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Wonderful Waterfowl By – Bill Karcher This column is designed to give you some helpful hints on managing your waterfowl. This edition will deal with mature ducks. I am finding many students and adults interested in keeping the duck 4-H projects into the second year in the hopes of hatching some offspring. This is very doable. Keep in mind, you have a great influence on the success of this project. March is typically when most adult ducks come into production, with the warming days and the increasing day length, Mother Nature is giving your ducks all the right signals. You need to offer to your flock lots of fresh water, a balanced breeder ration, clean, dry bedding and lots of care. The water you offer needs to be open, not frozen. It doesn’t need to be deep for swimming, but adequate depth to drink and clean their nostrils. A practical container is the soft rubber tubs you get at TSC or a farm supply store. When they freeze, simply turn them over, push on the tub with your boot and the ice will come free. Normally there is no need to offer any medication in the water this time of year. As the flock comes into egg production, you will see a drastic increase in water intake. A balanced breeder ration is critical. You are feeding for the drakes, the amino acid level and vitamin levels are raised in a breeder ration to get the best fertility and embryo strength. To minimize waste, I encourage you to feed a complete pellet. Keep the feeder on the opposite side of the pen from the water, again helping to limit waste. Give the ducks all the feed they want, DO NOT limit the feed. Water intake directly follows feed consumption and you do not want your birds to run out of either ingredient! We recognize that waterfowl loves the water, but be aware that for quality hatching eggs and good breeder health, they need to have dry feet! Whether you are using straw or shavings, you want to offer lots of clean bedding often during the breeding season. Ducks lay their eggs on the floor and dirty floor conditions yield dirty eggs, high bacteria counts and poor hatchability. Ducks tend to lay their eggs after midnight and are usually finished by 9:00 a.m. Especially with the cold mornings, you will want to gather your eggs by 7:00 a.m. to avoid freezing. Gather your eggs, keep them in a cool, moist place (like a basement/root cellar) prior to setting the eggs. I would recommend holding eggs up to, but not more than 7 days. Prior to setting the eggs, wash the eggs in bleach water. The ideal temperature is 105 degrees; use about 1 capful of bleach in 1 gallon of wash water (No Soap!). Submerge the eggs and gently rub them in your hands (you might want to wear rubber gloves). Get as much dirt and foreign material off the shell as you can in a short time. I would tell you not to submerge the eggs for more than 3 minutes. Remove them from the wash water, rinse in a second container of clear bleach water (105 degrees), and then allow to air dry. Placing the eggs on egg flats on the side works well. Do not use a wash rag or a towel; you will force bacteria into the shell doing that. Now you are ready to set the eggs in your incubator. At 10 days of incubation, you can candle the eggs and you should see good strong veining as well as the developing heart! Manage your incubator closely and in 28 days, you will have your first ducklings!