Customer Reviews

Ducks: Tending a Small-Scale Flock for Pleasure and Profit (Hobby Farms)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the duck How-to book that I'd recommend to any novice. Especially, for anyone who wants Ducks for pets. It covers the basics well. Having never raised ducks before, this was just the book I was looking for.

The author Cherie Langlois, writes in a humorous and easy to read fashion. In this book she covers duck personality, choosing the right ducks, housing, dietary needs, breeding, duckling care, flock health, harvesting your duck eggs, endangered duck breeds and duck diseases. There is also a well researched duck resource directory and a nice glossary of duck jargon.

This book is put together on glossy, flexible and thick paperstock. It will easily suvive repeated reading or referencing. It has a multitude of color photographs throughout too.

The few things I would've liked to see in this book were more about pond building and perhaps photo's of all the different breeds. Tho, I know that this information would constitute another whole book! If you also want information on detailed pond building or more information on the individual duck breeds- I'd buy this book along with 'Duck & Geese for Beginners' by Rick Luttmann (has detailed pond building info), and perhaps a copy of Carol Ekarius' 'Storey's Illustrated Poultry Breeds' book. This book along with the aforementioned would complete your duck for pets reference library. If you want to take your passion for ducks further (ie professional breeding or showing), you will want to pair this with the 'Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks' by Dave Holderread.

Highly recommend this one!

Length:: 2:28 Mins

Some things I wish I would have known before buying the book.

This book gives an excellent overview for those contemplating getting ducks, but also contains valuable information for duck owners. I particularly appreciated her reminder to regularly check pen fencing for holes--if you live in an area relatively free of predators, it is easy to forget how important this chore is; and I enjoyed visiting the sites she listed in the resources section. Langlois covers a wide array of topics in a well-written and easy-to-read book.

I found this book to be incredibly informative on making first of all an educated decision on if I should have ducks on my property, to how to know what kind would be apropriate for what I would like to do with them and then making sure I have created the correct environment for my ducks.

I appreciated Cherie Langlois, the authors personal touch and humor throughout the book having raised many ducks of her own. The "Advice from the farm" was very interesting and helpful and I enjoyed the details for example nutritional facts, endangered ducks and first aid disease control. The book was very well researched and will make a great reference for years to come.

I found this book very helpful in knowing what I needed to know to raise ducks. I love the author's amusing style, she makes the whole thing fun. I definitely recommend this book for any duck owners, or future duck owners!