Synopses & Reviews
Ducks are the homeowner's friends.
They will:
* Eat Japanese beetles, grasshoppers, snails, slugs and mosquitoes.
* Clean unwanted plants from ponds and lakes.
* Eat up all table and gardening leftovers.
* Produce an abundance of valuable nitrogen-rich manure.
* And most important, provide you with low-cost meat and eggs.
Ducks are the easiest domestic birds to raise. They'll forage for much of their food, and they don't need to be pampered with expensive housing. You don't need a pond for them either, although these friendly birds certainly look beautiful swimming on one.
Dave Holderread has written Raising the Home Duck Flock for persons who want to raise ducks but don't know how to get started. Here is the answer. He explains how many ducks you should have for various conditions, which breeds may be best for you, where and how to buy them.
Dave doesn't leave you on your own after you've bought those ducks. His helpful material begins with incubation of eggs, covers how to rear ducklings and manage the adults, explains possible health problems and how to control them, and tells how to butcher the ducks -- with recipes for both the meat and the eggs, and practical suggestions on the use of the feathers and down.
Dave has raised ducks since his boyhood days, and he's taught hundreds in this country and Puerto Rico through vocational poultry programs. He knows his ducks, and he knows how to teach his subject.
About the Author
Dave Holderread has raised and studied ducks for 50 years. He taught applied poultry science in Puerto Rico before he and his wife established one of the largest genetic stocks of domestic waterfowl in the world on their farm in Oregon. Their ducks have won numerous championships at regional, national, and international shows.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Why Ducks?
Chapter 2 Some Points to Consider
Chapter 3 External Features
Chapter 4 Behavior
Chapter 5 Selecting a Breed
Chapter 6 Acquiring Stock
Chapter 7 Incubation
Chapter 8 Rearing Ducklings
Chapter 9 Managing Adult Ducks
Chapter 10 Butchering
Chapter11 Health and Physical Problems
Appendices
Appendix A Formulating Duck Rations
Appendix B Symptoms of Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies
Appendix C Predators
Appendix D Storing Eating Eggs
Appendix E Duck Recipes