The Buc Zone

Bottom post of the previous page:

The Outsider wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 8:52 pm Best thing I ever did was move somewhere I could raise ducks extra-legally. It's technically illegal to have anything outside of chickens where I live but no one gives a fuck. I'll have 15 hens next laying season when the babies are done growing so next year I'm gonna have eggs out the ass.

Duck eggs are basically extra large chicken eggs, but slightly bigger, higher in fat, but proportionally higher in nutrition value in general than a chicken egg.

I haven't bought eggs in probably two years. And if I could stomach it (outside of an emergency) and kill off some of the drakes I'd have plenty of meat as well.

No issues with Hawks or Coyotes? When I lived in Florida, had a good friend that lived out east (inland) and tried the chicken coup deal for a while but had a lot of issues with predators. He is/was pretty much a city boy so was learning on the fly.

Do you have a pond or water on your property?

PetePierson wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 8:56 pm

The Outsider wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 8:52 pm Best thing I ever did was move somewhere I could raise ducks extra-legally. It's technically illegal to have anything outside of chickens where I live but no one gives a fuck. I'll have 15 hens next laying season when the babies are done growing so next year I'm gonna have eggs out the ass.

Duck eggs are basically extra large chicken eggs, but slightly bigger, higher in fat, but proportionally higher in nutrition value in general than a chicken egg.

I haven't bought eggs in probably two years. And if I could stomach it (outside of an emergency) and kill off some of the drakes I'd have plenty of meat as well.

No issues with Hawks or Coyotes? When I lived in Florida, had a good friend that lived out east (inland) and tried the chicken coup deal for a while but had a lot of issues with predators. He is/was pretty much a city boy so was learning on the fly.

Do you have a pond or water on your property?

My yard is fenced, and I have 3 70+ lb dogs who keep the coyotes away. I do get some red shouldered hawks behind my property this time of year but there is enough tree and shrub coverage for the ducks to keep themselves safe. They're smarter than you'd think.

For water I have several kiddie pools that I fill and eventually dump, using the water as fertilizer.

Red Shouldered Hawks, Huh? This bad girl is usually in the tree right outside my window. I can see her thinking about making a run on Porter Bear from time-to-time. She's a vicious bitch with the varmits. Her boyfriend patrols the front of the house.

We have five hens in the back yard. Two of those bitches quit laying this year so we're going to have to cull them.

emby wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 9:44 pm We have five hens in the back yard. Two of those bitches quit laying this year so we're going to have to cull them.

I know absolutely nothing about poultry. Does that just happen with age? Like a chicken menopause?

PetePierson wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 9:59 pm

emby wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 9:44 pm We have five hens in the back yard. Two of those bitches quit laying this year so we're going to have to cull them.

I know absolutely nothing about poultry. Does that just happen with age? Like a chicken menopause?

Yes. And there's also diseases and when there's no rooster (fuck a rooster) the hen at the top of the pecking order sometimes stops laying and gets all butch. This proves the existence of both hierarchy and transsexuality in nature

PetePierson wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 9:26 pm Red Shouldered Hawks, Huh? This bad girl is usually in the tree right outside my window. I can see her thinking about making a run on Porter Bear from time-to-time. She's a vicious bitch with the varmits. Her boyfriend patrols the front of the house.

Yep, those. They'll do a flyover of my ducks every now and then, but I have almost exclusively large to extra large duck breeds. The lightest ducks I have will be my female khaki campbells when they're all grown. They'll be roughly 6-7 lbs. My males are all in the 9-12 lb range though my biggest male is probably 13 or 14 lbs, he's a Peking/Magpie. So they're pretty much all too heavy for a hawk to carry away and eating them in the yard seems to be something that they're not interested in doing. The hawks totally could kill the fuck out of every duck I have, they just don't. I think it also helps that there is a fair amount of cover.

What also helps is that my neighbors have an outdoor cat that grew up around my ducks. Their cat will chill back there with the ducks pretty often which I'm sure does plenty to keep predators away. It's been like 3-4 years and I've even had ducklings back there multiple times with no fatalities.

The Outsider wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:57 am Yep, those. They'll do a flyover of my ducks every now and then, but I have almost exclusively large to extra large duck breeds. The lightest ducks I have will be my female khaki campbells when they're all grown. They'll be roughly 6-7 lbs. My males are all in the 9-12 lb range though my biggest male is probably 13 or 14 lbs, he's a Peking/Magpie. So they're pretty much all too heavy for a hawk to carry away and eating them in the yard seems to be something that they're not interested in doing. The hawks totally could kill the fuck out of every duck I have, they just don't. I think it also helps that there is a fair amount of cover.

What also helps is that my neighbors have an outdoor cat that grew up around my ducks. Their cat will chill back there with the ducks pretty often which I'm sure does plenty to keep predators away. It's been like 3-4 years and I've even had ducklings back there multiple times with no fatalities.

9-12 lbs? Seems like a big duck to me! Another stupid question, do they too have hallow bones?

PetePierson wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 8:56 am

The Outsider wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:57 am Yep, those. They'll do a flyover of my ducks every now and then, but I have almost exclusively large to extra large duck breeds. The lightest ducks I have will be my female khaki campbells when they're all grown. They'll be roughly 6-7 lbs. My males are all in the 9-12 lb range though my biggest male is probably 13 or 14 lbs, he's a Peking/Magpie. So they're pretty much all too heavy for a hawk to carry away and eating them in the yard seems to be something that they're not interested in doing. The hawks totally could kill the fuck out of every duck I have, they just don't. I think it also helps that there is a fair amount of cover.

What also helps is that my neighbors have an outdoor cat that grew up around my ducks. Their cat will chill back there with the ducks pretty often which I'm sure does plenty to keep predators away. It's been like 3-4 years and I've even had ducklings back there multiple times with no fatalities.

9-12 lbs? Seems like a big duck to me! Another stupid question, do they too have hallow bones?

Yeah, they've got your typical bird anatomy. Domestic ducks that are bred for hybrid egg/meat or straight meat production are, generally speaking, too heavy to fly. A few of mine could fly a short distance if they wanted to but typically the most they'll do is use their wings to give their running speed a boost.

They're big birds. Think probably double the size of a mallard.

Oldest daughter made my wife and I a bibimbap last night that would've impressed any mama-san.

We've really leaned into Korean food at the house as its hearty and spicy without being overly starchy. Good in hot or cold weather.

PetePierson wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 8:26 pm I would have liked NY Strip

That's exclusively on my onlyfans