Colored Bashkir duck
The Bashkir duck is a colored breed, bred in Bashkiria. Its ancestor is the Peking duck. Growing poultry is very profitable, since it quickly gains weight and consumes a small amount of feed, therefore care and maintenance are not difficult. The egg production of the Bashkirs is also high, the maternal instinct is developed, so breeding will not cause problems. You can keep ducks both in a small poultry house, frequency farm, and on industrial farms. The breed has consistently received positive reviews from poultry farmers.
Bashkir duck
Description of the breed
As already mentioned, the homeland of this breed of ducks is Bashkiria. They were bred by accident. The Peking breed was improved on the farm. The line unexpectedly began to replenish with colored ducklings, which interested breeders. The duck managed to fix the gene, thus unpretentious, disease-resistant and very productive birds appeared.
Here is a brief description of the breed and its appearance:
- the head is flattened from above;
- beak wide and slightly concave;
- the neck is medium, wide;
- the body is strong and muscular;
- broadened breast;
- tarsi large, set wide apart.
The colors of the Bashkir duck are different, here is their description:
- White, like a Beijing one. Differs in fast-growing ducklings, which at 8 weeks reach a weight of 3.5 kg, lower egg production.
- Blue. Her weight gain is lower, but egg production is higher.
- Gray. The ducklings recover quickly, but the number of eggs is low.
- Khaki. Differs in good weight gain and average number of eggs.
- Black and white. This duck has no equal in egg production, the weight gain is average.
The Bashkir colored drake has a brighter plumage than the duck. Only on this basis can it be distinguished, otherwise males and females are very similar to each other. In the khaki variety, the feather resembles a wild color. Black and white-breasted ducks lay eggs better than khakis. Whites and grays gain weight well. For other characteristics from different colors, it is difficult to determine the difference.
Productivity and dignity of the breed
The Bashkir duck quickly gains weight, almost like a white Indo-duck, starts to rush early, therefore its cultivation and breeding is very profitable. In addition, this breed rarely gets sick, ducklings are born healthy and strong, and females take good care of them. Here is a brief product characteristics of the breed:
- A male Bashkir duck and a female weigh approximately the same - 4 kg.
- The weight of ducklings at 7 weeks is 3.3 kg (80% of the weight of an adult).
- Egg production for 280 days for khaki birds is 217 pieces, black and white-breasted birds - 228 pieces, blue - 130-140 pieces, white and gray - 115-120 pieces.
- Bashkir duck eggs weigh 90 g.
- The meat yield is 70-80%.
- The percentage of fat is low - from 1.8% to 3.9%.
Duck meat is lean, tender, without a specific smell. Eggs can be eaten if boiled well or added to baked goods. The Bashkir reaches puberty by 4 months. On industrial farms, ducklings are slaughtered at 52 days. After that, the bird begins to shed, loses weight and taste of meat. At home, ducks are kept for up to 4 months.The productivity of ducks is influenced by care and maintenance, how much feed and what quality they are given.
Domestic Bashkir ducks have more than one advantage, therefore they are so popular in peasant farmsteads, both in their homeland and in other regions. Here is a characteristic of their positive qualities:
- high hatchability of young animals (about 80%);
- disease resistance;
- the ability to grow in any conditions and climate;
- good endurance;
- unpretentiousness in care and maintenance;
- devoted duck care for their ducklings;
- fast weight gain;
- high egg production;
- early ripening (already by 4 months);
- low fat content of meat;
- low feed consumption, 2.73 units per 1 kg of live weight.
The breed also has its drawbacks. Its representatives are demanding on water - it should always be clean in drinking bowls. In order for the Bashkir to grow well and be healthy, she needs a reservoir. If there is no natural one, you should create an artificial one in the yard.
Breeding ducklings
Breeding Bashkir ducks at home is not a problem. They lay eggs well, mature early and take excellent care of the offspring. Drake of Bashkir ducks perfectly fertilizes eggs. Before ducks start laying, they need to make a nesting place in the house. Laying begins in early March. It is necessary to plant a duck on eggs when it walks less, does not leave the nest, and begins to pluck the fluff from the chest.
Incubation of eggs lasts 28-30 days. If there is no hen, the eggs can be safely placed in the incubator, but then the hatchability will be slightly lower.
Immediately after hatching, chicks need to be provided with the correct temperature and lighting. In the first 3 weeks, the chicks are kept at 30 ° C, then the temperature is gradually reduced to 16-20 ° C. Lighting should first be around the clock, but not too bright (3-4 W / m²). Then the regime and the duration of daylight hours are gradually reduced to 10 hours. If the babies are given to the duck, it does an excellent job of mothering. When there is no brood hen, the hen is trusted to take care of the ducklings.
Feeding in the early days is a little difficult, because the chick does not eat on its own. For this, food is thrown directly on the backs: the chicks more easily notice and pick up moving objects. For the first 10 days, Bashkir ducklings eat boiled eggs, cottage cheese, chopped grass, nettles and other greens, millet, then they gradually add vegetables, root crops, and granulated feed to the diet.
First, the young are fed 8 times throughout the day, at the end of the month they are transferred to three meals a day. Be sure to give a lot to drink - the water must always be clean and fresh. In the early days, you can add a little potassium permanganate to it to prevent intestinal infections. Bashkir duck ducklings rarely get sick, their survival rate is high, but proper maintenance and care allows them to further increase their resistance to diseases.
Care and feeding
As already mentioned, the Bashkir woman is absolutely unpretentious in content. Many people buy ducklings in the spring, feed them at home, so that they can be slaughtered by the end of summer. Then there is no need to equip an insulated poultry house: most of the time the birds will spend in the yard or on the pond. The walking area should be spacious, at least 2-3 m². A little more space should be provided for the duck with the ducklings.
If you are going to keep birds in winter, you should take care of insulation, good ventilation. The floor is made of wood, raised above the ground by 20-25 cm, and lined with straw. There is no need to equip perches, as ducks sleep on the ground. If it is impossible to make a high-quality hood, ensure regular ventilation of the house, but make sure that there are no drafts. The duration of daylight hours for ducks should be at least 14 hours.
Feeding ducks is also easy. They are quite gluttonous, since their metabolism is high, and their intestines are short, but the Bashkir person assimilates food well, therefore he quickly recovers. They are given to ducks 3 times throughout the day.If birds swim in a pond, they can get some of their food on their own. The Bashkir duck needs the following feed:
- corn;
- wheat;
- peas and other legumes;
- barley;
- bran;
- greens and tops;
- roots;
- vegetables;
- feed yeast;
- chalk or crushed shells;
- gravel.
In winter, the emphasis is on grain and combined feed, oil cake and oilseed meal are added. Grass flour or silage can be prepared. To make silage, you can use a mixture of grass flour (1 part), cabbage heads (3 parts), cabbage leaves (6 parts). In summer, ducks eat more greens, duckweed, plant tops, vegetables.
In order for the Bashkir colored duck to recover well, when its breeding and growing is aimed at quickly obtaining meat, the emphasis in feeding is made on compound feed (55%) and grain (45%). You can add a small amount of minced meat, fishmeal to the diet. With enhanced fattening, the regime is slightly changed, the ducks are given 4 times a day, they limit walking. Before the birds begin to lay, it is impossible to overfeed them: this reduces the productivity of females and the fertilization of eggs by males.
As you can see, ducks of the Bashkir breed do not require special conditions, caring for them is simple, and feeding is quite economical, because the bird eats almost everything, including kitchen waste. The advantage of birds is that they are perfect for any farms: both for small private and large industrial ones. The disadvantages are practically not pronounced. The Bashkir woman sits perfectly on eggs and incubates them normally, takes good care of the ducklings, because the breeding of Bashkir ducks is becoming more and more popular. To get a better idea of the feeding, care and maintenance of ducks, you can watch the video.