Today I continue my quest in creating and posting one block a day of the fabulous That Town And Country Quilt by the lovely Susan-Claire Mayfield. This is day three hundred and twenty-five of that project.

This quilt block shows a duck from the side facing left. The duck has a green head, a white collar, and a brown body. The duck bill is a small orange piece of fabric, the head a dark green piece of fabric, the body a small white piece, and the body is made up of three brown pieces (two for the wings). The feet are the same fabric as the bill. The wings are in mid-flap and are coming out of each side of the duck. Every piece of fabric is outlined by a black and white salt-and-pepper-like stitch. This is against a light blue salmon-patterned background.
Click To Enlarge

When most people think “duck” they envision a duck that looks sort of like this. I’m going to call this duck a Silver Appleyard duck. They are a nice dual breed duck, producing tender meat and plentiful eggs.

Here are 8 reasons to keep ducks:

  1. Pest control. Ducks love bugs and grubs. They don’t scratch the dirt like chickens do so they don’t tear everything up and they will just nose the first inch of dirt around and eat anything that moves.
  2. Egg production. Gram for gram duck eggs are more nutritious than chicken eggs. If you happen to make homemade noodles or do much baking, duck eggs may be for you.
  3. Temperament. Ducks are even tempered. Usually safer around young children than chickens. They are the easiest thing on feet to herd.
  4. Meat production. Duck is a delicious meat. It’s worth your while to learn to cook it.
  5. Garden clean up. Finished harvesting a plot or a greenhouse? Turn the ducks in. They will eat pests, roots and leftovers.
  6. Lawn maintenance. Ducks will eat grass but more importantly they will eat weeds in preference to it. So dandelions are eaten before the grass.
  7. They aren’t going to eat their own eggs or each other.
  8. They are hardy creatures.