![]() ![]() “You can get one year out of a chicken, but three years out of a duck,” says Piccinin. Once they’re hatched, ducks grow faster and produce eggs longer than chickens. “You keep them for two weeks like that before you start collecting eggs for hatching.” “When it’s breeding time, they get their own pens,” says Murphy. They like to be fed at the same time every day, and by the same person every day.”įourteen varieties require a bit of extra work, though, when it comes to Murphy’s end of the process. ![]() “They need a lot more water, and they’re messier, too. “They’re not as aggressive with each other,” says Murphy. They soon found, though, that raising ducks is preferable to raising chickens. Piccinin also farmed with her family since childhood, and after a brief detour working in the oil industry in Grande Prairie, Alta., returned to the Creston Valley and started Root and Vine Acres in Erickson in 2009, moving to Wynndel prior to last year’s growing season. Every year, her family bought a cow and a pig, and she also helped slaughter chickens, to which she is allergic. Murphy’s family farms on Prince Edward Island, and she grew up on a hobby farm near Airdrie, Alta. ![]() They figured it out quickly, though farming is in their blood. ![]() “If we had 300 eggs a day, we wouldn’t have known what the heck we were doing,” laughs Piccinin. All of the ducks made it safely through the journey, but immediately started a six-week moult and stopped laying, giving Murphy and Piccinin time to prepare. Three weeks later, they were the proud owners of 362 ducks, which they brought over the Kootenay Pass - in January - on a few trucks loaded with cages. “She said may be she’d start a hatchery.” “The day before I went, Tammy was over with Jodi and said she didn’t want to go back to work tree planting,” says Piccinin. “She had a lot of people contact her, but they were like, ‘I’ll buy incubators,’ or ‘I’ll buy a couple of ducks,’ ” says Piccinin.ĭickie messaged Piccinin on Facebook, so she decided to take a look, which proved to be timely. But she wasn’t receiving any suitable offers. Quack Me Up was started in the Slocan Valley in 2011, and original owner Mee-len Dickie put it up for sale in late 2015. “When you bake with a duck egg, it has a lot more loft, and just rich, velvety deliciousness,” says Piccinin, adding that even an overcooked duck egg maintains a velvety texture. With a yolk twice the size of a chicken egg, duck eggs react differently when cooking or baking. “She’s one of our best customers now,” says Piccinin. They also have higher protein and iron, and more good fats and fewer bad fats than chicken eggs.Ī woman at the Nelson farmers’ market said she hadn’t eaten chicken eggs for five years, so Piccinin gave her a sample of duck eggs to try. Duck eggs form alkaline instead of acid, which can make them suitable for people with irritable bowel syndrome or those undergoing cancer treatments. “Basically, all we’re going to do is feed the valley.”Īnd they’re feeding customers a healthier product. “It’s amazing how it came together like that,” says Piccinin. And in Yahk, Murphy deals with Quack Me Up’s hatching and breeding stock, and runs the Rabbit Tree, a rabbitry, with her partner, Jodi Bults, who is studying to be a butcher and worked for Piccinin. In Wynndel, Piccinin owns Root and Vine Acres, producing vegetables, fruit and meat, and the Walking Olive Tree, creating smokies. With nearly 300 eggs to collect every day from 14 varieties of pasture-raised ducks, smiling is almost guaranteed for the owners of Quack Me Up, who are already keeping busy with other agriculture-related businesses. “There’s really just not a day where they’re not making me smile,” says Murphy. It was a random text from Tammy Murphy to business partner Jessica Piccinin, but a simple way to express her feelings about their latest venture. Tammy Murphy and Jessica Piccinin on their Wynndel duck farm. ![]()
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