He emphasises the importance of preparing and planning the facility well before acquiring the ducklings.

Also Read: Duck farming – a good cash-flow business 

OFM News recently reported that duck farming has very low start-up costs and that the incubators tend to be the most expensive.

Heat lamps are also important to buy if prospective farmers plan on buying day-old ducklings. They need to be kept in a temperature-controlled cage area, with a fixed temperature of about 37 degrees. “From a day old [the temperature should be 37 degrees] and then each week you would lower your temperature by five degrees. After five weeks you put them out into the enclosure… and you wait for them to get their permanent set of feathers,” says Cross.

He warns that ducks tend to drop their eggs anywhere as they do not have a specific area, therefore you’d have to pick the eggs up after them.

Cross and his partner Nina Cronjé farm with free-range Pekin ducks and describe them as heavier, which means that they cannot fly away.

Ducks are also described as hardy animals and adapt quite well to the environment and conditions they are placed in. This means that they are a great choice if you’re located in areas such as the Karoo.

Ducks love water too and it would be beneficial to have a little pond or dam for them to swim in. Cross says they also tend to mate more when they’re in the water.

The selling of duck eggs is quite profitable as there is a demand for them even though they are a bit more expensive than chicken eggs.

When it comes to challenges in terms of the slaughtering of ducks, Cross says that he and Cronjé have found that there are not many facilities around where they are located, who slaughter ducks.

OFM News