Wild Ducks Part 1

Wild Ducks.

by W. Coape Oates.

PREFACE

The main object of this book is to a.s.sist those who are anxious to rear wild ducks on economical lines. The Author is not without hope that the pages which it contains may even be of some use to old hands at the game.

CHAPTER I

SELECTION OF STOCK AND THEIR HOME

The first point to be decided by the would-be owner of wild-fowl is the locality where he intends to turn down his stock.

Wild-fowl can undoubtedly be reared far from any large piece of water, but I am strongly of opinion that birds do better on a good-sized stretch of water with a stream running into it and out of it. Given these advantages, the running water must be constantly bringing a fresh supply of food, especially after a fall of rain sufficiently heavy to cause a rise of water; further, if the stream which runs out of our lake empties itself into a large river, the latter will, when it floods or rises rapidly, cause our stream to back up and bring in a further supply of food from the main river.

Some morning the ducks are absent from their accustomed haunts, and if we walk up to the spot where the stream enters the lake, ten to one we shall find our birds there thoroughly enjoying some duck-weed or other food swept down by a rise in the water.

This supply of fresh food is a gratifying source of economy to the grain bill at the end of the year, and it is most fascinating to watch the birds "standing on their heads" in their endeavours to reach this change of diet.

Another great advantage, too, is that a far higher percentage of fertile eggs will be obtained if the ducks have a large piece of water at their disposal.

Given these advantages, it is, however, most necessary for the birds to have some shelter near the lake, both as a protection against the weather and to serve as suitable nesting places.

Nothing, for instance, could be better than a stackyard or paddock in the vicinity of the water, and if the paddock is bounded by a flood bank or tall hedge, giving shelter from the prevailing wind, so much the better.

Ducks love to nest in stacks, and I have known a pinioned bird work her way up the side of a stack and make her nest fifteen feet from the ground. In stacks birds can burrow so deep that no weather, however inclement, can damage the eggs.

Outhouses too are very favourite places for ducks to lay in; also old stick heaps and the bottom of thick hedges. My main point is this, that if you take the trouble to regularly feed your wild ducks morning and evening and keep them quiet, you will soon find that you can get them _to lay where you want them to lay_, and the places you select will naturally be those where they are secure, or nearly so, from their natural enemies, such as rats, cats, weasels, moles, and other vermin.

This is the first secret of success.

I have seen wild ducks so tame that within a fortnight from the time they first joined my own birds they were eating maize close to my feet.

Having obtained my piece of water and decided on the spot where I mean to feed my birds, the next step is to get the breeding stock.

I consider that the best time to purchase the stock is December, as this gives ample time for the birds to pair and get used to their surroundings before the breeding season commences; one is almost sure to get some cold weather in January, and the cold will make the birds more dependent on the food given to them, and therefore more easily managed.

Next as to the stock and where to get it.

I advise you to obtain your birds from different places, two or three birds from each place, taking care to get fairly young birds, and not older than, say, two years. By this means you will get a certain amount of change of blood, particularly during the second season, when the different broods, which have been well mixed at hatching time, pick their mates and breed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMING IN TO FEED]

I believe that this method is more satisfactory than buying eggs in the first instance, as in the latter case you cannot tell for certain how long the eggs you purchase have been laid, nor what the birds are like which laid them. We next come to the question of the proportion of drakes to ducks. On a small piece of water, one drake to every three ducks will do very well, but if you have at your disposal a large lake, I am strongly in favour of plenty of drakes, say fifteen drakes to every twenty ducks. Most of the birds will pair, though occasionally one finds as many as three drakes paying court to one duck, and one drake taking away two or even three ducks.

It will generally be found, however, that if any of your ducks are without mates, wild birds will soon come and pair with them, and this is, of course, just what you want. I have adopted this principle for some time, and practically all the eggs collected are fertile. It will be found that at times--particularly whilst the ducks are sitting--the drakes are a great nuisance, but at this period one can always catch them and shut them up.

The next point to be considered is as to what food is best for breeding birds, and I say unhesitatingly maize. There is practically no waste, and you have not the mortification of seeing crowds of sparrows swoop down on your ducks' food as you turn away.

Better still, ducks lay capitally on maize, and you may calculate on obtaining an average of twenty-three to twenty-four eggs apiece from your ducks if fed carefully.

You will find that strange ducks when they first join your own will not eat maize, though they soon take to it when they see your own birds feeding.

It is easy to tell the advent of a stranger by this peculiarity, and by his generally alert and suspicious manner.

I am a strong believer in the infusion of fresh blood each year, and this is easily done by catching a few stranger drakes and pinioning them. These birds, if kept up until their wound is healed, and then enlarged in good time, will pair with your own birds and often become very tame. I did not find that pinioning strange ducks answered so well, as they were very p.r.o.ne to stray and lay their eggs at a distance, and their young were always shy and difficult to tame; moreover, the ducks never bred the first year after pinioning, whereas the drakes did. It is quite a simple matter to catch these wild birds; you have only to construct an ordinary wire-covered cage, somewhere near the water, and with the face nearest the water closed by a door; you then accustom your own birds to feed inside this cage, and you will soon find that in winter they will come for food as soon as it is light, or rather just as day is breaking, always provided that you feed them at that time.

You have been careful to leave the door of the cage open over night, and have put some maize inside the cage. A strong cord attached to the door is pa.s.sed across the doorway and round a wooden "runner" on the opposite post, and then to the back of the cage, where your man lies concealed.

Often during severe weather, which is always the best for this kind of work, your own birds will be followed by one or two strangers, who in the half light come inside the cage before realising their mistake. Once you get them inside the cage with their heads away from the entrance, pull the string and shut the door. Care should be taken that the string is fairly high up, so as not to catch the duck's eye. Having got your birds safely inside, catch them quietly and quickly, and having pinioned them, take them, if possible, to a cage with some part of it projecting out into the water. You, of course, feed them regularly, and are careful to give them some artificial cover to skulk in, as for some time the pain of the wound and the fright they have had makes them terribly shy.

This cage, once constructed, is most useful for such work, and can be built at trifling cost, and the size I would recommend is about fifteen yards long by five yards wide, with a height of five or six feet. Your own birds soon get used to their part of the business, and, if you are quiet and quick, soon get over their nervousness.

The advantage of confining your captives for a short time is obvious.

They get used to their surroundings and recognise the lake as their new home, and soon take to their diet of maize, so that when you liberate them they rarely give much trouble, and readily mate with your own birds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAGE]

One very important point which I have omitted to mention is the necessity to kill down all rats, hedge-hogs, moles, and weasels in the vicinity of your breeding places. Rats are the ducks' worst enemies, and I have known one old doe rat which had no less than sixteen wild ducks'

eggs in her larder when she was dug out and killed. All these eggs had a small hole in them, and were of course spoilt. We proved conclusively that she had no partner in her crimes, as we never lost another egg after her death. Rats are a perfect curse to young ducks, and they will carry them off even when they are half-grown, occasionally killing two or three ducklings in a single night without even taking the trouble to remove them. On another occasion I remember a rat killing a duck whilst sitting on her nest; the unfortunate bird had allowed herself to be killed apparently without moving.

Moles do a good deal of damage by burrowing under the nests, thus forming a cavity into which the eggs fall; they are then carried off by the mole. More than this, many a duck is either put off laying or induced to desert her nest when sitting owing to the restless movements of this little pest.

A last word as regards the numbers you should retain as a breeding stock. This largely depends on the size of the piece of water you own and the amount of food it can supply to your birds. If your stock is too large, your birds will do a lot of harm to the meadows adjoining the water, and you must bear in mind that the possession of the goodwill of the farmers round is the second secret of success. Ensure this, and you don't get eggs stolen, and, better still, you are informed of the whereabouts of any truant ducks that may be nesting away from home.

A present of a couple of fat wild ducks will cover a mult.i.tude of their sins.

LAYING AND SITTING

[Ill.u.s.tration: _W.L. Colls. Ph. Sc._

"_On Guard._"]

CHAPTER II

LAYING AND SITTING

We now come to the time when the ducks, having paired, show an inclination to look for suitable nesting places. The drake takes the lead in this, and you may be sure that when you see birds peering about in hedge bottoms, stick heaps, &c., that eggs will soon be laid.