Reading the best books on raising ducks can help make your husbandry efforts far more successful and foster the keeping of far healthier and happier ducks.
Whether you are keeping ducks for their meat, and eggs, to rid your garden of bugs, or merely as pets, learning how to take care of them properly is essential for the creation and longevity of the flock.
There are a host of great raising duck books that focus on overall general duck husbandry techniques as well as those that more keenly cover a specific duck breed, ducklings, duck breeding, meat duck keeping, and keeping ducks for eggs. 
Best Books On Raising Ducks
Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Holderread, Dave (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 336 Pages - 02/05/2011 (Publication Date) - Storey Publishing, LLC (Publisher)
This long-time best-selling duck raising book is often the first book newbie duck keepers read to learn how to become a duck farmer on a small scale.
In the Storey’s Guide To Raising Ducks book you can expect to learn about duck breed options, common ailments for ducks, flock housing choices, and duck feeding tips.
Author Dave Holderread has spent more than five decades raising ducks.
In Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks, you will also find chapters on the anatomy of the birds, flock management, general duck and breed behavior, butchering, as well as duck meat recipes and used for their down and feathers.
Tips for raising show ducks and their excellent ability for pest control are also included in this information-packed duck raising book.
Master How To Raise Strong And Healthy Ducks: Complete Guide On How To Raise Ducks In Your Backyard
- Barrett, Yolanda (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 90 Pages - 06/17/2020 (Publication Date) - Independently published (Publisher)
In Yolanda Barrett’s book, the author teaches even newbie keepers how to raise healthy and strong ducks just as adeptly as seasoned or professional keepers.
At the beginning of the book Barrett specifically seeks to address looming questions and concerns folks considering getting into ducks likely have.
Some of the common newbie or soon to be newbie questions Yolanda Barrett addressed include: are ducks worth keeping equal to or more so than chickens or other types of poultry birds, how do I deal with a duck ailment, are there any risks associated with keeping ducks, do ducks need a special diet or can they eat chicken feed?
Barrett goes on to detail all of the many ways raising ducks brings not only eggs to a home but also hours upon hours of adorable and charming antics – that some folks think chickens could never provide.
As noted in this book and several others on this list, ducks can be as profitable to raise as they are practical – no matter where you live.
Some of the best chapters in this raising duck include:
- Why raising ducks is important and easy.
- Best duck breeds for beginners.
- Feeding tips to help ensure you are raising both strong and healthy ducks.
- Step-by-step how to select the strong ducklings from a hatch and care for them properly.
- What the right type of shelter for your ducks looks like and how to do it.
- How to care for your ducks to prevent and treat common ailments.
- How to efficiently implement all the information and tips detailed in this book about raising ducks.
Duck Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Ducks…Naturally
- Hardcover Book
- Steele, Lisa (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 10/15/2015 (Publication Date) - St. Lynn's Press (Publisher)
Lisa Steele is an expert at raising small poultry flocks. She has written books specifically about both keeping chickens for eggs and raising ducks for eggs.
Her raising ducks for eggs book is often quite popular with folks who want to transition from keeping solely chickens for eggs into becoming both chicken and duck keepers to garner more, larger, and potentially richer eggs nearly year-round.
Not only does Steele detail the differences between keeping chickens and ducks for eggs, her book is also brimming with colorful and beautiful photos of the flocks she keeps and her natural husbandry tactics.
In this book, you will read in detail how to keep your ducks both healthy and happy.
Steele intricately covers the options for buying or building duck houses, the use of kiddie pools or ponds to provide a water feature, the necessary healthcare routine for ducks, as well as duck behavior.
Because the author is also an avid chicken keeper, she delves into how to go about blending chickens and ducks into a single flock.
Duck Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Ducks…Naturally also includes a breed chart and some of Lisa Steele’s favorite duck-egg-based recipes.
A Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Ducks – Keeping Ducks in Your Backyard
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Singh, Dueep J (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 44 Pages - 11/27/2014 (Publication Date) - JD-Biz Corp Publishing (Publisher)
While the two books above are an excellent resource for both newbie and seasoned duck keepers, this wonderful guide is really best for novices only.
Not only does the author help guide you through the purchasing and duck husbandry set-up stage of raising ducks, but also helps you better understand how to keep a small flock in only a tiny space if you live in a city or the suburbs.
The authors cover egg incubation both naturally and artificially, duckling care tips including setting up a brooder, and how to clean it properly.
One of the best parts of this beginner’s guide to raising ducks is the chapter that covers how to make a grassy run area and housing unit for poultry birds.
Pet Ducks. Keeping Ducks as Pets Owner’s Manual
- Ruthersdale, Roland (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 08/19/2014 (Publication Date) - Imb Publishing (Publisher)
Author Roland Ruthersdale wrote a wonderful raising duck guide specifically for folks who want to keep their beautiful egg-laying birds as pets.
Keeping a duck as a pet can be just as joyous or even more so than keeping more traditional domesticated pets – but knowing how to do so correctly can mean a bit of a learning curve.
Ruthersdale covers all aspects of raising ducks as pets in great and easy-to-read detail. Ducks make excellent companion pets due to the affable and calm demeanor of many breeds.
Part of the Pet Ducks. Keeping Ducks as pets successfully should begin with choosing the right breed, which is a primary focal point of this husbandry guide.
Just because you choose to keep a duck as a pet does not mean collecting their eggs to hatch or eat is off the table – pardon the pun.
You can easily make a duck a beloved pet and still enjoy dining upon their eggs if you wish.
As Ruthersdale points out, many people who keep ducks as pets can also turn the labor of love into a nice little money maker by selling fertilized eggs, ducklings, or eggs for consumption purposes.
In this book, the reader will also learn about healthy husbandry techniques, duck purchasing hints, breeding tips, and duck house or coop living requirements.
The Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook: All the things you need to know before bringing home your feathered friend
- Link, Kimberly (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 426 Pages - 09/01/2014 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)
Author Kimberly Link also wrote an excellent book about raising ducks as pets. The second edition of the black and white book has been used as a reliable reference guide for pet duck lovers for many years.
It seems to cover everything you want to or need to know about raising ducks as pets.
The newest edition of this book includes 200 bonus pages that were not included in the first edition. The author is also the founder and president of the Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary.
Due to efforts undertaken as a duck rescuer, the author intricately understands the bond that can form between a duck and its human companion.
Readers should expect to discover ample illustrations and photos that coincide with details about duck housing, food, flock management, as well as proper sanitary husbandry techniques.
Ducks: Tending a Small-Scale Flock for Pleasure and Profit
- Birds, Books, Clearance, Ducks Geese & Swans, Educational Books, Other Bird Books, Other Birds
- Langlois, Cherie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages - 03/25/2008 (Publication Date) - CompanionHouse Books (Publisher)
Cherie Langlois has written an excellent guide to raise ducks for pleasure (pets or personal consumption eggs) or profit – meat and larger scale egg selling.
The immediate friendly tone Langlois assumes when putting information on the page is heartwarming for both newbie keepers and frustrated seasoned duck keepers, as well.
In this duck husbandry book, the reader will learn about breed selection, how to shelter a duck flock properly to avoid problems of all types, and the basic nutrition and dietary needs of ducks covering commercial feed, supplements, as well as natural foraging for protein and other nutrients.
A section about breeding basics details the egg hatching, incubation, and duckling care processes in superb and easy-to-follow detail.
Maintaining duck floc health is also a focus of the small-scale flock guide book. In a chapter about the health needs of ducks, the reader will discover proper handling practices, flock hygiene needs, as well as disease prevention techniques, and helpful tips.
Cherie Langlois’ training as a zoologist shines through in her writing throughout this raising ducks book.
She makes learning about the anatomy of ducks, as well as both overall and breed-specific traits and behaviors easy to both comprehend and retain.
Books on Raising Ducks The Takeaway
To recap, for those of you who do not have a relative or nearby friend who is an expert in raising ducks this is the list of best books on raising ducks.
Purchasing one or more of the books on this list can help learn what you need to know before you purchase your first duck or bring an entire flock home.
Whether you are seeking to find a book that will introduce you to duck raising or merely want to expand your knowledge substantially, the authors of each of the books have skillfully shared the facts necessary to choose the right duck breed for your homestead – and the information you will need to keep them alive and healthy for a very long time.
