Ducks are Easy to Raise
(Page 2 of 3)
March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
For housing almost any kind of shelter will do. A small coop with a door like that on page 39 would be ideal, because if you want to gather eggs it is a good idea to keep ducks shut in until 9 or 10 a. m. Supply litter on floor for warmth and dryness.
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Your ducks will build their own nests in the shelter or around the place and will each hatch twelve to fifteen or even more ducklings at a sitting, and they will probably do it at least twice a year. They may produce eggs the year around, heavily from early spring through July. The number of ducklings you let them hatch will be determined by how many eggs they lay and how many you take to eat.
One drake for up to five or six ducks is a workable arrangement, but you will probably want to start with a "trio" of one drake and two ducks. A small flock will give you all the ducks that you want.
Ducks of most breeds are ready to eat from the age of about 10 weeks on. The commercial raisers force their flocks to a peak of growth and fatness at about nine weeks and then market the whole flock at one time. After that age the ducks will go into a moult and gain weight very slowly no matter how much they are fed. This is no great disadvantage in the small home-size flock which is foraging for much of its food anyway, and the usual practice is simply to start eating the ducks when they are big enough, and to go on eating them as needed until they are all gone, saving only the breeders chosen to be carried over to the next year.
Your original trio of breeders may be kept for two or three years or even longer, but more probably you will select from your whole flock a new drake and new ducks for breeders every year or two. You will probably want to buy or "swap" in new blood occasionally. There are many breeds of ducks, but the three breeds most suitable for the home flock are probably the Pekin, the Muscovy and the Indian Runner. The Muscovy is the largest, the Pekin next. The Runner lays the most eggs. Neither the Pekin nor the Runner is a good "sitter," and you would probably have to hatch their eggs under hens.
A trio of one or two year old Muscovy ducks, of good healthy stock, will cost you about $10.00, and you can obtain them by mail from breeders who advertise or perhaps you know some one who raises them near you. Day-old Muscovies will probably cost from 40¢ to 60¢ apiece.
If you can't get the duck pellets, the simplest thing to do is to feed the same mash and grains you feed your chickens. A wet mash is sometimes fed, but this is an extra "wrinkle." When growing ducks are not able to forage, keep feed before them most of the time as you would for chickens.
