The fresh DUCK-EGG FARMER

A Southern Indiana family runs a successful duck-egg production farm on just 4 acres.

Simple Farm — a 4-acre spread in Southern Indiana run by my family, the Bells — has supplied fresh and delicious duck eggs to three grocery stores, a local-food buying club, a gourmet restaurant and a bustling farmers market. With my husband Larry and our three sons, we raised a flock of 90 ducks after creating a market for their nutritious eggs. It was an exhilarating experience. As fresh duck-egg farmers, we have a lot to quack about!

for poultry profit

Energetic white ducks dot the bright green landscape as you pull into our long driveway. If you arrive early, you might see my oldest son herding the ducks to pasture with a long, orange bicycle flag — our family’s herding tool of choice.

Some ducks rest under a movable shade shelter, while others waddle about, actively searching for insects in the grass or going for a swim in one of

the shallow kiddie pools refilled daily during the heat of summer. The business of laying eggs usually happens in early morning while the ducks are still inside their coop; however, sometimes a few large eggs appear around the shade shelter and water pools, ready to be collected and added to the daily egg bucket.

We compare the labor required to tend our flock and the income we realistically make to hav