joy in motion
The ducks are let out every morning into a 1400-square foot yard, complete with swimming pools, and tree cover which provides safety from aerial predators.. They love to nestle under the nut pines. They love routine, and this shows the female half of the flock bursting into the small yard that leads ultimately to the larger orchard.
refuge
Our ducks are ambassadors for what previously-farmed animals can look like when we think of them as kin. Sanctuary at SHO is little different from other farm animal sanctuaries who provide critical haven for the many animals fortunate enough to escape their fate inside our broken agricultural system. Our work since 2003 has sought to reinvision our lifeways to harmonize with the many wild kin, soils, and waterways disturbed by modern agriculture and human development. How can we forge a new relationship to the animals we previously “used”-- for food, clothing, work, or sport? How can we grow food-medicine in a way that enhances habitats and reveals the sacred non-separation between humans and beyond-humans? These questions form the enduring backdrop of our sanctuary.
So....WHY DUCKS?
the whole duck story, or: why two vegans buying local organic rice adopted 100+ ducks.
In the summer of 2016 we adopted 116 Khaki Campbell ducks from an organic rice farmer in Vergennes, Vermont, where we had purchased rice, armed with the idealism of supporting our area’s organic farmers, and supporting this farmer's innovative approach of growing a staple plant crop in a northern climate like Vermont. When we visited the farm to buy our rice, the farmer graciously showed us his rice paddies modelled after a Japanese rice-growing method, and we fell in love with the tiny ducklings swimming amongst the young plants. They would swarm to his call, “Duck! Duck! Duck!” When young, the ducklings eat insects and weeds without damaging rice seedlings. But as the rice matures and as the ducks grow larger, they can damage the developing rice plants. We learned that the farmer needed to sell the ducklings at about 2-3 months of age, and this planted the idea in our minds to adopt the flock into our permaculture orchard when the time came. Since August, 2016, we have effectively become a domestic duck refuge!
Picking up the young ducks.
We later learned that the farmer had originally purchased 400 hatchlings, and in August, there were only about 130 left. Thus, 270 ducklings had been killed by raptors, snapping turtles, and other predators—in order to bring us our rice. This fed our growing realization that farming the plants we eat often kills animals in the process, intentionally or not. Developing non-harming and ecologically durable food systems has become our passion.
Vermont rice paddies where the ducklings spent their first 2 months of life.
The farmer preferred that the ducklings all go to one place to spare him the bureaucracy of multiple transactions. He admitted that a dog food company was interested. We knew we wanted to give these ducks a home, but certainly didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into! Especially since the flock was about 50% male and 50% female and hadn’t yet come to sexual maturity.
challenges
We discovered that sexually-mature male ducks (drakes) can overwhelm females, sometimes killing or drowning them when they swim in deep water (which is why we gauge pool depth very carefully). Most farmers kill the males for meat at about 8 weeks of age, and most sanctuaries don’t adopt as high a percentage of males as we did. Thus, few have experience with how to manage the khaki campbell hormonal cycles and the harm the ducks could do to one another. The solution became one of dividing the males into smaller, socially-compatible groupings both outside and inside the barn, and creating one larger flock of females with several compatible males—an intense effort requiring time, management, and ongoing observation. We learned from duck experts (a waterfowl rehabber with 40 years of experience and another mentor who has rescued and kept domestic ducks for over 20 years) that khaki campbell ducks experience a longer hormonal cycle which drives the competition between males usually from February/March until mid-August/October.
We experiment constantly with different outdoor groupings as the drakes’ hormones allow, and when hormones are at their peak, we keep the drakes in bonded pairs inside our spacious, airy, and light-filled barn. The bonded pairs tend to stick together even when outside with the entire drake flock. Each pair lives in a clean indoor pen between 60-90 square feet, more than doubling the sanctuary minimum standard of 16 square feet per animal. Unless we keep them separated during the high-hormone season, they will certainly injure each other in a matter of minutes, or injure themselves with the stress that hormones create. These injuries include eye gouging, wing damage, bloody necks, and leg damage (from running) that can persist for life. For example, in June (hormone season), we put 8 drakes outside in our 1400 square-foot yard, and they quickly attacked each other and would not stop. The same ducks placed outside in October (non-hormone season) did beautifully. It is truly humbling to acknowledge the power of their biological drives, to not overlay a human story of ‘trauma’, etc., and to honestly work with their biological realities in effort to keep them uninjured and healthy. We know of no other sanctuary who keeps a single species like we do, keeps this many drakes in proximity to a hen flock, or undertakes this kind of scrupulous care to maintain the drakes’ living quarters when they are inside. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s the one we have. We made many attempts to re-home drakes early-on without success. We would only ever consider doing so in the future if their lives could be improved by the change, if new caretakers regarded them as ‘family’, and if our standard of care were to be matched or exceeded. (see below).
predators
SHO Farm’s 1300 acres is core wildlife habitat abutting the State park’s core wildlife habitat. As such the ducks cannot safely free-range without electric fencing to protect them. Canid predators like coyote and fox are repelled by electricity and we have never experienced a fatality. While expensive to maintain, 48” electric net fencing with a grounded charging system provides the protection the ducks need. As ducklings in the rice field (where our flock came from), predators like snapping turtles, weasels, and hawks killed over 260 of the original 400 ducklings. While we have a pond not too far from the duck barn where we wish it would be practical to let the ducks swim, there is not only a large, resident snapping turtle living there, the pond is also too deep for mixed flocks where drakes can drown the hens during mating. Wild ducks are able to fly and do not live in domesticated groupings with a concentrated population of drakes such as we have, so one must accommodate the differences.
Just arrived to their new home, in the energy barn with Shawn
materials
In addition to their daily foraging, we feed the ducks organic pelleted grain, Mazuri waterfowl food, greens collected from our farm, and winter squash from our own farm and from a neighboring organic farmer. We bed them on green pine sawdust from a local mill, with nests of feed-quality hay from nearby fields. Keeping bedding thick prevents a common disease called ‘bumblefoot’, and we are happy to say that in our 5+ years of caring for ducks, we have never had a single case of bumblefoot. All of the bedding ultimately is composted or spread into the orchard system as mulch around the tree crops. Spent sawdust is also added to their yard to prevent the muddying of their pools, to lower the parasitic insect load, and to add cushion to the ground. Their bedding is cleaned daily, and they are given fresh water in clean bowls and pools daily.
lifeway: being ducks
Our goal is to let the ducks be ducks as much as possible, without expectation, without demand on them. They are immensely entertaining to watch, with strong and varied personalities, wonderful sounds, and palpable, infectious joy. Their freedom brings delight to all who encounter them. As a sanctuary, we encourage the posture of ‘letting them be’—ie not expecting them to engage with humans in any particular way, not expecting them to even react to us in any particular way. The crux of our culture’s fractured relationship to animals centers around the notion, ‘you are here for me’…and sanctuaries are not immune from attracting this attitude. We feel that true refuge relieves animals from needing to be anything to anybody. It sets them free. This is our goal.
standards
Clean water daily
Thick, clean bedding (we use green sawdust plus fresh hay nests) to prevent bumblefoot—both inside and outside.
Ability to swim daily…with pools deep enough to allow weightlessness on legs but shallow enough to prevent drowning during the mating process (exceptions to this would involve drake fighting during hormone season).
Waterfowl-appropriate food with as many greens as possible. Cooking and re-feeding eggs, roasting eggshells to prevent malabsorption. Access to grit and a supplemental calcium source for hens.
Well-ventilated indoor spaces and predator-proof nighttime dwellings.
Access to veterinarians with waterfowl expertise that transcends ‘farm animal’ care—this is one of the most difficult and most expensive elements in our sanctuary. Our avian board certified vet resides 6.5 hours by car away from us, but has performed, with a 100% success rate, hysterectomies on our female ducks suffering from reproductive disease (common in domestic birds bred for egg production), and has guided us expertly throughout the lives of our flock.
Predator protection using electrified fencing, unless not warranted. Attention to overhead protection in duck yards via trees or netting.
Protection from intra-flock fighting/injuries and the capacity to separate aggressive ducks from the group as needed.
Human presence throughout the day for critical social dynamic observation.
ICU conditions that favor healing via warmth, rest, and safety.
The capacity to change plans daily to address flock dynamics, or to address individual duck challenges.
The ducks teach an important lesson to all of us. Our sustenance can come at enormous cost to both individual lives and to the web of life, or it can enhance both. The goal is not only to reduce the harm, but to enhance the entire web of life as we meet our needs. This requires many hands and minds and a fearless dedication of resources to this necessary, long-term, shared project.
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