Rearing techniques

Although most wild ducklings will be afloat within a few minutes of hatching, it is usually safer to keep, penned youngsters away from water - except for drinking and washing- until they are adequately feathered at about 6-7 weeks old. In bad weather they may get chilled and die, unlike their more waterproof or better insulated wild cousins. If reared on an exposed site they will sometimes suffer from chills and cramp. The grass on a rearing field should be kept short, so that the ducklings do not get their backs wet. A duckling's down becomes almost useless as an insulator when it is wet.

Compared with pheasant poults, ducklings soon make the ground on which they are being reared extremely dirty. Rearing in movable pens - provided they really are moved regularly - has considerable advantages.

Where relatively small numbers of ducklings are reared, the broody hens that have hatched the eggs make excellent foster-parents. On one game farm the mallard duck herself is allowed to hatch her eggs in a nesting box in a large communal pen, before being transferred to a movable pen in which to rear her brood.

If large numbers of mallard are required, they are readily reared in brooders. The techniques and equipment needed for producing ducklings are similar to those used for pheasants. Young ducks are hardy and almost free from the vice of feather-picking. They also have the virtue of being flightless throughout the rearing period and can be kept in open-topped pens until released.

The equipment for rearing a batch of 80-100 mallard is much the same as for 120 pheasants. An overhead heater, using either electricity or bottled gas, is placed in a 5 ft. square hut sited directly on gravel over grass. The heat at ground level should be approximately 90° F. (32~2° C.) for day-olds. This is decreased gradually as rearing progresses, the lamp being raised a few inches each week.

A run measuring 30 ft. X 10 ft. will be suitable for about 80/100 young ducks. The birds will, however, turn the area into a mud-puddle very quickly and ideally one would move the pen once or twice during the rearing period.

With un-roofed pens, precautions must be taken against climbing and flying predators such as cats and large gulls.

Ducklings will thrive on ordinary chick crumbs for the first three weeks. Water for drinking and in which to dabble their food and wash their faces -must always be available a few feet from the feeding tray. It is surprising how much water ducklings will drink or waste, and where food is constantly available, topping up small water containers may be necessary several times a day. A hose set up to run water constantly down a piece of guttering is effective when rearing large numbers.

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