We recently added 10 baby ducks to the farm. There were two main reasons we wanted to get some more ducks. First, we needed some genetic diversity. All of our existing ducks came from the same breeder and most are siblings or the offspring of siblings. Secondly, we needed some more ducks to do duck things here on the farm. Everyone has a job. These new employees will grow up and perform several functions like our other ducks. They'll eat grass, weeds, vines and insects and turn all of that into natural fertilizer (a.k.a. ducky-poo). We also have a few fruit trees with very low branches that belong to the ducks exclusively. A workplace benefit for them. Of course, all the fruit that falls from our other trees is left for the ducks. They love to eat guava, mangoes, apples and bananas.
Because we do not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers on the farm, it is more labor intensive to maintain. A lot of the work is done by hand and we're hopeful that these ducks can help make it just a little bit easier.
Perhaps the biggest benefit to having ducks though is to just stop and watch them for a few minutes...