Hatching, Rearing and Releasing Mallard

 

Wild mallard have a high potential for production which is in fact not often realised in practice, and it therefore follows that it is a species which will respond favourably to management which eases the constraints on its reproductive performance. Some ideas for this are considered later. While a high rate of natural production is desirable, it is advantageous to pick up early eggs for incubation and rear the young ducks where they can be protected from natural hazards, to be released when old enough.

There are many reasons why rearing should be undertaken, apart from salvaging abandoned nests and picking up early eggs. Earlier we mentioned the replacement rearing by flight pond shooters who want to 'put something back'. Owners of lakes often wish to provide extra stock for shooting - using the water as pheasant shooters use the woods. And landowners or clubs, who are establishing breeding sanctuaries, will find that ducks will nest more readily inside the Dutch baskets and other artificial nests, if the first generation has been reared in pens, preferably from picked-up wild eggs. Why this should be so, we do not fully understand. But these ducks take to hole-nests quite quickly and then teach subsequent generations and new immigrants to use them. The ducks often take more easily to baskets placed close to the water surface. This can be achieved by means of rafts or, if you can be sure of a stable water level, by means of stilts.

Having presented the case for rearing, some of the possible disadvantages, where flight ponds are concerned, should be discussed.

When planning such an operation nearly everyone is tempted to 'rear a few duck' to put down as decoys to attract the wild duck in. Many people buy 50 eggs and finish up with 35 or 40 duck on the pond. This can have several harmful effects. In the first place, in order to ensure that plenty of food is available for wild birds flighting in, so much has to be put in that the decoys become grossly overfed and often quite incapable of flight. They then spend all day and night in the pond and cause considerable damage by eroding the banks and destroying all vegetation. Under certain circumstances they will actually harry and drive of incoming wild duck at flight time. On a pond the size of our standard layout half a dozen would be ample, and they should be pinioned or wing-clipped and confined to part of the pond with wire netting.

 

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