QUACK ATTACK!

Our slug-terminating Khaki Campbell ducks at Alder Creek Farm
"Blue Moon" upfront and center. Photo by justinbailie.com .

This spring's weather is about to set some records for wettest and coldest (for here) in years. The community garden is a swamp and cannot be tilled yet. The permaculture garden sits on higher ground but it's still cold and wet.
These are not ideal conditions for germinating seeds that need higher soil temperatures to grow, (and not rot). These are perfect conditions for slugs and ducks!
We are lucky to have a very large greenhouse to grow starts in, allowing us to bypass the worst of the spring and plant ready-to-go healthy seedlings later in the season when, hopefully, the weather will be more beneficent.
Meanwhile, the slugs and snails are happily procreating in what's left of last year's crop, the grass next to the gardens and under every rock, board, and brick possible.
Send in the ducks! With portable fences, we can drive the ducks daily into garden areas to seek out and destroy the slimy mollusks and hungry grubs. They never tire of waddling about wiggling their bills under every nook and cranny to feast on slugs, snails and red worms. And, in an incredible alchemy witnessed every morning before the ducks leave the "Quack Shack", slugs are magically transformed into big, beautiful and tasty eggs.
When we decided whether to get ducks or chickens for egg-laying, thankfully, we chose ducks. Because of their love of the wet conditions that are prevalent here, they are a perfect fit. Having lovely, khaki-colored down coats with natural water-proofing, which they reapply daily with their bills, our ducks are, well, just "ducky" in all kinds of weather.
Once when I was out gardening with them, a big hail storm swept in. I ran for the cover of a roof and they kept right on grubbing while big ice pellets bounced off their backs.
Ducks are easy to care for and have fewer diseases and other problems than other domestic fowl. They are ideal in a home setting. Though their quacking can be loud at times (ours hear us drive up to the farm to do our duck chores and loudly ask to be let out of the small pen that keeps them safe from raccoons, coyotes and dogs at night), most of the time they are happily and quietly cruising the gardens making friendly little peeps. They don't crow at dawn either.
I often work in the garden alone and the quacky Campbells work right alongside me, especially if I'm pulling up plants or otherwise exposing worms and slugs. If one of them finds a big prize, the others give chase and their antics are highly entertaining.
They need safe shelter, access to water in the form of a small tub or kiddie wading pool and with laying hens, laying mash (the same type fed to chickens).
Domestic ducks are very well suited to our fickle coastal climate. I'm not knocking chickens and I've had them before, but I must confess these little rascals are a heap of fun and they don't tear out plants if monitored and moved regularly.
This year the Quack Shack will have additional ducks and their 4H caretakers, local kids who are raising them to show at the Tillamook County Fair. Here a quack, there a quack, everywhere a quack, quack.
Look out slugs!