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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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A duck as a pet
A single duck can make a great pet. But you should keep a single pet duck only if you have enough time to devote to it. First of all you have to get your duck very young. Then you have to spend a lot of time bonding with it. This way you and your family become the duck's flock. But that means you must spend lots of time daily, playing and spending time with your pet - not including the maintenance time (such as cleaning and feeding).If you don't have this time commitment for the full 12+ years a duck can live, get two or more ducks. Ducks are social animals and will suffer if they don't have companionship. Two or more ducks can still be easy to look after, although it won't be as simple as having one. Most pet ducks are usually not taken care of the right way - they get fed with the wrong things. The ducklings sometimes get hurt by children who don't know any better. A child's well-meaning hug can kill a duckling. If you just like ducks and like having them around; if you would like having some duck eggs for eating; and if you have some grass forage land; if you have a stream or pond - keep a small flock of breeders. If you don't have forage (food for animals), ducks can be fenced in, but will require more feed. If you don't have a stream or pond, you can provide a sunken trough, half-barrel or pan. You can raise ducks successfully without any water, but they like water to wash themselves in, and it is said to be best if the eggs are moistened regularly during the setting. This moistening occurs naturally whenever the ducks return to the nest with wet feathers from bathing. For housing, almost any kind of shelter will do. A small coop would be ideal, because if you want to gather eggs, it is a good idea to keep ducks shut in until 9 or 10 a.m. Supply litter on the floor for warmth and dryness. Your ducks will build their own nests in the shelter or around the place and will each hatch 12 to 15 or even more ducklings at a sitting, and they will probably do so at least twice a year. They may produce eggs the year around. The number of ducklings which hatch will be determined by how many eggs they lay. If your ducks have a stream, pond or a fairly large, clean bathing trough, you don't need to provide other drinking facilities. If they don't, you should provide a reasonably deep (4 inches minimum and at least 12 to 15 inches across) supply of water. This is because of the peculiar nasal construction of ducks. They need to be able to get most of their bill in water when drinking. |
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Would you like to keep a duck as a pet? The usual house pets are cats
and dogs. The slightly more "exotic" (unusual) pets are birds, fish, and
rodents. The social duck has been reared by humans for centuries, in farms
- so it is not surprising that the duck would finally find its way into
the household. 
