1300 187 187
The Backyard Duck Book is a revised edition of Nyiri Murtagh's popular book, For the Love of Ducks, but with colour photographs of the duck breeds. It covers all aspects of duck husbandry, from selecting a breed and buying ducks to housing, breeding, feeding and health. It includes a description of each of the duck breeds currently available in Australia, the standards for each breed, their egg-laying capacity and their potential as table birds. The book also has a comprehensive section on artificial incubation of eggs that includes step-by-step instructions on how to test eggs for fertility and defects. Crossbreeding, developing your own lines and raising ducks for meat are also covered. Backyard poultry farmers, small-acre farmers and hobby farmers will find this book an enjoyable and useful reference.
| Foreword | p. v |
| Introduction: for the love of ducks | p. 1 |
| Duck anatomy | p. 3 |
| Parts of a duck | p. 3 |
| The duck digestive system | p. 4 |
| The duck reproductive system | p. 5 |
| Duck egg formation | p. 7 |
| Colour section | p. 9 |
| Duck breeds and their standards | p. 17 |
| Appleyard (Silver) | p. 17 |
| Aylesbury | p. 20 |
| Black East Indian | p. 22 |
| Blue Swedish | p. 24 |
| Campbell (Khaki) | p. 25 |
| Cayuga | p. 28 |
| Crested Duck | p. 30 |
| Duclair | p. 31 |
| Elizabeth | p. 32 |
| Indian Runner | p. 34 |
| Mallard | p. 36 |
| Muscovy | p. 38 |
| Orpington (Buff) | p. 41 |
| Pekin | p. 44 |
| Rouen | p. 47 |
| Saxony | p. 50 |
| Welsh Harlequin | p. 52 |
| Selecting a duck | p. 55 |
| Egg-laying ducks | p. 56 |
| Meat ducks | p. 58 |
| Dual-purpose breeds | p. 59 |
| Buying a duck | p. 61 |
| What should you look out for? | p. 62 |
| Importing waterfowl | p. 64 |
| Duck behaviour | p. 67 |
| Foraging | p. 67 |
| Intelligence | p. 68 |
| Flight | p. 69 |
| Preening | p. 70 |
| Ducks and water | p. 70 |
| Mating behaviour | p. 70 |
| Nesting behaviour | p. 72 |
| Moulting | p. 74 |
| Changing sex | p. 75 |
| Duck management | p. 77 |
| Flock management | p. 77 |
| Breeding management | p. 78 |
| Handling ducks | p. 80 |
| Sexing ducks | p. 81 |
| Worming ducks | p. 84 |
| Stopping ducks from flying | p. 85 |
| Killing a duck | p. 89 |
| Duck housing | p. 91 |
| A fox-proof enclosure | p. 91 |
| The night house | p. 92 |
| The duck yard | p. 94 |
| The duck pond | p. 95 |
| Duck diet | p. 97 |
| Nutritional requirements | p. 97 |
| How much do you feed a duck? | p. 100 |
| Vegetable source feeds | p. 101 |
| Animal source feeds | p. 102 |
| Dietary deficiencies | p. 103 |
| An overall tonic for ducks | p. 106 |
| Duck health | p. 107 |
| Duck diseases | p. 108 |
| Duck parasites | p. 110 |
| Other common health problems | p. 113 |
| Duck egg incubation | p. 121 |
| Egg collection | p. 121 |
| Egg selection | p. 121 |
| Storing eggs for setting | p. 122 |
| Candling to test eggs for defects prior to setting | p. 122 |
| Incubation | p. 124 |
| Artificial incubation | p. 125 |
| Hatching and rearing ducklings | p. 133 |
| Hatching ducklings | p. 133 |
| Raising ducklings | p. 135 |
| Duckling diet | p. 139 |
| Duckling-related problems and their solutions | p. 140 |
| Crossbreeding ducks | p. 141 |
| Crossbreeding for meat | p. 143 |
| Developing your own lines | p. 145 |
| Breed selection table | p. 148 |
| Growth rates of Pekins and Muscovies | p. 150 |
| Determining sex by incubation temperature | p. 151 |
| Glossary | p. 154 |
| Bibliography | p. 158 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780643106512
ISBN-10: 0643106510
Audience:
Tertiary; University or College
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 168
Published: 1st June 2012
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Dimensions (cm): 24.5 x 17.0
x 0.8
Weight (kg): 0.408
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