Raising Ducks

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Free-Ranging Ducks 101: Everything You Need to Know

Freedom. Happiness. In the duck world, nothing exemplifies these ideals like the practice of free-ranging. The idyllic vision of ducks frolicking joyfully in green pastures is irresistible. At the same time, free-ranging can be dangerous, so it’s a controversial topic. Some people are dead set against anyone free-ranging their ducks; …

How to Sex Ducks and Ducklings: What Works and What Doesn’t

One of the first questions that comes up when people get new ducks is, “What sex are they?” Identifying the sex of ducks, especially ducklings, can be difficult. In this article, I’ll cover two methods for sexing ducklings (plus seven methods that don’t work, are unreliable, or are only small …

How to Feed Ducklings

A proper diet is one of the most important parts of giving your new ducklings a healthy, happy start in life. Fortunately, it’s not rocket science. Here are the four components of a healthy, balanced duckling diet, ten things you shouldn’t feed your ducklings, how much to feed them, how …

Cayuga Duck

The Cayuga is almost umistakable, with its solid black bill and feet and its beautiful black feathers that gleam luminescent green in bright light. These unique, stunning ducks have been classified as “Threatened” by the The Livestock Conservancy for many years, but in 2020 were upgraded to the “Watch” classification. …

Why aren’t my ducks laying eggs? 15 reasons

Ducks lay eggs. Except when they don’t.

Why aren’t my ducks laying? Why did my ducks suddenly stop laying? When will my ducks lay? Shouldn’t my ducks be laying more eggs than this? It’s one of the most frustrating issues people have with their ducks, and also one of the most frequent complaints I hear.

The answer is here. Every “my ducks aren’t laying eggs!” case I’ve ever heard of can be attributed to one or more of these fifteen causes:

Aggressive Ducks: Why drakes attack and how to permanently stop aggression

You’re wondering how you can walk in your yard without Mr. Macho tearing a gash in your leg with his razor-sharp talons and leaving nasty dark bruises with his hard, twisting bite. You don’t want to resort to inviting your beloved drake for dinner. Neither do you want to become …

Australian Spotted Duck

Australian Spotted ducks are critically endangered and underappreciated, despite their beauty, friendliness, and adorable Call-like conformation. Less than 1000 birds exist, and there are only around 500 breeding birds. Australian Spotted ducks are very friendly, one of the hardiest of duck breeds, adventurous, long-lived, and good foragers. They can also …

Can ducks lay 2+ eggs in one day? (You’ll be surprised!)

Everybody knows ducks lay one egg a day. If you exclaim excitedly, “My duck laid two eggs today!” you’ll probably get funny looks, if you’re talking to people who know anything whatsoever about ducks. They’ll tell you, no, ducks never lay two eggs in a day.

But they’d be wrong.

Once in a while, a duck owner will get one more egg than the amount of female ducks they have.

Can a duck really lay two eggs in one day?

Surprisingly, yes.

Saxony Duck

The Saxony duck is a heavy duck breed, one of the best dual-purpose breeds there is. Their status is listed as threatened by The Livestock Conservancy, meaning there are less than 1000 known breeding birds in the United States and likely less than 5000 worldwide. In 2013, Germany recorded 1173 …

Abacot Ranger Duck

Abacot Rangers are extremely rare, beautiful, dual-purpose light ducks. They’re wonderful egg-layers, good for meat, good foragers, long-lived, friendly, hardy, and absolutely gorgeous. They’re also known as the Hooded Ranger in America, the Streicherente or Streicher in Germany, and the La Canard Streicher in France. Abacot Rangers are active foragers, …

Ancona Duck

The Ancona duck is a large dual-purpose duck breed that’s beautiful, friendly, excellent at foraging, and has recently been experiencing a surge of popularity. For a long time, they were listed by the American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC) as “critically endangered.” However, a census taken by the ALBC in 2015 …