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Farming and Raising Ducks – Part 1 of 3
| By pinoyfarmer | July 30, 2007 | 
|
Introduction
1. Ducks lay eggs and give meat. They are good to eat and very good for you.
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2. By raising ducks you will have mom food. This will help to feed your family and keep it strong and healthy.
3. Ducks are easy to raise. They need less care than chickens. Ducks are strong and hardy. They do not get sick easily.
4. With very little time and work you can raise a small flock of ducks.
Small flock of ducks
5. If your family is not too big you may not need all of the eggs and all of the meat for food. Then, you can sell what you do not use to your neighbours or at the market.
At the market
6. With more food and with the money you get by selling eggs and meat you and your family can live better.
7. However, if your family is too big you will need to raise many more ducks if you are to have enough eggs and meat to eat and to sell at the market.
What do you need to raise ducks?
You will need
· a good place near your house to keep a flock of ducks
· a simple shelter for your ducks to protect them in cold, hot or wet weather and to keep them safe from their enemies or from people who may steal them
A simple duck shelter
· enough food and water for your ducks to eat and drink
Enough food and water
· enough strong and healthy fully grown or young ducks of the kind that you can get to start your flock (see also Items 19, 21 and 41).
Strong and healthy ducks
8. If you have or can get all of these things you may want to raise your own flock of ducks.
Learning about ducks
9. Ducks live very well outside by themselves.
10. They are water birds and live best on or near water, such as a lake, pond or stream where they can spend part of each day swimming.
On or near water
11. However, if you live in a place where there is no water you can still raise ducks. You can raise them on land.
Ducks must always have fresh drinking water
12. Here are some places where you can raise ducks.
13. You can raise ducks in low wet land such as swamps or in low areas around ponds or streams.
Swamp or low areas
14. You can raise ducks on sloping land or in places that have soil too poor to be used for planting.
Land with poor soil
15. You can raise ducks near the sea where there is salt water. However, if you do this you will need to give them fresh water to drink.
Near the sea
16. If you do not have too many ducks you can raise them around your house.
Around your house
17. You can also raise ducks your farm fields if you are growing crops that the ducks cannot hurt, (see items 31 to 39).
What kind of ducks can you raise?
18. There are several kinds of ducks that you can use. You must find out what kinds of ducks you can get where you live.
19. Usually, you can get local ducks. Local ducks are strong and hardy and used to living in your area. So, they grow very well and do not get sick easily.
20. However, local ducks are often small, give little meat and few eggs.
Local ducks
21. Sometimes, you can get improved ducks that have been brought from another place. Improved ducks have been carefully mated over many years and they are bigger and better than local ducks.
22. Improved ducks cost more money but they give more meat and more eggs.
Improved ducks
23. Perhaps you can buy ducks at the local village market or there may be another farmer near where you live who will sell you some ducks from his own flock.
Village market; another farmer
24. Perhaps you can buy ducks from a nearby duck hatchery or from a government farm.
Duck hatchery
25. If you need help your extension agent will be able to give you good advice on the kinds of ducks you should get and where to get them.
26. Ducks eat just about everything. So, it is not hard for them to find enough food for themselves, even if you feed them nothing.
Ducks eat
· insects, worms, slugs, snails, frogs
· grass, weeds, roots
· most water plants
· seeds, grain, plant materials
· materials left on the ground after harvest
· damaged or overripe fruits and vegetables
What ducks eat
27. You can also give ducks stale bread and food that is left after you have eaten.
28. However always remember that ducks must have fresh water with their food.
29. So, when you look for a place to raise your ducks, be sure to choose one with a lot of natural food and with enough water for them to eat and drink.
Natural food and enough water
30. If you are raising your ducks where there is no fresh water, see that they have plenty of fresh drinking water.
Fresh water is needed
31. Ducks can also find food to eat in home gardens and farm fields.
32. However, keep the ducks out of your gardens and fields when the plants are young and tender or the ducks may eat them.
Keep ducks far from young plants
33. After most plants are big, you can let your ducks feed between the rows.
Let ducks in big plants
34. When your crops are fully grown and you have harvested them, be sure to let your ducks look for food there.
35. After you have harvested your gardens or fields, your ducks will find a lot of food that is very good for them to eat which would otherwise be wasted.
Let ducks in harvested gardens or fields
36. However, when ducks are in your home garden it is a good idea to watch them.
37. Ducks may eat snails, slugs, worms and other things on the ground such as seeds or fallen leaves. However, be sure that they do not eat the smaller plants as well.
38. You must also be very careful if you have low- growing berries or fruits for the ducks may eat them too.
Ducks eat berries
How many ducks should you raise?
39. If you are going to raise ducks that live by themselves and find their own food, with very little help from you, you can raise up to 24 ducks.
You can raise up to 24 ducks that live outside by themselves
40. However, until you know more about ducks and how to take care of them, it is best to start with a small flock.
41. Start with a flock of 6 ducks, 5 female ducks, and 1 male duck. With a flock of 6 ducks you will get 5 to 10 eggs each week.
5 female ducks, 1 male duck
42. In addition, with a male in your flock the eggs you get will be fertile. This means that you can raise your own baby ducks.
43. After you have raised a small flock, you may find that you could use more eggs and more meat.
44. Later in this booklet you will learn how to use some of your eggs to raise baby ducks to make your flock bigger.
You can raise your own baby ducks
How to keep ducks safe and well
45. Although ducks can live outside by themselves, they will live much better if they have a shelter.
Ducks can live outside by themselves
46. The main reason for building a shelter for your ducks is to keep them safe from enemies at night when they are sleeping.
A simple duck shelter
47. Ducks, especially young ducks, have many enemies. You must be careful to protect them from
· dogs, cats, foxes
· rats, snakes
· meat- eating birds
· thieves
Duck enemies
8. There are also other reasons for building a shelter. Here are a few.
49. Ducks sleep on the ground. If the ground is cold or wet or dirty, they may get sick.
Ducks sleep on the ground
50. If you build them a shelter, you can keep it dry and clean so your ducks will not get sick.
51. Strong sunlight is bad for ducks. They need protection from the sun in very hot weather.
Strong sunlight is bad for ducks
52. If you build a shelter for your ducks, they can go inside when it is very hot.
53. Ducks lay eggs mostly at night or early in the morning.
Ducks lay eggs at night
54. If you build a shelter with nests and keep your ducks inside at night, you will be able to collect the eggs more easily.
55. You will learn how to build several simple duck shelters in the next section of this booklet.
56. You have already been told a number of things about ducks and about raising them.
57. You reamed that by raising ducks you can have fresh meat and eggs for you and your family.
58. You learned that you can keep as many as 24 ducks that live outside by themselves and find their own food.
59. You may have found that you can get healthy ducks to start your own flock where you live.
60. So, now you must decide if raising a flock of ducks would be a good thing for you and your family to do.
Decide if raising ducks is good
61. If you decide to begin, you will learn how in the rest of this booklet.
Related Posts:
Farming & Raising Ducks – Part 2
Farming & Raising Ducks – Part 3
Source: Better Farming Series 39 – Raising Ducks 1: How to Begin (FAO, 1990, 73 p.)
Topics: Poultry | 5 Comments »
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I found your booklet very useful and simple to read and understand.
I am incubating 3 duck eggs at present with 8 days to go. We have prepared a duck house which used to be used as a coal bunker and a duck run attached. We do have a large pond and garden so when we are there they will be free to wander. With regards to the duck house do we need to put the food and water into the duck house at night or just the duck run.
Thanks for your help
Yasmin
November 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am
Dear Sir/Madam:
Good day in the name of Christ. I am looking for PEKING DUCKS. WHERE I CAN BUY A LIVE PEKING DUCKS SO THAT I CAN RAISE IT IN MY FARM. ALSO, PLEASE HELP ME OR SEND ANY MANUAL FOR PEKING DUCK RAISING.
You can reach me thru my CELFONE#0916-8506917 or Landline Tel#(053)523-0968 or SEND ME THRU THIS ADDRESS:
MARIANO M. LAO
# 08 CARLOS GARCIA ST.,
SAN GERARDO HEIGHTS
TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE 6500
PHILIPPINES
Lastly, looking forward to hear from you soon. Hope that you can help me. thanks in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
MARIANO M. LAO
March 12th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
where can i acquire good quality chicks (peking duck)
October 4th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I want to know where I can possibly secure ducklings pateros type variety.
October 17th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
hello good day!!!!!may I just ask where could I buy Pateros ducks??????im planning to put up may own farm…..thank you very much