Crescent Duck Farm hatches new generation of ducklings
Crescent Duck Farm has hatched a small batch of ducklings from the 15,000 eggs saved from their facility after the H5N1 outbreak in January.
As of yesterday, about 3,700 ducklings are on the ground, split evenly between males and females. It is just enough to restart, but the females won’t begin laying for another six months.
“I would have hoped for a lot more. Normally, 15,000 eggs would be 11,000 to 12,000 baby ducks instead of 3,700, but [the eggs] were older,” said Doug Corwin, president of Crescent Duck Farm. “This is enough for a second generation to get going. I’m pleased things are going to plan, so long as we keep them healthy.”
The situation is still precarious, Mr. Corwin added.
“I’m going to be very upset and grieving if I lose these, but if it happens, it happens,” he said. “I can’t go to sleep right now if I’m worrying constantly. I can just do the best that I can to try to move forward. Sometimes there’s things that are beyond your control.”
These ducklings are all that remains of the Crescent Duck genetics. It is essential that these ducks survive and breed in order to maintain the body composition that makes Mr. Corwin’s product unique, he said.
“I could have bought other ducks to start a lot quicker, but then I would have been competing against my competitors with my competitors’ product, which puts me at a huge disadvantage to get going,” he said.
The new Crescent Farm breeders will live in relative “luxury” as the farm rebuilds its flock.
“These ducks are going to be kept for a year and a half, maybe more, because I’ll probably run them through a couple of egg cycles,” said Mr. Corwin. “These guys are going to live a very long life.”
Mr. Corwin has been using the devastation of his farm as a platform to advocate for a vaccine. He has met with and spoken to representatives at the local, state and federal level.
According to Mr. Corwin, who works closely with the Cornell vaccine lab, all vaccines have to be improved for each species individually. His biggest concern is that the government will approve a vaccine only for laying hens.
“I’m very worried that we’ll go in and allow a vaccine for egg layers, and they’ll ignore ducks and geese, tiny little species that aren’t important,” he said. “I mean, my bigger competitors don’t want a vaccine. They export a lot of product … I’ve got it in writing from them. They don’t want a vaccine. Yes, you’ll hear all kinds of ‘hurrahs’ that a vaccine has been approved, that egg prices are coming down, but that won’t do any good for the duck farmers.”
