Note: I’ve been reading Dickens on my lunch break, and so my diction will be in his style (though lacking his wit) for some time here, until the effect passes off.

Why ducks? Their benefits outweigh their detractions, which are these: That they are rather dense, and do not know to fly away from the dog (they can fly, far enough, when they’re of a mind to do so); and that their eggs are rather too potent for Beautiful to serve fried. In any other form, certainly; and that the eggs serve admirably cannot be denied; for the duck egg is some thirty per cent more voluminous than the egg of the chicken, and whether used as part of a recipe, or served up scrambled or in any other form unrecognizable as itself, it beats the chicken egg hands down, because of its considerable size. I may take the opportunity here of noting, that the shell itself, besides being of various colors based upon Green, is very tough and will handle being dropped by a child onto the kitchen floor, without spilling its contents.

There are other reasons for our preference. (I must note that because of my wife’s aversion noted above, we are preparing to receive a half dozen laying chicken hens for the express purpose to provide eggs for frying, as soon as ever I can secure the time to construct them a coop.) Our ducks prospered during terrific winter storms, and were to be seen out quacking and wagging their tails during the most horrendous weather, even while the snow accumulated on their feathered backs. They eat the same food as chickens, namely pellets, with an additional daily handful of the shell of oysters for grit and calcium, but are not as susceptible to disease. They love the water but did well enough with a child’s wading-pool; even with several buckets, placed at random in the snow, as long as they had enough water to clean their bills, they seemed perfectly content. Their eggs are of good quality, large, colorful, and abundant (now, in early spring, we daily gather five eggs from our nine duck hens; many are still pullets and should begin laying as the days lengthen). It will be noted that ducks are good eating and their feathers are exceptional for down, though we have so far not been willing to put these virtues to the test. Their most admirable quality, however, was that they were free. That attribute is difficult to surpass.