plus side, they do hunt around the lawn, eating bugs and spiders so it's not all disaster.

Go back to the khaki channels…?

Happy New Year to you and PJ. Good to see you posting again.

Sure hope Buckaroo Banzai posts again as well. He was on some projects as well.

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Originally Posted by Thai Dhupp

Next came the duck. 30 ducklings - Khaki Campbells,

We used to keep Khaki Campbells when I was a kid. As you say, very good layers. I found that ducks have more entertaining personalities than chickens and would like to keep a few in our chicken run in Korat, but ducks just make too much mess for the size of our land.

Back in Somerset 45 odd years ago we ran a drake (Francis) with the Khaki Campbell ducks so the eggs were fertile. We usually put the duck eggs under broody bantams as the ducks were really bad mothers. Bantams made great mothers and cared not that ducklings hatched from the eggs they sat on.

Occasionally the broody bantams sat on goose eggs for us and could just fit one egg under each wing. The goslings were bigger than their mothers two weeks after hatching but still followed them around. It was quite comical.

Originally Posted by DrWilly

Go back to the khaki channels…?

Well...we never got rid of the Khaki Campbells. The Barbary ducks was for expansion and a bit of interest but it's turned into hard work for those 10 ducks! I suspect they might be 'purchased' at Chinese new Year, though i can't think what for...

OMG in all the excitement of posting again, i left off the seaonal greetings! ooops!

All the best for 2024, for you Stumpy and for all TeakDoor members. Here's to a cracking 2024 for all of us!

I trust that everyone's Christmas went to plan!?!?!

Ours was small... just the 4 of us this time but great food n drink. Food this year was more like I used to experience in the UK with all the little bits n pieces one took for granted. Thank you Friendship Supermarket, Pattaya for supplying it all. Not too expensive, either - so win-win!

Originally Posted by Mendip

We used to keep Khaki Campbells when I was a kid. As you say, very good layers. I found that ducks have more entertaining personalities than chickens and would like to keep a few in our chicken run in Korat, but ducks just make too much mess for the size of our land.

Back in Somerset 45 odd years ago we ran a drake (Francis) with the Khaki Campbell ducks so the eggs were fertile. We usually put the duck eggs under broody bantams as the ducks were really bad mothers. Bantams made great mothers and cared not that ducklings hatched from the eggs they sat on.

Occasionally the broody bantams sat on goose eggs for us and could just fit one egg under each wing. The goslings were bigger than their mothers two weeks after hatching but still followed them around. It was quite comical.

That's interesting.

Lol I got to remember how to post photos, now.

I think I used Imgur... let's see if I can make it work....

This site doesn’t make it easy…

Originally Posted by DrWilly

This site doesn’t make it easy…

You are so right! lol I remember the difficulties I had during the house build thread.

Anyway..i think i have finally sussed it so will try some uploading later today, then move on the thread 2!

Lookin' forward to them...

I never knowingly disappoint, Topper so here are the first photos, because....

...finally, I got the uploading sorted out!

Who doesn't love duckling pics!? These were when we first got them (lol obviously!!) and in no particular order. I think these are both the Khaki Campbell chicks and the Barbary chicks.

We kept them in a duckling nursery for the first few weeks, complete with heat lamp and wind shields around the enclosure.







More pics coming after they err...'grew up' a bit...

They are cute and well done on figuring out the upload system.

Originally Posted by DrWilly

They are cute and well done on figuring out the upload system.

Thanks but...maybe I spoke too soon.

The second batch of photos is refusing to upload!

Working on it...

Here I go again - attempt 2.

Oh...Happy New Year to you all - here's wishing for a fabulous 2024 for all of us!

And finally...fully grown and producing...

Once they started laying, everyone got interested....



The egg is bigger than its mouth but still spent a lot of time trying...

Originally Posted by Thai Dhupp

You are so right! lol I remember the difficulties I had during the house build thread.

Anyway..i think i have finally sussed it so will try some uploading later today, then move on the thread 2!

How did you eventually get the pics up? Did imgur work were the pics from your phone? My always come out small or sideways

Here's a video on how to post a picture....

^^^ cute little guy.

Originally Posted by DrWilly

^^^ cute little guy.

Awww.. thanks for noticing.

Don't forget the snake, too....

Well... that's got me beat.

I had a short video to upload too but I just can't see how to do it. It is MP4. I tried using the video holder, tried direct upload... doesn't work!

What am i doing wrong!?

For videos, it's best to upload them to youtube then link it here.

Originally Posted by Topper

For videos, it's best to upload them to youtube then link it here.

Thanks for that!