It's about the space.

After five short days the ducks have already outgrown their original brooder. I doubled the amount of space they have as they continue their rapid growth and development. Any duck or fowl raised commercially would be stuck in a cage with barely a square inch to themselves, but ours are meant for better things.

I've been frequently asked, "Why ducks?".

Raising our own birds will enable us to do three things. First, we'll use the poop from the birds as a nitrogen source to heat up our compost pile. Second, Khaki Campbells are known to be prolific egg layers. Finally, the girls have already shown the killer instinct by devouring an invading earwig. Hopefully they'll be just as adept at eating slugs and snails. In general raising these birds should allow us to lower our carbon footprint a little bit more. They provide us with food and fuel while we provide them a healthy, humane existence away from life in an insanely small cage.