The Complete Homestead Duck Guide
(Page 4 of 9)
Feather pulling—a problem which will sometimes begin when the ducks are about four weeks of age—usually indicates overcrowding or dirty, food-spattered down.
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FROM DUCKS TO DUCKLINGS
Once you've adequately prepared for your duck venture, you may begin in any of three ways: Incubate a "setting" of eggs ... buy day-old ducklings ... or—probably the simplest of all—obtain an almost-grown trio (two females and a drake) and let them raise a family. In order to get your ducks to reproduce, however, it's best to have water on which they can mate. Some birds (Muscovies in particular) manage the act without a place to swim, but access to a body of water will increase your trio's production.
Ducks (except for the ever-ready Runners and Campbells) will generally only lay eggs from early spring to late summer .. but don't expect any eggs from your females for a few weeks after they've been moved to a new location, or while they get used to a new drake. (Some breeds may even require a year of "settling-in" before they decide it's time to have children.) To help your newcomers feel at home, keep them in a fenced-in area or building until they accept their new quarters.
Should you plan to eat your ducks' eggs rather than hatch them, you can put the nest boxes (which the birds may or may not choose to use, however!) any place that's convenient for you. These should always be covered on top to protect the eggs from flying predators, such as jays .. . and be secluded enough to give the mother a sense of being hidden.
Duck eggs have large yolks and taste very much like chicken eggs . . . only richer and better. One duck egg may be substituted for two chicken eggs in cooking and serving. (Remember, though, that they'll toughen if overcooked when they're fried or made into omelets . . . and that their whites don't whip up very well.)
If you expect to raise ducklings, on the other hand, locate the nests within 100 yards of a water source so the mother can take a dip now and then and keep the eggs moist. Also, have about an inch of dirt in the bottom of each box, and a layer of straw or hay on top of that. (The dirt helps insulate the duckling-to-be and maintain the proper humidity.)
As often as not, the ducks will lay their eggs in depressions in the grass along the pond bank. To encourage them to lay in your nesting boxes, put any stray eggs you find in the containers. Don't, however, take up the eggs every day. Instead, collect them as you locate batches of three or four.
And remember that waterfowl won't beg in setting until they've laid their complete clutch of eggs. This "delaying action" assures that all the ducklings will hatch out within approximately 24 to 48 hours of each other and enables mom to take the whole gang down to the water a short time later. (Duck eggs hatch in 28 days ... except for Muscovies, which often take 35.)
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