Quotes from Dave Holderread

Keeping ducks locked up in yards covered with deep mud and stagnant water holes is an invitation to trouble.

Adult ducks do not require a lot of time-consuming care or specialized facilities.

Every truly successful duck raiser I have observed over the years has had the ability to step out of a predator mentality and has learned how to look at the world from a duck's perspective.

Your job when working around your flock is to move and work in a way that does not startle them or make them feel they are about to be devoured.

People who have kept all types of poultry generally agree that ducks are the easiest domestic birds to raise.

Meat-type ducks that are raised in confinement and fed an appropriate diet are capable of converting 2.6 to 2.8 pounds of concentrated feed into 1 pound of bird.

Ducks are omnivores and will eat most food items that come from the kitchen or root cellar. The rule of thumb is this: If humans eat it, ducks most likely will also—as long as it is in a form they can swallow.

A valuable by-product of raising ducks is manure. Duck manure is an excellent organic fertilizer that is high in nitrogen.

Many people find the quacking of ducks an acceptable part of nature's choir. However, if you have close neighbors, the gabble of talkative hens may not be appreciated.

Ducks are masterfully designed, down to the smallest detail, for both aquatic and terrestrial life.

Ducks of all breeds with abnormally humped backs should be avoided for breeding purposes since they typically have poor fertility.

It is almost magical—the way a newly incubator-hatched duckling will devotedly follow a human who is many hundreds of times larger than itself. The phenomenon of day-old animals following the first vocal and animated being it encounters has been labeled imprinting.

Once ducklings reach maturity, they sometimes fairly abruptly stop tracking the person they have imprinted on and integrate with other ducks.

In single-male matings, a drake can usually be given two to five females, although males sometimes have favorites and may not mate with the others.

In flock matings one vigorous six-to-eighteen-month-old male for every four to seven females gives satisfactory fertility in most breeds.

Aged drakes sometimes will not be fertile until much later in the breeding season, when natural day length and temperatures have increased. Some drakes will remain fertile until they are ten years of age or older, but typically their best breeding age is six months to three years.

It is not unusual for ducks to live and reproduce for six to eight years, and there are reports of exceptional birds living fifteen years or longer.

Some breeds are noisier than others—a fact that should be taken into consideration when you have neighbors in close proximity.

Raising ducks should be enjoyable, so choose a breed that you find attractive and interesting.

When acquiring ducks, keep in mind that the strain is at least as important as the breed.

The Bantam Class includes the miniature breeds of the domestic duck clan. These birds weigh between 18 and 40 ounces.

The hatchability of artificially incubated duck eggs often is 5 to 10 percent lower than that of chicken eggs.

When you wish to hatch a moderate number of ducklings, natural incubation is often the most practical. A good setting hen is a master at supplying the precise temperature and instinctively knows just how often eggs need to be turned. She may also serve as a ready-made brooder, eliminating the need to supply an artificial source of heat.

Large duck eggs have also been hatched by turkeys, chickens, and small geese. Any chicken that is a faithful "broody" can work.