Khaki Campbell ducks are cheerful, hardy birds, and their holiday care reduces to one non-negotiable rhythm: out in the morning, fed and watered through the day, eggs collected, and shut safely away before dark. The breed is famous for laying, and a laying flock in your absence keeps producing whether anyone collects or not, so the routine matters for hygiene as much as for the eggs themselves. The other pressure is security. Ducks are near the top of every predator's list and have no real defence, so the evening lock-up is the appointment the whole arrangement hangs on. Choose a visitor who can genuinely commit to both ends of the day, and demonstrate the whole routine before you go.
The visitor and the twice-daily pattern
Ducks need a morning visit to open the house, feed, and set out water, and an evening visit timed to shut them in once they have come home to roost, which in summer can be late. Show the visitor how your birds come in: most Khaki Campbells learn to file home for food, and a stranger shaking a feed scoop in the wrong place can scatter a flock that normally walks in by itself. Have the visitor do one full day, morning and evening, with you watching, before the holiday starts.
Feeding and water: heads under, bills clean
Leave the feed measured or the scoop clearly marked, with instructions to feed a proper waterfowl ration and to keep treats minimal, because laying ducks need balanced feed to keep producing sound eggs. Water needs more attention than feed. Ducks must be able to dunk their heads fully to keep eyes and nostrils clean, so drinking water should be deep enough for that and refreshed daily, since they foul it within hours. Bathing water, a tub or shallow pool, should be emptied and refilled regularly through the stay; a stagnant pond-bath becomes a health hazard in warm weather.
Eggs: collected daily, without exception
A Khaki Campbell flock in lay will produce close to an egg per duck most days, and uncollected eggs pile up, get broken and eaten, foul the bedding, and can encourage a duck to sit on a hidden clutch in a corner. Daily collection keeps the house clean, gives you a laying record that doubles as a health check, since a sudden drop across the flock is information, and prevents the mess that greets owners who arranged feeding but forgot eggs. Brief the visitor where the ducks actually lay, including any favourite corner outside the house, and what to do with cracked or dirty eggs.
Housing, security, and the predator check
The evening visit is a security round as much as a bedtime one: every duck counted in, pop-hole and doors fastened, and a quick check that the run's mesh, skirt, and latches are intact, because a fox tests a run the way water finds a crack. The visitor should look for dug earth at the fence line, damaged mesh, or feathers outside the run each morning, and tell you at once if anything looks attempted.
Contacts for a bird most vets see rarely
Leave your number, your backup visitor, and your vet's details, noting honestly that many practices see ducks infrequently, so an experienced poultry-keeping contact is worth adding for first advice on minor matters. Write down what is normal for your flock, how many eggs a day to expect, and the signs that mean a duck needs separating and you calling the vet: off her food, hunched and fluffed, a discharge from eyes or nostrils, or limping. KinsLe's Care Pass gives your duck sitter temporary, clear access to the flock's routine, egg and house checks, and contacts while you are away, so both ends of the ducks' day happen as reliably as if you were home.