Mary Allen
Ducks have been kept in human care for thousands of years. The attitudes have always changed. Today, by law, domestic ducks must have access to swimming. But not only that.
Ducks used to swim around in open waters surrounding farms. This picture has become rare. Not all ducks have access to running water, but according to the law, from the sixth week of life, they need a place to swim with clean water during the day all year round. A small tub is not enough. The tank or pond must have a minimum area of two square meters, which is enough for up to five animals. The pond depth should be at least 40 centimeters. If available, natural surface water that is on the property is also suitable. It is important to have a non-slip entry and exit, which makes access easier for young animals in particular.
As a further requirement for keeping ducks, the legislator prescribes drinking bowls with clean water, which have a large opening so that the animals can immerse their whole heads to drink. Furthermore, absorbent bedding is required in the stables, which is spread over more than 20 percent of the area, since ducks, like chickens, roost at night, i.e. go to a raised perch or a tree to sleep.
The duck coop should be sufficiently well lit with daylight from windows to be at least five lux bright, which is the minimum legal requirement. A laying nest must be provided for the adult ducks. The pasture must consist of renewable turf. The minimum area for an enclosure is ten square meters, with at least five square meters per animal. When the sun is strong and the air temperature is over 25 degrees, ducks must have a shady spot under which all animals can find space at the same time.
Fish, Snails, Duckweed
According to specialist author Horst Schmidt (“Grand and waterfowl”), an adult duck needs at least 1.25 liters of water per day. In flowing water, the animals absorb many nutrients from the stream. They eat small fish, frogspawn, snails, or water fleas. They prefer to frolic in a stream that is one meter deep. If the water surface is large enough, the ducks can eat up to a kilo of aquatic plants per day, such as duckweed.
When grazing, ducks do not stop at slugs and eat them with relish. Grain is used as an important source of energy when feeding ducks. Maize is also an excellent feed, but if it is used to the end in fattening, the body fat turns an intense yellow and takes on a special taste that is not always desired. In any case, the corn kernels must be given broken up for admission. As an alternative, boiled potatoes or carrots are suitable as additional food.
A duck’s digestive tract is around 30 percent longer than that of a chicken. That is why ducks can use green fodder better than chickens. An adult duck can digest up to 200 grams of greens a day. When keeping ducks, the arrangement of feed and water troughs is extremely important. These should be set up as far apart as possible so that the water and food are not constantly mixed and there is a great deal of disorder.
Long Story, Many Names
Except for the musk duck, today’s domestic ducks all descend from the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). Expert Horst Schmidt writes that the first evidence of ducks being kept in human care is over 7000 years old. These are bronze sculptures that were found in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, and Syria. In India, on the other hand, ancient characters were found that indicate duck-like figures. More clues come from China.
According to Schmidt, however, the duck was certainly domesticated in Egypt. The economic importance of keeping ducks was still low in the Middle Ages. It was not until the empire of Charlemagne that precise statistics were kept about the stock. At that time, the tithe, i.e. the ten percent tax paid to the church or king, was often paid in the form of ducks. This is documented by monastery records, in which domestic ducks appear frequently.
The second wild form that has been domesticated alongside the mallard is the musk duck (Cairina moschata). The domesticated form is still very close to the wild today. Musk ducks were kept by Indian peoples in Central and South America before the discovery of America and are said to have been found primarily in Peru and Mexico. Depending on the location, they had a different name. In North Africa, it was known as “Berber duck” and the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 – 1605) once called it “Duck from Cairo”. Soon she was also given the name “Turkish duck”.
The list of many names also includes the muskrat. Due to the red skin and warts on the face, there were also designations such as red-skinned and warty ducks, with the latter having prevailed in the pedigree poultry standard for Europe. In the vernacular, she is often referred to as a mute, because she does not make any actual sounds, but only hisses.
The warty duck is still considered a reliable breeder today. The breeds descended from the mallard are quite different. There the breeding instinct remained only in the pygmy and high-breeding Muscovy ducks. With the attitude in human care, the body proportions have changed.
The wild mallard weighs a maximum of 1.4 kilos, but today the largest fattened ducks can reach a weight of up to five kilos. However, the growth intensity has been promoted to such an extent that the fattening period has been shortened and some ducks are ready for slaughter after just six weeks. The breeders have even trimmed individual flocks of runner ducks so much for a high laying performance that they lay an egg far more than every second day of the year.