Features and reviews in Fancy Fowl, Country Smallholding and Smallholder magazines. Reviews in Featherd World, Country Living, Farmers Weekly and The Landsman magazines.

There are many reasons for keeping ducks and geese. Not only are they lovely to look at, they will entertain you with their antics and make perfect 'pets' for adults and children alike. Ducks will eat troublesome slugs and snails as they follow you around the garden, making 'conversation' as they do so. They also produce abundant eggs for eating or decorating and, if you so wished, supply you with meat for the table. Geese on the other hand are excellent lawnmowers, superb watchdogs for isolated places and are intelligent, individualistic and sociable. Both ducks and geese can be exhibited and indeed 'showing' is a pastime which is growing in popularity.More and more people seem to have a few birds on the back lawn, on the ornamental pond or on the smallholding, and as long as you choose the right breed for your requirements, domestic waterfowl can be ideal birds in almost any situation. Less troublesome to keep than chickens, they are hardy and suffer from fewer ailments than other types of poultry.