Customer Reviews

Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Holderread's book is extremely helpful in giving you all the information necessary to raise ducks. The book gives info on why to raise, features, behavior, breeds, hybrids, colors, acquiring stock, incubation, rearing ducklings, managing adults, feeds, butchering, health and physical problems, and duck shows. It also gives recipes, ways to use feathers, and sources for ducks, equipment, feed, etc. He gives stories from his childhood duck experiences, too.

Being a complete beginner, I bought this book along with ten mallard ducklings July 2001. They are now completely grown, healthy, pretty, happy, friendly, etc! They are laying eggs and hatching them now, too. Each has it's own distinct personality. One's even a lap duck!

I really recommend ducks as pets, livestock, or decoration. If you have the time and money, you should buy your own little flock. They will be so much fun, and with this book, you'll keep them happy.

Well written and put together. This book is for the beginner as well as intermediate domestic duck keepers. Has everything from care and housing to breeding and basic genetics in an easy to understand format. If you've read Raising the Home Duck Flock by Dave Holderread... and found it of use, you'll love this one. He's revised the previous edition with the newest up-to-date information available for domestic waterfowl.

This book has something for everyone. If your buying ducks as pets or for a large scale operation this book will give you the knowledge you desire. It covers incubation, raising ducklings, feeders, waterers, housing, sanitation, breeds, behavior, genetics, anatomy of the duck, breeding, butchering, sexing, diet, and much more. Even more impressive than what this book covers in under 300 pages is how easy it is to read. Mr. Holderread has written a book easy enough that a 12 year old can become a duck expert. If you are thinking or raising a couple ducks or hundreds this is the only book you will ever need.

Writing a book called "Raising Ducks" is a challenging task, because it's written for several audiences with different needs. Are you wanting to keep Khaki Campbell ducks in your urban backyard for eggs? Do you want to breed Indian Runners to show at the State Fair? Are you a smallholder who wants to branch out into raising Pekins for your own table and for market? Do you just want to keep a pet duck?

Holderread attempts to write to all of these audiences, risking both overwhelming and shorting the readers who just want a few ducks and really aren't familiar with keeping animals or are unsure of themselves. He does little hand-holding, leaving research into the details of available equipment and the like to the reader.

But I think this book is an excellent resource for any keeper of ducks. Some portions will be less useful, but I've not been able to find another book with as much detailed information. I consider "Raising Ducks" to be the bible of the small-scale duck keeper.

"Raising Ducks" opens with a survey of the duck and the wide variety of domestic breeds... and consumes nearly one third of the book. Much of this information is about showing ducks, which is of little to no use to anyone but those wanting to show ducks. And if that's not enough, another forty-some pages, nearly a sixth of the book, is devoted to duck genetics and breeding. This piece is valuable to the show breeder, but comes at a tediously poor place. Were I the editor, this would have been the final chapter... why learn about duck color genetics before you even know how to raise and keep them?

In short, if you pick up the book already knowing what breed of duck you want, read the "Why ducks?" chapter just for the warm fuzzies of knowing you've chosen wisely, then skip straight to page 142, and "Acquiring stock". Skim through the duck breeds when you have more time, and completely ignore "Understanding duck colors" unless you're bored.

That all sounds a bit negative, but you'll note, I gave this book four stars, and I called it "excellent" in the title of this review.

Now we get to the meat of the book as far as the title is concerned, it's "Raising Ducks" not "Showing" or "Breeding"... over 150 pages concerning the actual raising and care of ducks. And Holderread seems to have his ducks in a row, based on many years of experience. Throw out all those parts I recommended you skip and I'd still pay cover price for the remainder.

As of this writing, I have eight beautiful, ten-day-old Khaki Campbell ducks. I've read most of the latter half of the book twice or three times. Holderread has answered most of my questions, given me a good foundation, and confidence that I'm taking care of my ducks well. Sometimes he doesn't seem to have a lot to say on a subject, but he does say that ducks are simple creatures to care for... in these cases, I think there just isn't anything more of use to say.

He does repeat himself, but it's a good thing... you'll find specific nutrition information in the chapters on raising ducklings and managing adults, and again in a separate chapter on nutrition. I find this handy... when reading about ducklings, the information is right there. And when wanting to survey nutrition as a whole from hatching to laying, it's all right there, with no flipping between chapters.

All in all, I'm very glad to have this book available to me. I checked it out from the library and after reading only part of it ordered my own copy. It was clear that I needed this resource in my personal collection.

I would have given this book five stars if:

It had color photos of the breeds. Plumage color is talked about extensively, but no photos of the color in question are provided.

Holderread's writing had been a tad clearer. There's one place concerning the feeding of ducks a lower-protein ration for health reasons if you don't need maximum growth, but it's very unclear as to whether that applies during the first two weeks. There are a couple very minor places where he may be contradicting himself, or he may be referring to the same thing in different circumstances.

If it'd given more attention to what does and doesn't work for ducks... bedding, equipment made for chickens, etc. I've done a lot of trial and error... I still haven't found a bedding material I'm happy with, both the first waterer and feeder didn't quite work for ducks (all the waterers and feeders are made for chicks, which don't have big bills). Yeah, a little more hand-holding here would have been helpful.

UPDATE: (06/2011) (It's three years later, and my opinion of this book remains unchanged. Holderreed is my bible, and it got me through three good years of keeping Khaki Campbells. When I gave my ducks to another family (we needed a break, they had a lone duck that needed friends) I made sure to give them my copy of "Raising Ducks". If I decide to get another flock in the future, the first thing I'll do is buy another copy of "Raising Ducks". I wouldn't keep ducks without this book at hand.)

I highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely considering raising ducks. It reviews all the basics regarding care, and it has an exceptional section on ailments that has saved the lives of some rescued ducks that we took in.

It is easy to understand and well organized, and I refer to it often--even now that I've become a more experienced owner.

When I ordered this book I was looking for a really detailed book for the novice on rearing young ducklings for pets/eggs. This book covered a VERY basic bit (one small chapter on rearing ducklings) & after reading it I still felt like I didn't know enough about the actual rearing of baby ducklings. I also wanted photo's and info on the different types of waterers for baby ducklings and photo's of homemade brooders for small scale duck rearing. Which this book didn't have. I also wish this book had more information and more photo's of equipment needed for rearing mail-order ducklings. I felt that many parts of this book were more for those wanting to breed ducks on a bit larger scale. It has lots of information on duck genetic phenotypes, duck colors and basic duck genetics. Being someone who just wants a few ducks for pets, I felt this was a bit over my head and more for someone who wants to raise, show & sell ducks professionally.

In my opinion the best area of this book is the information on many different duck breeds. The information on the breeds included a description, varieties of the breed, selecting breeders, selecting & preparing each breed for show and some author comments.

Among the other info included in this book: butchering, duck health, showing, mixing rations and signs of vitamin and mineral deficiencies in ducks. There's also a nice chapter on predators of ducks. This book also has a nice Duck Breeder and Hatchery Guide source index which was very helpful.

Overall, I would buy this book again.

This book is at my bedside. I refer to it all the time. Dave know his waterfowl and his book is packed with information. If you buy just one book on ducks this is the one. It is a great book for the beginner to the advanced duck keeper.

ok people >>> I knew nothing abought ducks But got 10 of them to raise.. had chickens .. so was not w/o some basic knowledge about fowl.. however I was really looking for far more basic knowledge then this book gives out .. you will find lots of info about types of ducks their ansectory .. breed lines .. how to of breeding and some general info about needs .. I needed something like "duck raising for Dummies " and di not think this provided it.So if your looking for that ,,THIS IS NOT THE BOOK TO BUY,, if your looking for something that covers Breeds and Breeding .. ASSUME YOUR PAST THE "WILL THEY LIVE STAGE?' THEN buy it used you'll have good info .. ..

If you are even thinking about raising ducks, you must have this book. It covers everything you need to know. It's well written and is hard to put down once you start. You can't go wrong with this one. Well worth the money!

I highly recommend this book. Dave Holderread really knows his ducks. This book is a must for the duck enthusiast, no matter what breed you're interested in. I would also recommend purchasing your ducks from Dave, especially if you're just starting out, his ducks prove that he knows what he's doing. Check the directory in the back of the book for a whole flock of the best duck breeders out there!