Domestic duck and its breeding
Domestic duck is a waterfowl, not very large bird, the ancestor of which is the wild mallard. Some modern breeds trace their ancestry back to the American musk duck. For the first time, ducks were domesticated 3000 years ago in Southeast Asia, about 2500 years ago they were domesticated in Greece and Ancient Rome. The domestication of birds in different parts of the world proceeded independently of each other. Several dozen breeds with various names have now been bred. Breeding of these birds remains popular as they are productive and easy to care for.
Domestic duck
Features of domestic ducks
Domestic ducks are rather large birds with an elongated neck and body, a small head, and short webbed feet. Their four hind tail feathers are bent upward, like those of wild mallard drakes. Males are practically indistinguishable from females, a drake may be slightly larger than a duck. The feathers of the pedigree species are mostly white, but many colored poultry are also found.
How much does a domestic duck weigh? The average body weight of these birds is 3-4 kg, the meat yield reaches 70%. During the season, a duck can lay from 60-70 eggs to 250-300 eggs. In general, poultry lays 100-150 eggs per year. You can get acquainted with the duck and its appearance in more detail by looking at photos and videos.
Domestic species have lost the ability to fly, but have not lost the ability and desire to swim, therefore in many farms they continue to be kept near water bodies. There are breeds that can be kept in a cage or with very limited range. Some industrial producers practice co-breeding of ducks and fish so that birds can swim in water bodies.
Use of ducks
In European countries, duck is mainly used for meat production. Several breeds in France are used to obtain fatty foie gras liver, although it is of inferior quality than that of a goose. In Asia, ducks are also raised for eggs, as they are often used in traditional local cuisine. In Indonesia, some countries in Southeast Asia, ducks are used to clear rice fields after harvest from pests and rice debris.
In addition to meat and eggs, valuable down and feathers can be obtained from ducks. They keep heat very well and are used to make blankets, pillows, and winter clothes.
Domestic ducks gain weight very quickly, therefore their breeding does not lose its relevance. For example, broilers can be slaughtered as early as 50-52 days of age with a weight of 3-3.5 kg. Previously, these birds in the household ranked second after chickens. Now they have given way to the turkeys, although they retain their leadership in many Asian countries.
Duck breeds
Most of the ducks that are bred in private households are not purebred, although in industrial and semi-industrial conditions they prefer to use selection birds. Duck breeds with different names have three directions:
- meat;
- egg;
- meat and egg (universal);
- decorative.
The most popular large meat variety of ducks in the world is Peking White. She is the ancestor of many varieties of broilers and other meat varieties. Muscovy ducks are also widely used in breeding. They do not have such fatty meat as the Peking ones, it tastes a bit like game. When crossing Peking and musk ducks, a breed of mulard hybrids was bred. They are sterile because the parents are of different species. Other breeds, the ancestors of which were the white Peking ducks:
- Cherry Valley white broiler ducks;
- blue duck Favorite;
- gray or colored Bashkir;
- Moscow white.
There are also local breeds that have been bred in Europe since ancient times. These include:
- Swedish blue;
- gray Ukrainian;
- black white-breasted.
A special place is occupied by Indian runner ducks, which belong to egg breeds. In America, the black kayuga duck is known, which lays the same black eggs. Ornamental ducks have recently become popular in Europe, although they have been bred in China for centuries. The decorative direction includes a beautiful colored mandarin duck, white crested. Sometimes skiffs are bred as decorative ones.
Conditions of detention
Breeding and keeping domesticated ducks does not present any particular problems, therefore it is available even for beginners. In small private farms, preference is given to free range, preferably with the presence of a reservoir. On a pond or river, birds can independently obtain food for themselves, which significantly reduces costs. If there is no natural swimming place, you can equip a small pool in the yard.
Industrial maintenance can be of two types: cage and limited-range. Even at industrial enterprises, they try to keep the broodstock in a spacious room or in an open cage in order to maintain fertility.
To keep ducks in cages, you need to choose the right breed. Not every variety will be able to gain weight normally in such conditions. The main requirements to be adhered to when breeding and growing are as follows:
- Temperature. At high temperatures, the quality of the pen is lost; at low or sharp changes, the risk of colds increases. In winter, the temperature in the house should be kept within 7-14 ° С, in summer - not higher than 12 ° С.
- Humidity. With high or low humidity, birds gain weight poorly, lose down and feathers. The optimal performance is 65-75%.
- Lighting. In addition, light should be provided in winter so that the ducks get better and better run. Daylight hours should be 9-12 hours in winter, and 12-14 hours in spring (during egg-laying).
How do you know if the conditions for keeping ducks and caring for them are unsatisfactory without appliances? If the temperature is too low, the birds huddle together, huddle together. When ducks are hot, they protrude their wings, breathe often with open beaks, drink a lot of water and strive to climb into drinkers. If the house is very humid, you will find that feather loss is much higher than before. When the humidity is low where ducks live, their thirst increases.
Requirements for the premises
It is not difficult to build a duck house; you can fully use the description of the chicken coop project. If you plan to keep 10-15 heads in the household, they can live with other birds. Keeping and breeding larger livestock requires a separate room. One duck requires 0.5 m² of area. Most often, the house is made a little larger so that the flock can be increased.
A duck house can be built from any material, but wood is best. From the inside, it should be covered with plaster, plywood, cardboard, and also insulated. This will ensure dryness in the barn, protect the birds from the cold in winter. Be sure to provide ventilation in the poultry house. For 1 m² of area there should be 100 cm² of windows. In industrial farms, supply and exhaust ventilation is installed.
The floor in the house is raised 15-20 cm above the ground, it is best to make it from planks. Be sure to lay a bedding about 30 cm thick on the floor. Keeping on bare boards is unacceptable, since ducks can catch arthritis, colds, and the mortality of birds will increase dramatically. They make bedding from peat, straw, sedge, dry reeds or other handy material. We must not forget about lighting. The light bulb is hung not too bright, for 60-100 W, depending on the area.
A ducks hole is made from the southwest or southeast side. It should be 40 cm wide and 30 cm high. Above the manhole, from the outside, you can equip a small canopy to protect the ducks from rain and drafts. If ducks cannot freely walk in the yard, they make an aviary. One individual should have at least 3 m² of its area. Be sure to put a large container of water in the aviary, in which the ducks can swim. When there is an opportunity to release ducks into a meadow and a pond, there is no need to equip an aviary.
Inventory
The duck house is equipped with feeders, drinkers and egg nests. Feeders are made of wood, the thickness of the board should be at least 2 cm. For wet mash, you can make a metal feeder or upholster wood with tin. For one bird, you need to calculate an average of 10 cm² of feed container. A bar is nailed on top of the feeder, which will prevent the ducks from climbing inside and trampling food. The feeder for mineral supplements is equipped separately; it can be divided into several compartments.
Drinking bowls are made of metal, it is easier to keep the water clean in them. One duck per day should consume at least 600 ml of liquid. The volume of drinkers for the flock is calculated based on this need. The walls of the drinkers should be about 20 cm so that birds do not climb inside. In summer, feeders and drinkers are placed in an aviary or yard. How to make feeders and drinkers correctly can be seen in the photo and video.
Nests are installed in dark remote places of the poultry house so that other birds have less contact with the duck and it does not get scared. It is best to place them near the walls, providing free access. The dimensions of the nest are 40 × 50 × 50 cm. A small nut 5-10 cm high is equipped at the front wall so that the eggs do not roll out and the litter does not spill out. Straw, dry leaves, sedge or the same material that is used for bedding in the poultry house is placed inside. One nest is equipped for three birds.
Ducks lay at night or in the morning, so eggs should be collected after the birds go out for a walk in the enclosure or yard. Ducks are very shy, so the masonry should be checked as carefully as possible. The frightened bird reduces or completely loses its egg production.
Feeding ducks
Domestic ducks are waterfowl. In nature, they ate mainly grass, duckweed, ate snails, juicy stalks of algae, so their diet should have approximately the same ratio of grain and greens to root crops. Be sure to give products that are of animal origin. Most often, meat, meat and bone or fish meal is used. The diet of domestic duck includes:
- cereals (corn, wheat, barley, oats);
- legumes (peas, beans, lupine, lentils);
- agricultural waste (cake and oilseed meal, beet cake, brewer's yeast);
- succulent feed (grass, duckweed, tops of plants, vegetables, silage);
- mineral additives (chalk, shells, fine gravel).
The ratio of feed on the menu depends on various factors. If you plan to keep and feed for meat, add more cereals to the diet. A broodstock that is involved in breeding ducklings should not be overfeeded, even if it is a beef breed. Obese ducks lay poorly, and drakes poorly fertilize eggs.
In summer, ducks that are on free grazing get the main food themselves. Swimming in water bodies, they eat algae, duckweed, molluscs, snails. In this case, you can give the ducks to eat 2 times a day. Before slaughter, they switch to three meals a day. In winter, cereals and silage form the basis of the diet.Industrial enterprises use compound feed. Be sure to add herbal flour, vegetables, vitamins to the winter diet. Ducks are given 3-4 times a day in winter.
Breeding ducks
Broodstock formation
To breed ducks at home to be successful, you need to properly form the broodstock. They begin to select ducklings from birth. First, they pay attention to the strongest and most mobile ones, then they monitor the weight gain, and those who are the best to recover are selected for the mother herd. The last selection is carried out in 150 days, weight in kg, appearance, activity and mobility are estimated.
It is best for the mother herd to take ducklings that were born in July or August. If multiple selection is practiced, January, May and September chicks can be taken. There should be 8 females for 1 drake, although in the wild one drake lives with one duck. The mother flock is separated from other ducks, which are destined for meat.
Keeping and caring for a parent flock is an important part of a successful duck breeding. Birds should live in a separate aviary or poultry house. It is important to keep the nests clean and the bedding is changed daily. On the eve of oviposition, daylight hours are gradually increased so that ultimately it lasts 16 hours. The average productivity of ducks from the mother herd is 2-3 years. A good drake can live up to 8 years.
Incubation of eggs
Domestic duck is an excellent brood hen, this applies to almost all breeds. The Peking type can even hatch eggs of other species, such as geese. Poor maternal instincts are developed in hybrid broilers, and mularda are generally sterile.
When the female begins to lay, the eggs must be removed from her, carefully folded and stored at 13 ° C. The eggs are turned daily to prevent the embryo from sticking to the shell.
If a duck has stopped walking, plucking the fluff out of its chest to insulate the nest, and sits there for a long time, it means that it is ready to hatch. You can put a test egg under it. The female should sit on it for at least 10 hours a day. Incubation takes 26-28 days, during this time the hen needs to be provided with normal care, rest, access to water, and normal feeding.
When there is no brood hen, artificial incubation can be carried out. A standard incubator is used for this, as for chicken eggs. In the first days, the temperature should be 38 ° C, then it is gradually reduced to 37 ° C. After the 20th day, periodic cooling is practiced (2-3 times a day for 10-15 minutes). The incubator should be well ventilated with moderate humidity within 60%. Duck embryos require more oxygen than chicken embryos. You can periodically irrigate the shell with water at room temperature, because in nature, the duck periodically goes to the pond to search for food, then sits down on the clutch with wet feathers.
Growing young animals
Domestic duck is mainly meat poultry, so most ducklings are raised for meat. It is very important for young animals to provide good care, normal temperature and feeding in the first days. In the first days, the temperature in the room is maintained at 28-30 ° C, then it is gradually reduced. Lighting should be around the clock in the first week, then it is reduced daily by an hour.
Egg yolk will feed the chicks in the first 18 hours, but during this period they should learn to eat regular food. First, they are given food rich in protein. In the first 20 days, the protein content in the feed should be about 20%, then it gradually decreases to 11-15%. Little ducklings are fed with boiled eggs and curds. From the second or third day they can be given porridge, cottage cheese. It is important in the early days to show the ducklings how to eat correctly. For this, food is poured onto their backs, carefully placed in the beaks.
At the end of the first week, chopped herbs are added to the food. From day 10, ducklings can be released outside so that they learn how to get their own food. Chicks know how to swim from birth, therefore it is good to provide them with access to water. If they grow with a duck, it will begin to bring them to the reservoir during the first day.
It is very important to select chicks in the first days if the plans are to create a broodstock. Ducklings are assessed according to the following criteria:
- uniform pigmented and fluffy plumage;
- soft tummy, umbilical cord without bruising;
- eyes are convex, shiny;
- the wings are tightly pressed to the body;
- weight not less than 50 g.
In the future, you need to monitor the behavior of the chicks, the rate of weight gain. Ducklings are carefully examined for defects. Birds that are intended to be raised for meat are kept separately. Already from the 20th day, their reinforced fattening begins. You can release ducks into the pond, then the weight will arrive more slowly, but the feed consumption will be less. If the ducks live indoors or on a limited range, they are fed 3-4 times a day with a predominance of grains and legumes.
Ducks are sent to slaughter 60-70 days before molting. If you skip this moment, you will have to wait about 120 days, which will entail unnecessary feed consumption. Broilers can be slaughtered and cut at the age of 50-52 days. By that time, the bird weighs an average of 3.5 kg (the average live weight of ordinary birds at this age is only 2-2.5 kg, or even less). Many people prefer to take these breeds for growing, since their productivity is higher.