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

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

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Book Summary Information

Author: Dave Holderread
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2000-11-08
ISBN: 158017258X
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC

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

Book Review: An excellent foundation, and a must for anyone wanting to own ducks.
Summary: 4 Stars

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.

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

For 17 years readers have turned to Storey Books for advice on raising animals. Our Modern Way series of six books has sold more than 1,000,000 copies. In an effort to provide readers with the best how-to animal books on the market we are completely updating all six Modern Way titles and reintroducing them as part of our Guide to Raising series.

Written by experts, these guides give novice and experienced livestock farmers all they need to know to successfully keep and profit from animals. Each book includes information on selection, housing, space requirements, breeding and birthing techniques, feeding, behavior, and health concerns and remedies for illness. The books also address the business of raising animals -- processing meat, milk, eggs, and more. The authors were chosen not only for their expertise but also for their ability to explain the ins and outs of animal husbandry in an inviting and authoritative manner.

Whether readers are ready to start an entire herd or flock or are considering purchasing their first animal, Storey's Guide to Raising series offers vital information; each book is an indispensable reference.

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