Harteman Wildfowl Aviaries

From: The Waterfowl of the World (1959, Peter Scott), Volume III

White winged wood ducks have always been scarce in captivity, although they came to the London Zoo as early as 1951. They usually arrive in a weak condition; once acclimatized, they live well and long. They eat grain, but also need some animal food, and they readily catch very small fish. They prove hardy, like Muscovies, but unlike the latter, they never molest other birds and do not fight between themselves if sufficient space is allowed them. They never nested at Clères, nor at Foxwarren, and the only record of breeding in captivity is that of D.G. Schuyl, in Holland, in 1936. A pair imported in 1934, placed in a pen of 50 x 50 feet, with some trees, long grass, and small pond in the middel, were first very shy, but later on became tame. In May, after two years, the female went into a box set about three feet above the ground and laid seven eggs, wich hatched under a domestic hen. M. Schuyl describes (L'Oiseau, 1936, pp. 171-172) the eggs as greenish yellow, rather long and relatively small. The incubation period was about thirty days, the eggs having been slightly incubated before removal. The chicks' first plumage is described as dark brown, the head and neck deeper than the body, the bill lead grey tinged with reddish brown, the legs very dark brown. They grey rapidly and at two months began to assume the dress of adults. Five were reared. There are, at present, few specimens living in the Wildfowl Trust collection.

Above: white-winged wood ducks as pictured in Siergevogelte (1941, C.S. th. van Gink). This is probably Schuyl's breeding pair (1936) - world's first breeding pair described, or some of their offspring. 

From: The White-winged Wood Duck, M. J. S. Mackenzie and Janet Kear (Wildfowl 27, 1976, p5-17)

White-winged Wood Duck have never been common in captivity, although a pair was exhibited at the London Zoo as early as 1851 (Sclater 1880). Others were held from time to time in England, the Netherlands and in France. Baker (1908, 1921) kept many birds in confinement in Assam, and sent some to Calcutta Zoo. None bred until 1936 when the female of a pair, imported two years earlier to a waterfowl collection near Rotterdam, laid eggs from which five ducklings were hatched and reared. They had been kept in a small pen, measuring 15m x 15m, shaded by trees and long grass, and containing a small central pond (Schuyl, 1937). 

A shipment of ten Wood Duck to the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, England, from Thailand was made in 1955 but none of these birds nested. Then in 1969, as part of World Wildlife Fund Project 406, M.J.S.Mackenzie sent five males and one female (hand-reared from wildcaught ducklings in Upper Assam) to the Wildfowl Trust, and these were joined by two more males and four females in 1970.

The second breeding in captivity occurred at Slimbridge in 1971 ; the first captive-bred female to lay did so at the Trust’s refuge at Peakirk in 1973, and in 1974 a pair, both members of which were second-generation captives, bred at Slimbridge. 

Production in England is shown in Table 1 below (Johnstone 1972; Lubbock 1975, 1976). 

Two ducklings have also been reared at Gauhati Zoo, Assam, from birds supplied by M.J.S.M. Captive adults are currently held at Gauhati (9 individuals), Koom song Tea Estate, Assam (5), by the Wildfowl Trust (three reserves holding 41 birds), at Bentley, Sussex (2), Jersey Zoo (2), Clères, France (6), Washington Zoo, USA (4), and the Botanic Gardens, Hong Kong (2), and so total about 70 individuals.

All captive birds outside India are related to the Slimbridge stock, and those in Assam come from the same wild area as the Slimbridge birds.

(...)

In captivity, the birds have always used boxes. Schuyl’s (1937) female laid in one set about 1 m from the ground. At Slimbridge a structure something like a dog kennel and measuring roughly 60 x 45 cm, with 16 cm sides was selected (Johnstone 1972), and a similar box has been used at Peakirk. Lubbock (1975) advocated boxes 60 cm in length, 30 cm wide and 30 cm high.

(...)

Of an original shipment of ten wild-caught birds from Thailand to Slimbridge in 1955, the last bird died during 1961 after six years in captivity. Six post-mortem reports are available: one bird died o f aspergillosis soon after arrival, and five others succumbed to avian tuberculosis. The oldest individual of the 1969 and 1970 shipments is now aged seven-and-a-half years. Twenty-three of these birds and their offspring have died aged six months or over, and all except three had tuberculosis. Two individuals developed lead poisoning after ingesting shot-gun pellets,three had Acuaria infestations (two as well as tuberculosis) and two also had aspergillosis.
Juveniles have died from Acuaria, tapeworms, nephritis, aspergillosis and pneumonia. One young female left with her parent in an aviary died, aged only 4j months, of a combination of tuberculosis and Acuaria. As sometimes happens with other neartropical waterfowl, some young reared by their mothers became stunted - growing slowly in comparison with the rest of the brood— and some of these runts developed rickets.

More information: Wildfowl 27, 1976, page 5-17 (PDF)