Id like to raise baby ducks or baby pheasants as a project with my kids to help the environment. How do I get started?
Don’t get started! Places that sell ducks and pheasants for people to raise and release in the wild are generally more interested in making money off the birds than helping the environment. Remember that baby birds imprint on whatever they see feeding them. So young ducks or pheasants raised by people will think of themselves more as humans than ducks and quite frankly, we make lousy parents for birds. We don’t teach ducks or pheasants how to hide from predators or even what potential predators are. Baby birds don’t hatch with that pre-programmed into them, they learn it from the birds raising them. Most pheasants and ducks raised by humans and released in the wild are eaten in less than a week after they are released by coyotes, foxes, house pets, mink and hawks. If you learn that your school is involved in raising ducks and pheasants for release, please encourage them to discontinue this practice.
