Keeping Ducks and Geese E-Book

Debbie Kingsley

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 266

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Full of information and practical advice, this book is suitable for those thinking about keeping ducks and geese, those who have recently become duck and goose keepers and want to learn more, and for the more experienced keeper. With over 290 photographs, this book provides everything you need to know, including: legal requirements; land, fencing, housing, equipment and security. There is a comprehensive list, with accompanying photographs, of over eighty duck and goose breeds. Information is available to help decide what breeds will suit you best and acquiring your first birds. Further topics covered include: feeding and nutrition; health and welfare; breeding and rearing; raising for meat, slaughter, plucking and preparation for cooking, plus recipes.

Leseprobe

Keeping Ducks and Geese

A PRACTICAL GUIDE

DEBBIE KINGSLEY

First published in 2021 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2021

© Debbie Kingsley 2021

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 962 4

Cover design by Maggie Mellett

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Us and Them: Their Place in our Lives and Culture

2 Why Keep Ducks and Geese?

3 Legal Matters

4 Land and Accommodation

5 Tools and Equipment

6 Duck and Goose Breeds

7 Buying your First Ducks and Geese

8 Feeding and Nutrition

9 Health and Welfare

10 Keeping your Flock Secure

11 Raising for Meat

12 Breeding and Rearing

13 Making the Most of your Ducks and Geese

14 Recipes

Glossary

Further Information

Index

Acknowledgements

Writing this book has been even more fun than I expected. It gave me an excuse for contacting people from all over the world during a global pandemic, and they have been generous in giving of their time, and sharing their waterfowl knowledge, experience and photos. The images received have given me real pleasure, when lockdown meant I couldn’t get out and visit other flocks to take as many of my own photographs as anticipated. A particularly big thank-you is due to my husband Andrew Hubbard. To all of those listed below, thank you for the time and advice you gave so freely.

Rona Amiss

Tom Balchin, Dorset Police Rural Crime Team

Tom Blunt, Field Officer, Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Maggie Boswell

Geoff Chase

Josh and Abi Heyneke, Parc Carreg

Rose Hubbard

Morag Jones and Kate Elkington, British Waterfowl Association

Chris Just BVSc MRCVS

Ros King, The Domestic Waterfowl Club of Great Britain

Charlie Mason, The Humane Slaughter Association

Barry Nicolle

Tanya and Roger Olver, Terras Farm

Poopost Worm Counts

Claire Shand, Westgate Labs

Harriet Smith, Crediton Milling Company Ltd

Jade Stock, Out and About Poultry

Meihao Yang

Mark Wallace and Kathryn Burrell, Beaford

IMAGE CREDITS

Aaron van Cauwenberge, page 63 (top); Abi Heyneke, page 80; Andreas Trepte, page 62 (second down), 79 (top); Andrew O’Shea, page 124 (bottom); Annie Hall, page 38 (bottom), 159 (top); Barbara Griffin, page 70 (top); Barry Nicolle, page 61 (top), 63 (bottom), 64 (second down, bottom), 66 (top, third down, bottom), 67 (bottom), 70 (second down, bottom), 71 (top, third down), 73 (top), 74 (second down, third down) 78 (top), 79 (bottom), 155, 159 (bottom); Barto1666 (Wikimedia Commons), page 69 (second down); Brandon Brockett, page 73 (bottom); Brinsea Products Ltd, page 163 (top left and top right), 168, 169 (top and bottom), 172 (top); Calibas (Wikimedia Commons), page 76 (second down); Caryl Bohn, page 84; Cheshire Countryware UK/Etsy, page 177 (bottom); Claire Peach, page 36, 70 (third down), 75 (top, second down); Clare Lovegrove, page 65 (top), 68 (top, second down, third down), 69 (third down), 72 (bottom), 154 (top); Colin Morton, page 67 (top), 74 (top), 78 (second down); Crediton Milling Ltd, page 96 (right), 97 (top); David Iliff, page 63 (third down); Deborah Kieboom, page 60 (second down); Dick Daniels, page 69 (bottom), 71 (second down), 75 (bottom), 76 (third down), 77 (top), 78 (bottom); Elissa Butler, page 46 (left), 173; Ellie Clark/Marley Farm, page 21; Emma Scillitoe, page 10, 132; Evie Davis, page 161; Fleur Ketley, page 16, 34 (bottom), 38 (top), 44 (bottom right), 52, 58, 85 (left), 87 (right), 92, 95 (left), 99, 104, 120, 123, 176 (top); Footas van Robin (Wikimedia Commons), page 184; Geoff Chase, page 67 (third down); Heather Birnie, page 18 (top), 32 (bottom); Holly Harding-Smith, page 72 (second down); Humane Slaughter Association, page 137; Ian Gereg, page 29 (top); Ianeré Sévi (Wikimedia Commons), page 91; Icelandic Down, page 176 (bottom), 177 (top); Ikeuchi Toshio, page 67 (second down); James Ravilious/Beaford Archive, pages 12 (top and bottom), 17, 27, 37, 81, 93, 105, 121, 133, 138 (bottom), 151, 175; Jayne Hobbs, page 15; Jonathan Beilby, page 79 (second down); Karen Thorne, page 19; Kolomyia (Wikimedia Commons), page 179 (bottom); Lane Ream, page 174, 179 (top left); Lantuszka (Wikimedia Commons), page 20; Lindamacphotography, page 25 (top); Malcolm Reeves, page 60 (bottom), 61 (second down), 62 (third down); Marcus Morgan/Green Frog Designs, page 42, 43 (top); Margaret Griffin, page 25 (bottom), 87 (left), 106; Mark McCandless, page 65 (bottom); Matt Foweraker, page 61 (third down); Meihao Yang, page 195 (top and bottom), 196, 197 (top and bottom), 198 (top left, top right and bottom); Michal Klajban, page 71 (bottom); Morag and Derek Jones, page 29 (bottom); Morag Jones, page 30, 62 (bottom), 64 (third down), 77 (bottom), 78 (third down), 118; Nataliia Yanishevska, page 179 (top right); Nicola Chesshyre, page 63 (second down); Paul-Erwin Oswald, page 79 (third down); Peach Croft Farm, page 180; Peter Massas, page 74 (bottom); Red Top, page 115; Richard Bartz, page 13; Robin Monaghan, page 77 (second down); Rosemary Sharpe, page 60 (top); Ros King, page 61 (bottom), 73 (third down); Rowan Limb, page 14; Rupert Stephenson, page 68 (bottom); Sarah Cox, page 66 (second down); Sarah’s Soapery, page 181; Shutterstock, pages 85 (right), 108, 109, 186, 187; Simon Verbiest, page 18 (bottom), 26, 56, 62 (top), 69 (top), 72 (top), 73 (second down), 116; Stefhan Stjärnås, page 65 (second down); Steve Dace, page 65 (third down); Tanya Olver/Terras Farm, frontispiece and pages 32 (top), 41 (top), 44 (top), 103, 135, 136, 150, 153 (middle), 164, 182, 183; Terry Howell, page 76 (top); Thomon (Wikimedia Commons), page 75 (third down); Tony Hisgett, page 60 (third down); Tornado Wire Ltd/John Bowler Eggs Ltd, page 47 (right), 128; Tracie Hamer, page 77 (third down); trapbarn.com, page 124 (top); Wendy Anderson, page 46 (right); Wild Meat Company, page 33; Wikimedia Commons, page 178; Wolfgang Wandel, page 72 (third down); Woodstream Corporation, page 126 (top, middle and bottom)

Author: pages 8, 20 (top), 22, 24, 31, 34 (top), 39, 41 (middle and bottom), 43 (bottom), 44 (bottom left), 47 (left), 48, 49, 50 (top and bottom), 51 (top and bottom), 53, 54, 57, 64 (top), 76 (bottom), 82, 86 (left), 88 (top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right), 89, 90, 94 (top left, top right, bottom left), 95 (right), 96 (left), 97 (bottom), 98, 100 (top and bottom), 101 (left and right), 102 (top and bottom), 107, 110, 111 (left and right), 112 (top, middle and bottom), 114, 119, 122, 127, 130, 131, 132, 134, 138 (top), 139, 140, 141, 142 (top and bottom), 143 (top, middle and bottom), 144 (top, middle and bottom), 145 (top, middle and bottom), 146, 147, 152, 153 (top and bottom), 154 (bottom), 156 (top and bottom), 158, 162 (left and right), 163 (bottom left and bottom right), 165 (top left, top right and bottom), 166 (top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right), 167 (top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right), 170 (top and bottom), 171 (top and bottom), 172 (bottom), 174, 189, 190, 191 (top and bottom), 193.

Introduction

Keeping livestock can be a lifelong voyage of discovery, and no one knows it all. Ducks and geese are no different from other livestock in that respect. Happily you don’t need to be an expert to bring home your first birds: if that were the case only ornithologists would be keeping them, the rest of us being too intimidated to get started. What you might need is a simple but comprehensive guide to point you in the right direction and give you the confidence to get going, and for ongoing reference as new situations and questions arise.

One of our geese taking advantage of the broad back of a heavily pregnant ewe.

This book is a beginner’s guide to keeping ducks and geese, enabling you to put in place the basic requirements for having happy, healthy, productive birds. It aims to reassure and inform from a practical keeper’s perspective. You might be tempted to rush to the chapter on the different breeds in order to create your bird shopping list – but first be sure you have the space for them, can implement the legal requirements and create the appropriate housing, source the correct feed, plan for security, and have some basic tools and equipment at hand. That way you won’t arrive home with a box of quacking, honking birds that take over your bathroom for a month before their accommodation and care are sorted.

Some readers will already have chickens, and are keen to add waterfowl to their menagerie. Some of the information included here will be familiar, but there will be plenty that is new. In my experience, waterfowl have far fewer complaints than chickens if treated appropriately, so that’s some reassurance straightaway.

In these rather adversarial times, viewpoints on the best way to care for waterfowl will be as varied as any other topic. The truth is that although there are umpteen poor ways of doing things, there is also more than one way of doing things well. Use this guide as a starting point, and grow your knowledge and preferences over the years. The best way of understanding your birds is to observe them, and all you need for that is patience, time, and an interested eye.

CHAPTER ONE

Us and Them: Their Place in Our Lives and Culture

There’s a small corner in our seventeenth-century farmyard that has two tumbledown pigsties, and the area in front of it is – and was – known as the goose yard. It’s nothing special, just a small contained area close to the house, where any kitchen peelings and scraps could be thrown to the geese and the pigs housed just behind. It was probably an area of rich smells and prodigious muck in more pragmatic times, when the expectation was that you fed your kitchen leftovers to the livestock. The corollary is that the transfer of diseases through imported foodstuffs was rather less likely in those days than it is now: four hundred years ago they spent their time worrying about flea-infested rats importing bubonic plague instead.

A bird’s eye view.

The goose yard.

George Ayre checking a sitting mother goose, Ashwell, Dolton, April 1974. Documentary photo: James Ravilious/Beaford Archive

Ashwell, Dolton, January 1977. Documentary photo: James Ravilious/Beaford Archive

My favourite photographer, James Ravilious, who documented life in rural North Devon over a twenty-year period starting in the early 1970s, captured farm scenes that can seem hundreds of years old, rather than fifty. There is a reassuring timelessness about the interactions between humans and birds, and the ducks and geese portrayed could be from the 1820s or the 2020s. Some of the more ramshackle housing and fencing arrangements that he pictured can still be seen today, but it’s clear that even though there might not have been the money or time to spend on providing fancy bird accommodation (keeping birds was primarily for the table, whether for one’s own pot or for sale to others), the ducks and geese portrayed are themselves clearly in fine fettle, plump and well cared for.

DOMESTICATION

Both ducks and geese were domesticated during the Neolithic period, about five thousand years ago, and as wild species were found in all parts of the world except for the Antarctic. The Greylag, Egyptian and Asian Swan geese are the ancestors of all our domestic geese, while domestic ducks are descended from the Mallard (originating in South Asia) and the Muscovy (from South America), with all but the domesticated Muscovy owing their parentage to the wild Mallard. Geese were first kept by the Egyptians, and in South Asia the domestication and farming of ducks spread widely across the world – which is hardly surprising since the birds were easy and cheap to keep, and had so much to offer, from fat to feather, quills and down, as well as their eggs and the exceptional quality of their meat.

Mallard female and male.

Greylag goose.

The active farming and economic value of waterfowl is reflected in the annual Goose Fairs still held in Tavistock (held in October) and Nottingham (held in October or the end of September); these fairs date back to the early twelfth century when farmers brought their geese ready for purchasers to do the final fattening for Christmas. Hundreds of geese would be driven on foot from their farms to the fairs, their feet dipped in warm tar and sand to protect them on the journey, while the feet of some were bundled into leather shoes.

Birds were certainly a desirable commodity, though it’s not certain whether the local archive has so many records of people prosecuted for stealing a duck in the eighteenth century because they were starving, or because the birds had an attractive resale value.

THEIR PLACE IN OUR CULTURE

Wild ducks and geese always stir the imagination when they fly high overhead in formation, their skeins pointing the way forwards, the laggards suggesting just how far they’ve travelled from their breeding grounds, reminding us of different lands and people. Ducks and geese appear in the art of cultures across the world from at least 1500bc – for example they are depicted on decorative ware made in Europe in the late Bronze Age and Iron Age. They are the subject of ribaldry, nursery rhymes, folk tales, pantomime, songs, fables, cartoons and games, and are shown (mostly dead, and draped on sumptuously laid banquet tables) in lavish still-life paintings celebrating material pleasures and the ephemeral nature of life.

They make an impact on our language, too, even in the most urban environment, the goose in particular featuring in all sorts of common idioms from ‘wet goose’ for someone without gumption, ‘wild goose chase’ (a pointless exercise), to ‘what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’ (reciprocity), and ‘having a gander’ (taking a look) – while the duck has ‘water off a duck’s back’ (having no effect), ‘sitting duck’ (easy target), and the even simpler ‘ducking’, meaning to avoid something at head height, or plunging someone under water in jest or as punishment. People whose only contact with waterfowl comes from throwing them a bagful of crusts in the park will still probably know that ‘goosing’ someone means grabbing or pinching them on the buttocks – although ‘goosing’ can mean a more generic and less physical poking or invigorating, for example of financial markets.

Ducks and geese are honoured in place names, such as Goosey in Berkshire, Polgooth (goose pool) in Cornwall, Goose Green in Pembrokeshire, Goose Craig and Goose Isle, both in Kirkcudbrightshire, while there are plenty of Duck Streets and Duck Lanes in the UK. Both birds are well represented in pub names too: The Duck Inn, The Ginger Goose, The Dog and Duck, The Fox and Goose, The Drunken Duck, The Greedy Goose, and more.

In our local village there’s an annual duck race where children use rods to catch a barrage of plastic ducks sent racing down a stream that cuts through a local farm.

Geese have been used as sport for hunting since prehistoric times, and their hunting has given rise to a form of folk art: the creation of the decoy. Antique and contemporary decoys can be sold for many thousands of pounds (and dollars – they are very popular in America). Many decoy carvers are also hunters, and the craft continues today.

Of course, a critical part of any culture is its food, and the extra effort made in its preparation at times of celebration. The feast of St Michael and All Angels is traditionally celebrated as Michaelmas on 29 September by feasting on a ‘green’ goose (see below), which augured prosperity for the coming year. Michaelmas was the first day of the farming year, and if a landlord was lucky, their tenants might gift them a goose when paying their quarterly rent. A green goose is the leaner, younger goose that was traditionally fed almost entirely on grass, stubble and harvest gleanings, as opposed to the fatter Christmas goose, which would have been finished three months later on a wheat diet, and its desirable fat reserves built up as the weather cooled.

PETS

In the thirty years that we’ve kept ducks and geese there has been a definite move away from small-scale keepers who saw domestic waterfowl solely as providers of meat and eggs. In times past, many will have had an older, non-productive bird kept on in a retired capacity, seen as an old friend who could teach the youngsters how things worked – but the majority of the flock was kept as a delicious contribution to the table. This practice does, of course, continue, but there are increasing numbers of duck and goose keepers who regard their birds as pets, a sign of more affluent times, and reflective of a culture where it is no longer expected that you have to rear your own food to assuage hunger. We may be able to source every possible type of foodstuff from a shop these days, but the yearning for getting back to nature is ever strong, and enjoying the company and shenanigans of ducks and geese can be a fulfilling part of achieving that.

Mallards in the house.

CHAPTER TWO

Why Keep Ducks and Geese?

Unless you are entirely driven by commercial need, why you should keep any type or breed of livestock is very much a personal matter. One’s predilections with regard to looks, the space and environment you have to offer, the taste of the meat (and in the case of ducks and geese, the eggs too), and the more intangible individual pleasure of preferring a small neat call duck or a majestic ponderous Toulouse goose, all come into play. There are further considerations, too. Overrun with slugs and snails? Ducks will be happy to eat them for you, although they may also decimate the plants you’re aiming to rid of guzzling gastropods. Keen to create a thick, even grass sward in a paddock, or deal with an excess of windfall fruit in an orchard? Geese could be your new best friends, as long as you protect the trees from their nibbling bills.

Geese are into everything.

Millhams, Dolton, September 1981. Documentary photo: James Ravilious/Beaford Archive

Ducks and geese.

THE RURAL SCENE

Don’t underestimate the pull of charm, tradition and the appreciation of the rural idyll. Having a few ducks or geese roaming your front yard, picking up worms, snails and pulling at grass and weeds, can add appreciably to your sense of wellbeing every time you look out of the window, arrive home, or spend time in your garden. It’s entirely possible to have ducks in an urban back garden, too, though do consider noise issues, and avoid very vocal birds such as call ducks.

Cleverer Than You Might Think

Ducks and geese might have a brain the size of a walnut, but they are surprisingly bright and have a very good memory. We frequently change where our ducks spend the day – front garden, back garden, permanent pen, and so on. When the ducks are let out in the morning all you have to do is usher them determinedly in the new direction and they clearly think ‘Oh, not like yesterday, but we remember that place, we were there six months ago, off we go!’ The geese see me coming into their field in the evening, and with no ushering at all make their way towards me and their hut, to be put to bed for the night. Chickens and turkeys are a lot more awkward in this respect than waterfowl.

Black East Indian ducks.

THE IMPACT OF DUCKS AND GEESE ON THE LAND

Ducks and geese are not interchangeable birds: geese are not simply large ducks, and their behaviour, personality, egg production, and impact on the land, and more, are very different. Historically sheep are said to be ‘golden-footed’, improving the ground wherever they walk, in particular with muck – although a re-wilding exponent might consider that they denude the landscape. But geese really do create an extraordinarily thick, neat sward, mucking copiously as they go, cropping the grass to an even height and creating grassland that looks more like a lawn than a paddock, although in a fastidious mood you may not want to stroll on it barefoot.

Geese have been used to keep the grass and weeds down in orchards and vineyards in many parts of the world, but their bills are the equivalent of a toddler’s fingers: into everything, and quite powerfully destructive if allowed access to anything you want to keep in one piece, such as specimen trees, saplings, the electrics of a livestock trailer, the underneath of your car, or roofing felt on a poultry hut. Protect anything and everything that you value, and take care to keep it out of a goose’s reach, including tree guards and fencing: removing the ‘don’t-want-it-nibbled’ object out of harm’s way is more effective than hope and crossed fingers. If you are trying to grow a wildflower meadow, they probably aren’t the grazers you need for that area until the hay has been cut, baled, and taken off the field.

Ducks have very different sward habits. Ducks dibble energetically when the ground is wet. They make holes in the ground with determined bills, and continue working at it until there is no more grass and plenty of mud. If you can move them, the grass will recover well – it has, after all, also been generously fertilized with duck poo – but ducks don’t so much create a lawn as damage it. To be fair, in dry weather ducks are well behaved on grass, but during and after rainfall the prospect of sifting wet mud through their bills drives them into a happy frenzy.

PRODUCTIVITY

The Golden Egg

From a completely subjective perspective, I think the duck egg reigns supreme when it comes to the egg gastronomy stakes, head and shoulders above the humble hen’s egg. The first duck eggs of the season mean a celebratory breakfast, whether boiled, fried or poached. Goose eggs tend to be not so popular – the sheer size of them can be rather off-putting unless you have a lunchtime omelette, frittata, or a dish of scrambled eggs for the multitude in mind; however, plenty of people disagree, and see the goose egg as the ultimate breakfast treat.

Eggs Benedict.

Aylesbury duck eggs.

Decorated goose eggs in the Pysanka Museum, Ukraine.

Contrary to popular imaginings, duck eggs are not only useful for baking, but can and should be used in exactly the same way as a hen’s egg if cooked for a slightly longer time because of their size. The old view is that they taste fishy, and so need to be baked in a disguising mix of flour, sugar and cake flavourings. However, this is not the case, and any fishy taste in times past was due to the ubiquitous fishmeal in their diet – and this is something you can easily avoid when choosing your poultry feed.

If you’re into delicate crafts, goose eggs provide a wonderful structure for decorating. Be inspired by Fabergé and more contemporary egg carvers, painters and enamellers.

Geese and Ducks as Table Birds

Geese and ducks are supreme table birds: they are ‘special occasion’ poultry, particularly goose, which is the Christmas dish of tradition, well before turkeys were imported from America. Wonderful birds for roasting, both birds produce fabulous fat for making the perfect accompaniment of the best, crispest roast potatoes. As delicious as a roast bird is, there are plenty of other possibilities too: seeChapter 14 for recipes.

AS PETS AND GUARDS

Geese and ducks can both make friendly pets if reared by hand from a very young age, preferably from, or soon after hatching. Known as imprinting, if handled regularly and gently when small, they will recognize and trust their handler, starting with their particular human, and are normally happy to transfer that devotion to a new owner. They will contentedly sit on you, come to you, and follow you around. This is particularly rewarding with ducks, because as a species they can be somewhat anxious, unless you can spend time with them and acclimatize them to your presence.

Call ducks.

The more you handle your birds, the tamer they will be. If you are interested in showing your birds there will be plenty of hands-on activity, so they will inevitably become quiet and used to handling. A question that is frequently asked is, ‘Which goose breed is the calmest and friendliest?’ I would suggest that it’s the handling, rather than the breed, that creates a pet out of your livestock, whether it’s a goose or a cow.

On one occasion I had a lone gosling hatch, and kept it in a crate next to my desk. I held it regularly, and it spent its time nibbling my hair, my earring, my clothes and my neck – a habit that became less enjoyable as it grew – and was altogether most affectionate. However, it proved impossible to put him back in with the flock, who bullied him mercilessly, even after many weeks of ‘safe’ introduction where they were kept side by side separated only by wire fencing. There can be a happier outcome, but don’t expect to be able to integrate birds that have been reared separately, whether male or female, every time.

Protective geese.

Gertie gosling.

Birds treated as livestock rather than as pets are unlikely to lose their innate wariness of their keepers: it’s all part of the evolutionary survival instinct. This brings us on to guarding. Geese are traditionally known as ‘guard’ creatures. Spend a little time with a flock and they will approach strangers and their owners alike with a hiss, necks stretched out in warning. The boldest of farmers, happy to handle a ton of bull, can be wary of a goose on a mission, and my large dogs are sensibly circumspect where our geese are concerned, giving them a wide berth when required to walk past them.

However, although any goose can nip you painfully – I’ve been bitten by a gander just once in thirty years of goose keeping, but once was enough! – their role as guard is predominantly about making plenty of noise as people approach, which alerts the owner to something being amiss.

Young Children and Geese Don’t Mix

A word of warning. The friendliest of goslings, both male and female, become protective and potentially aggressive during the mating season once they reach breeding age. If you have young children, geese are only suitable if you can keep them apart from your toddler; a goose in protective mood will break your skin with its bill, even through a thick pair of jeans.

Pros and Cons of Ducks and Geese

DucksGeeseFeedDepending on breed, can be greedyGrass makes up the majority of their diet; this needs supplementing in winterGender identification (if vent sexing is not an option)Can be done by voice from around seven weeksCan take up to six months to identify gender by behaviour, unless an autosexing breedSuitable around young childrenYesNoImpact on landNegative in wet weather – and lots of poo Keep slugs and snails downPositive – and plenty of poo but spread over a wider areaEasy to sourceYes, as hatching eggs or birds, although you may have to be flexible on breedFairly easy, as hatching eggs or birds, although you may have to be flexible on breedEggsDepending on breed, can lay up to 300 eggs a yearLay 30–40 eggs in the springSizePlenty of choice from light to heavy breedsPlenty of choice from light to heavy breedsMeatVarious meat bird breeds available. The smaller varieties are not really worth the effort of plucking, but would still taste wonderfulAll geese are suitable for meat (some have a bigger carcase than others). Tastes delicious. Can be a cheap way of rearing costly meatHousingNeed secure housing NoNeed secure housingFox-proofNoNoLifespanEight to twelve years, although six years is more usual, particularly for larger breedsUp to twenty years or more, although twelve to fifteen is more usualMaternal/paternal traitsSome ducks never seem to go broody – how they survive is a mystery. Domestic drakes are mainly uninterested in their youngGeese are mostly good brooders. Ganders are excellent parentsNoise levelsVaries significantly by breed. All are noisy when mating and when disturbed. Some are noisy much of the timeQuiet much of the day, but noisy when let out of their hut and when they encounter people/threatsPondMuch enjoyed but not essential; provide if you can, particularly to facilitate breeding in heavy breedsMuch enjoyed but not essential, although ideal for the breeding season; provide if you canSpace requirementsEstimate at twelve to twenty large-breed ducks per half acre if living on that ground permanently. If you have large ponds or lakes, figures of fifteen to twenty-five ducks per acre of water are normally givenEight to sixteen adults to the acre (twenty to forty per hectare). Can be higher numbers depending on quality and density of the sward and size of the breedWeatherDon’t mind the wet or cold, but not keen on ice/snowDon’t mind the wet or cold, but not keen on ice/snowGuardsIneffectiveAlerts the owner to disturbance/visitorsEntertainment value (entirely subjective)HighModerateKeep with other poultry?Ducks can be kept with chickensGeese should be kept on their own patch of land

SUPPORTING RARE AND NATIVE BREEDS

There are sixteen breeds of duck (of which six are a priority breed) and eleven of goose (all of which have priority status) on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust watchlist, giving you many options if you want to play a part in supporting our more endangered breeds. (SeeChapter 6 for more detail on breeds.)

Going for the Exotic

There are many beautiful ornamental and exotic ducks and geese available (seeChapter 3 about the relevant legal requirements) as long as they have been bred in captivity and have not been taken from the wild. There are various whistling, diving, dabbling, sea and perching ducks, stifftails, teal, shelducks and more, plus a whole raft of wild geese, from the Emperor to the Snow Goose, that attract enthusiasts. Many have wonderful coloration, unusual bill and body shapes, and they require additional knowledge as to their preferred habitats, breeding and feeding behaviours. It is prohibited to keep the North American Ruddy Duck in Europe in order to protect the native White-headed Duck, and the Egyptian Goose because of its ability to hybridize with other goose and duck species and out-compete native fauna for food and nesting sites.

Shetland geese – a priority rare breed.

Appleyard duck in a laundry basket.