Waterfowl get treated as chickens that happen to like water, and that single assumption is behind most of the disappointing duck and goose projects we come across. The birds share a taxonomic class with the broiler and very little else that matters operationally. They hatch on a different calendar, they need water in a way that reshapes litter management, and they occupy a completely different position on the avian influenza risk map.
Key takeaways
- Pekin-type ducks, Muscovy ducks and geese are three separate production programmes, not three settings on the same one.
- EFSA’s 2023 opinion asks for open water allowing at least head dipping, with full body contact preferred, plus drained floor areas around every water point.
- Infected ducks may show mild or no clinical signs while shedding virus, which changes how an outbreak is found.
- Vaccination of ducks in France from October 2023 is credited with averting an estimated 314 to 756 outbreaks in the 2023-2024 season.
Three birds, three calendars
The first practical decision is which waterfowl you are actually running, because the incubation period alone rules out any shared hatch programme. A setter loaded on a single schedule will fail one of the species in it.
| Bird | Incubation | What it changes on site |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic duck, Pekin type (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) | About 28 days | Commercial units commonly transfer to the hatcher around day 25; fastest turnaround of the three |
| Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata domesticus) | Around 35 days | Longer occupancy of machines, marked size difference between males and females at slaughter |
| Mule duck (Muscovy male crossed with a common duck female) | Take the figure from your genetics supplier | Sterile hybrid; we do not publish a single incubation figure here because it varies with the cross and the source flock |
| Domestic goose (Anser anser f. domesticus) | Roughly 28 to 35 days, breed dependent | Strong seasonality of lay, and a grazing appetite that changes the whole feed plan |
Waterfowl eggs are also larger and richer in lipid than a chicken egg, and units that hatch them well tend to run cooling and spraying routines that no broiler programme includes. If you are moving from chicken eggs to duck eggs in existing machines, the profile has to come from the genetics supplier rather than from an adapted chicken curve. The general logic of running an artificial incubation cycle without losing the batch still applies, but every set point in it moves.
Water access is an engineering decision, not an amenity
Open water has moved from a nice-to-have to an explicit welfare expectation. In its 2023 scientific opinion on the welfare of ducks, geese and quail on farm, EFSA states that open water sources should be provided allowing at least head dipping, with full body contact preferred and full bathing considered the best option, while drinking water remains available separately through dedicated drinkers.
The same opinion is unusually concrete on space in the vertical dimension, recommending a minimum enclosure height of 66 cm for domestic ducks, 96 cm for Muscovy and mule ducks and 127 cm for domestic geese, so the birds can stand in a natural posture and flap their wings.
What that means on a real site is drainage. Every litre offered for bathing eventually reaches the floor, and wet litter is the fastest route to footpad lesions and to the ammonia problem that follows. EFSA is explicit that floor areas under and around water sources need sufficient drainage, for example a perforated floor, with litter kept dry and friable everywhere else. Designing the water point and the drain as one item, before the building goes up, costs a fraction of retrofitting it after the first wet cycle.
Avian influenza behaves differently in ducks
This is the specific that most changes the risk calculus. Chickens and turkeys infected with a highly pathogenic H5 virus generally show severe signs and high mortality within days, which is unpleasant but at least visible. Ducks frequently do not: experimental and field work has repeatedly described infected ducks shedding virus with mild or absent clinical signs, which is why they are described as silent carriers in the surveillance literature.
France responded to that epidemiology with a national vaccination programme for domestic ducks, launched in October 2023. An assessment published in Emerging Infectious Diseases in 2025 estimated that 314 to 756 outbreaks were averted in the 2023-2024 season, a 96 to 99 % reduction in epizootic size attributed to vaccination, with more than 35 million ducks having received two doses by July 2024.
Two cautions belong with that figure. Vaccination there is a national regulatory programme, not a decision an individual farm makes, and infections have still been reported in vaccinated flocks. Highly pathogenic avian influenza remains notifiable: suspicion alone obliges you to contact your veterinarian and the competent authority, and no vaccination status changes that.
Feeding: geese graze, ducks eat wet
Geese are genuine grazers, and good pasture is a real feed input rather than enrichment. It is not a complete ration, though, and treating it as one is how mineral and amino acid deficits appear late in the cycle when they are expensive to correct.
Ducks bring a different problem. They move between feeder and drinker constantly and carry feed into the water, so feeder and drinker layout decides feed wastage more than feed quality does. Spacing the two, and keeping the water line over a drained surface, usually recovers more than reformulating.
One regulatory detail is worth stating plainly, because it catches operations moving into waterfowl from chicken production: authorisations for feed additives and veterinary products are species-specific. A coccidiostat or a medicated feed cleared for chickens is not automatically cleared for ducks or geese, and the withdrawal periods differ. The label and your veterinarian decide, not the analogy with the previous species on site.
Where the ground is legally uneven
Foie gras production sits apart from everything above. The Council of Europe adopted recommendations concerning domestic ducks and domestic geese in 1999, and force-feeding is prohibited in most EU member states while remaining lawful in the small number where the production is historically established. EFSA’s 2023 opinion is explicit that force-feeding itself was outside its mandate: it assessed housing conditions during the overfeeding period only. If you produce or trade across borders, the applicable rule is the one of the country of production, and it should be verified rather than assumed.
Frequently asked questions
Can ducks and geese share a building?
They can be housed on the same site, but mixing species in one airspace complicates disease management and makes the enclosure height and water provision default to the most demanding species present. Separate airspaces and separate water systems are the more manageable arrangement.
How much open water is enough?
The current reference point is EFSA’s 2023 opinion: at minimum, water that allows head dipping, ideally water allowing full body contact or bathing. There is no single litre-per-bird figure that survives contact with different systems, so the practical test is whether every bird can dip its head and clean its eyes and nostrils without competing for access.
Do waterfowl follow the same vaccination programme as chickens?
No. The disease pressures differ, the products authorised differ by species, and in some countries duck vaccination against avian influenza is a regulated national programme. The programme for your flock is set by the veterinarian responsible for the site, in line with the rules of your country.
Is a chicken hatchery suitable for duck eggs?
The machines often are; the programme is not. Incubation length, transfer point, humidity and any cooling routine all change, and running duck eggs on a chicken curve is a reliable way to lose hatchability. Take the profile from the supplier of the genetics and validate it over several batches before scaling.
The waterfowl specifics all land on biosecurity
Silent shedding, open water, wild bird contact on outdoor ranges: every specific above ends up as a traffic and contact question at the farm gate rather than a treatment question inside the house.
Sources: EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare, Welfare of ducks, geese and quail on farm, EFSA Journal 2023;21(5):7992; Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2025, Promising Effects of Duck Vaccination against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, France, 2023-2024; Council of Europe, recommendations concerning domestic ducks and domestic geese, 1999; published work on the role of domestic ducks as asymptomatic carriers of H5N1. Consulted August 2026.
Published previously, fully revised on 9 August 2026. This article is general technical guidance for waterfowl professionals and does not replace veterinary advice. Vaccination programmes, medicated feed and any health intervention must be established by the veterinarian responsible for your flock. Regulatory references given here apply to the European Union and should be checked against the rules in force in your own market.