Dave Holderread > Quotes

“Keeping ducks locked up in yards covered with deep mud and stagnant water holes is an invitation to trouble.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Adult ducks do not require a lot of time-consuming care or specialized facilities.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“It is not necessary to have swimming water for ducklings, even though they thoroughly enjoy going for a paddle within days of hatching.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“What is your main reason for raising ducks? Is it for pets, eggs, meat, feathers, decoration, exhibition, insect and slug eradication, aquatic plant and algae control in ponds, or a combination of these and other aims?”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Some breeds are noisier than others—a fact that should be taken into consideration when you have neighbors in close proximity.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“The hatchability of artificially incubated duck eggs often is 5 to 10 percent lower than that of chicken eggs.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“The Bantam Class includes the miniature breeds of the domestic duck clan. These birds weigh between 18 and 40 ounces.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“A valuable by-product of raising ducks is manure. Duck manure is an excellent organic fertilizer that is high in nitrogen.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“In flock matings one vigorous six-to-eighteen-month-old male for every four to seven females gives satisfactory fertility in most breeds.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Large duck eggs have also been hatched by turkeys, chickens, and small geese. Any chicken that is a faithful "broody" can work.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Once ducklings reach maturity, they sometimes fairly abruptly stop tracking the person they have imprinted on and integrate with other ducks.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Ducks are masterfully designed, down to the smallest detail, for both aquatic and terrestrial life.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“When chickens or turkey hens are used to hatch duck eggs, they should be treated for lice and mites several days before their setting chores commence.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Ducks of all breeds with abnormally humped backs should be avoided for breeding purposes since they typically have poor fertility.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“People who have kept all types of poultry generally agree that ducks are the easiest domestic birds to raise.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Over the years I have been told many secret methods for determining the sex of day-old ducklings. When tested, these techniques have proven to be only 50 percent accurate at best.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Their clownish countenance notwithstanding, raccoons are the most destructive of all fowl thieves in many regions of North America.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“When acquiring ducks, keep in mind that the strain is at least as important as the breed.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“In only 8 to 12 weeks, a newly hatched duckling is transformed into a young adult.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“Of all domestic fowl, in many circumstances the young of ducks are the easiest to raise.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

“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.”
― Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health