There are many reasons for keeping ducks and geese. Not only are they beautiful, but they will entertain you with their antics. The ducks will eat those pesky slugs and snails, and the geese will control your overgrown grass. They will produce abundant eggs for eating or decorating, and they can supply you with down for pillows and meat for your table. Geese can be used for guard duties too, as shown on national TV. Both ducks and geese can be exhibited and many of ours have done very well in shows. And last but not least, they can make very fun pets!

Starting the baby ducklings and goslings is not difficult. For smaller numbers all you need is a large cardboard box, some shavings or straw, a heat lamp, a feeder and a waterer. As they grow, they will need more space and less heat. Observe the birds - if they stay away from the heat, turn it off - if they get their pen messy rapidly, they need more bedding and more space. By five or six weeks they can probably be outside all the time in good weather. A growing instruction sheet will be sent with your order.

Many people dream of having a swimming pond for their ducks and geese. There are several things to consider, however, before starting to dig your pond.

The first thing to consider is how you will clean your pond. If it is a large farm pond it should be periodically flushed, especially if you have more than 20-30 birds/acre. This can be done from well water or naturally flowing water. The maximum number of ducks is 100 per acre of water. Excessive numbers of ducks rapidly pollute the water and the edges are quickly destroyed from their dabbling.

Smaller ponds are best if they are cement lined with a drain in the bottom. It is also wise to have an overflow pipe so if the pond becomes too full, the excess water goes out the overflow pipe and does not spill over the edge of your pond. Gravel or sand should be spread around the edge of the pond so less mud and mess is produced there.

Ducks and geese will eat almost any plant, especially if it is the only vegetation around. The following plants seem to be the most indestructible and hardy if planted in a waterfowl pen:

• In their pen: ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), silverweed (Potentilla anserina), camomile species (Matricaria), large leafed butterbur (Petasites).
• On pond edge: day lilies (Hemercallis), yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus), tall perennial grass euialia (miscanthus).
• For nests: stinging nettle, butterur and smartweed
• Protection from wind and sun: Low growing conifers, Chinese Juniper, Dwarf Pine

Very few medications are approved by the USDA for use with waterfowl. This is because, relative to the chicken and turkey industries, the waterfowl industry is very small and the drug companies could not justify the money they would have to spend to obtain approval by the USDA. The drugs approved for ducks are chlortetracycline (Aureomycin), neomycin (Neomix), novobiocin (Albon, Albac, Albamix) and ormetoprim-sulfadimethoxine (Rofenaid). There are no drugs approved for geese.

Remember that waterfowl consume more water per pound of body weight than chickens or turkeys. So you need to dilute the recommend dosages for chickens or turkeys or you might overmedicate. Overmedicating or mixing incompatible drugs may have serious consequences so be very careful with your medicating.

The egg production of ducks varies tremendously due to genetics and management. The genetics depends on the breed chosen and the selection the breeder has used. The management factors that most affect egg production are 1) Good quality of feed. 2) Proper quantity of feed. For maximum production a duck must have limited feed from 3 weeks of age until they are laying well - no more than .33 pounds of feed/ duck/day for the larger strains. Otherwise they become overweight with egg production, fertility and hatchability suffering. Once they are laying well they can have as much as they want to eat. 3) Proper lighting. An increasing day length (January - June) brings sexually mature ducks into egg production and a decreasing day length (July-December) slows or stops their egg production. To prevent this from happening, natural light needs to be supplemented with artificial light in the morning and evening so the laying duck has 17 total hours of light a day. This increase in light can be made at 20-23 weeks of age (larger ducks require more time to mature sexually). If you provide your ducks with a stress free environment and follow the above three points you should be well on your way to a high egg producing flock of ducks.