By Dorothy DeLisle
I usually order my ducklings through my local feed store. The disadvantage to this is that there is a mark up and they make take their sweet time about placing the order. The advantage to this (over ordering directly from the producer) is that they will receive the ducks for me. I don’t have to worry about trying to figure out how to get out of work to get to the post office the day they arrive. Also, producers have a minimum order, often 25 ducks. The feed store will keep the extras needed to make the minimum and sell them in store. And you won’t have to have 25 ducks if you only want 10.
In US, ducks can be ordered from Metzer Farms, (CA), Morris Hatchery (FL), Cackle Hatchery (MO) Mt Healthy Hatchery (OH), Larry’s Poultry & Equipment (NE), McMurray Hatchery (IO) or Privett Hatchery (NM) to list a few. See also list of Oklahoma hatcheries. In UK, from Kintaline Farm Poultry Center. In Canada, from Rochester Hatchery. Or see ads in the back of gardening magazines. Especially, organic gardening ones.
v Rule#1: No swimming water!
Ducklings can’t swim! They will waterlog and drown!
Ducks must water proof their feathers with oil they produce in glands at the base of their tails. These glands are non-functional in ducklings.
But wait, you say you’ve seen ducklings swimming with their mothers. That’s because those ducklings were with their mother who preened them with her oils to waterproof them. Your store bought ducklings are not with their mothers, thus they have no oil source.
Drinking water only, nothing the ducklings can climb into. Even if too shallow to drown, they will still get wet, then cold and die.
v Rule #2: Keep them warm
v Rule #3: Don’t forget that they keep consuming more and more water and feed as they grow.
v Rule #4: Don’t feed mash. It is too fine for ducklings. They will choke on it. If fed, it must be wetted, but then it rapidly goes bad. So, uneaten portions must be thrown out promptly. Therefore feed a crumble formulation, not a powdered one.
Keep adjusting the rations up and don’t let the water run out because it lasted for a week last week.
I raise my ducklings in a 6’ wide stock tank, cedar shavings as bedding. Waters and feeder sit on top of a 2 foot square of “egg crate” panel (light fixture plastic grid) to reduce the amount of shavings that gets in the feeder/water. A light is suspended for heat.
See more instructions here.
Although ducks are considered grown at 2 months old, the sour quickly if herded then. Better to wait until they are 4 months old to start dogging them. It’s like not putting too much pressure on a puppy. Even ducks have to be mentally mature to take the stress of being worked. They are calmer and less easily frightened then too.
As unbroke stock are not appropriate for trials, ducks should be at least 6 months old before put into a trial.
Keep working sessions short (5-10 MIN), but work them often to keep them legged up. Herding ducks should be exercised on a daily basis if you are to get the most out of them. If not kept “legged-up,” they won’t have much stamina.
Duck bones fracture easily. Those ducks that crouch and flap funny when they walk aren’t doing soured duck tricks, they are injured. Dogs should never be allowed to run hard through the flock or to step on a duck. Dogs should never bite ducks to make them move; it doesn’t work. Dogs should only bite ducks when they are totally disrespecting its authority and trying to walk over the dog. Even then, it should be a gentle bite, appropriate for a duck.
If ducks freeze up on a dog, the way to get them to move is to back the pressure off, not to keep applying it. Stop trying so hard to get the ducks to move, back your dog off, and the ducks will move, even out of corners.
When working ducks, think of yourself as a repulsive force. Ducks don’t want to be pushed to a person. Stay out of the way. Don’t block their path or walk into them and push them off course. When penning, get out of the way of the opening.
The mallard-derived duck breeds (all those mentioned above) have lost their ability to fly. By this, I mean that they cannot take off into the wild blue yonder. (I have heard some say call ducks can fly, but I doubt they have TRUE flight.) Please note that the non-mallard derived Muscovy duck is capable of true flight.
Despite being incapable of true flight mallard-derived duck breeds are still capable of LIMITED flight. That is, they can get up some lift and awkwardly fly short distances. If harassed, all but the heaviest built of domestic ducks have enough flight ability to clear a high fence. Therefore, it is advisable to clip the wings of all ducks that you intend to herd with.
Most folks feed general poultry feed to their ducks. The problem with this is that, general poultry feed is formulated for chickens, not ducks. Because ducks have much higher requirements for niacin and thiamin than chickens, you must supplement. Use powdered milk and yeast. Or succulent greens. You can let your ducks graze on young and tender grass and other greens. They will not eat older tough stuff. (This makes ducks useful for weeding gardens with established desirable plants.)
A common duck ailment is bumble-foot where the bottom of the foot swells and cracks. This is a nutritional (thiamine) deficiency disease. Supplement and it rapidly goes away.
Specific duck feed is available, but not stocked in many feed stores. However, you can always get it special ordered. Then, you won’t have to worry about supplementation. Feed adults pellets, not crumble. They can pick it up easier. Much less wastage and overall they seem to do better on it.
Ducks also love insects, earthworms & slugs.
Ducks can fight a lot especially the males. There are ways to minimize this though.
Keep all one breed. Live stock are breed bigots. They get along best with their own breed.
Don’t keep adding new birds. If you must add new birds, keep the new ones in an adjacent pen with adjoining wire to the pen with the old ducks or put them in a cage within the main duck pen. After about two weeks, you can put them together. There will probably still be some fighting, but it will be no where as intense as if you didn’t have this acclimation period.
The best strategy is to invest in a group of ducklings and raise them up together. They will get along a lot better than groups assembled later. I raise up a cohort every year or so and keep each year’s cohort in separate enclosures. (However, I will mix groups sometimes when I work them. It makes for good practice on ducks that won’t group with ducks not from their cohort.)
Keep all male groups (raised together from small ducklings). It’s mostly the females that they are fighting over.
Or keep all female groups. They seldom fight. But they are a lot nosier then drakes and have higher food needs during laying season. Also, with many breeds, the females aren’t as colorful as the males. Also, females tend not to flock as well and to move slower and not keep up with the group. This is especially true if carrying eggs. It’s not fun to try to get a duck to move when she is in the last stages of getting ready to lay an egg. I’ve even heard of ducks laying on course during a trial! Now, that’s a bad draw. Better to keep all males; they’ll work better than the females.
Drakes have penises they normally keep hidden well inside their bodies. There is a trick to get drakes to evert them, but it takes talent. The best way to be sure of the sex of hatchlings is to pay extra to have the experts at the hatchery sex them for you.
At around one month of age, females start quacking. They are MUCH louder than males. From this age one, females quack, but males cluck. When fully matured, males with develop 2 characteristically curled feathers at the tip of the tail.
Some breeds are sexually dimorphic especially those with mallard-like coloration. However, this is usually true only during the breeding season. At the end of which, the drakes molt and assume female plumage (except for the tail curl) until the next season. This is called going eclipse.
However, even in the breeds where there aren’t 2 plumages, there are usually some subtle differences in coloration, especially common is that males will have a darker head.
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