How to breed and care for ducks with mute swords

On farms and plots, you can more and more notice how mute ducks walk. The ducks won recognition of the poultry farmers for their unpretentiousness and tasty, but at the same time lean meat.

Mute ducks

Homeland birds

The birthplace of mute swan is South America, where the peoples living here raised the birds. After the Europeans opened the New World, the birds brought birds to France. After about 30 years, the birds together returning home, former slaves entered Africa. On a hot continent, ducks are nicknamed “Guinean” and “Berberian” in the north.

Mute ducks have many names. One of the most famous nicknames is “musky duck.” This name suggested the famous Karl Linney due to the fact that the birds secrete a secret with the smell of musk. In fear of an unpleasant odor, poultry farmers were even recommended to cut off the bird’s head during slaughter. According to another version, the creature inherited its name from the tribe of Indians “Muiska.”

In the USSR, the mute swan only reached in 1981-1988. First they were brought in from the GDR, then from France. A characteristic feature of these birds is the fleshy growths, akin to what the turkeys wear, because of this external similarity of mute swan they began to call “indo-birds”.Not everyone supports this view. According to another hypothesis, the native Indians got a peculiar nickname, thanks to the Indians who first domesticated them.

Characteristics of the Indowatian

The musky duck has an elongated body and long tail, but short neck and paws – their distinctive features are clearly visible in the photo. Drakes gain weight on average up to 6 kg, and females – up to 3 kg. Compared to other feathered Indians:

1. Hardy and rarely sick, quickly adapt to the new climate. True, if ducks are not taken care of, they will catch an infection, like any other bird.
2. Unpretentious. They eat little, but almost everything that is not always good. Sometimes curious birds swallow pieces of glass and injure themselves.
3. They grow quickly and do not complain about fecundity.

There are many other great traits in ducks and for beginning poultry farmers to breed mute swan in home environment seems to be the best choice. The love of the poultry houses helped to conquer duck meat – usually fatty, but dietetic, tender. At the same time, mute ducks do not even have that specific shade of taste that other waterfowl have.

Ducks are found mainly in black and white, white, black and blue, although in Europe you can find birds and other colors. An interesting breed with the following pattern: black spots scattered on a white background. Brown with white and brown with a chocolate tint are also very beautiful. Mute swan usually has red beaks.

Growing ducks

Before you start breeding and rearing birds, you need to prepare a duckweed for them. Indoor walking area should be spacious enough so that they can walk on it without interference. 3 ducks per 1 sq.m are placed in the nest. Crampedness harms the well-being of birds as much as cold. A drop in temperature by several degrees reduces the productivity of a mute swarm – it will carry less eggs.

Mute swans especially do not like the winter season. So that their life in the cold season is not threatened, you need to warm the caddy with straw. The optimum temperature that should be maintained is 16 ° C. The humidity level for all months should not be more than 60%. Ducks are sloppy birds, and for the sake of humidifying the air in the summer they will have to hang wet rags – as a result, the floors in the house will get wet. Mesh floors are a good solution.

Mutex cannot be left in the dark. In order for them to grow and multiply, you need a 14-hour daylight. In summer, light can enter through the windows, and in winter you need to take care of artificial lighting. The room should be aired daily. Poor care leads to the fact that the birds begin to languish, and sometimes it happens that they cease to rush at all. When hatching, sometimes problems also arise: sometimes the duck flatly refuses to sit on the masonry. This is often due to improper care.

What food to pick up

Indians do not have a good appetite: they eat little and are not too picky. However, if the breeding of birds is not so much a pleasure for you as a business (and you can build a good income on ducks, it is necessary to select special diets. Depending on age, health, season and mood, a bird needs various nutrients that strengthen its body and, therefore, have a beneficial effect on the taste of its meat. An overabundance of substances, as well as their deficiency, impedes the full and rapid development of birds.

Although indochki are not voracious, if the feeder is filled with food, they can overeat, and this is just as bad as malnutrition. On the other hand, high-class elite feeds that are difficult to get in your area should also not be chased. The construction of ducklings and the purchase of ducks and drakes are a small part of the costs. Mostly feeding will hit the wallet.

1. Experienced poultry houses usually feed half of the daily allowance to the birds in the form of raw cereals, and the second half of the ration is made from a mixture of the same cereals with herbs and vegetables;
2. Cereals are primarily wheat and barley; ground corn can also be given. Ducklings need to be fed with crushed grains.
3. Green grass with dandelion, clover and other useful plants favorably affects the body of birds, but feeding should be carried out only with freshly cut grass.
4. Vegetables: mashed potatoes, grated pumpkin and carrots.
5. As additives, suitable meal, bran, fish oil, chopped fresh fish, feather flour. Ducklings are sometimes recommended to be fermented with fermented milk.

Note that while feeding ducks begin to hiss and fight for food with birds of other species, and they can also pick up litter and try it on its beak.

Secrets of breeding

Breeding of mute swords is exactly what they usually get for business. The risks are quite high: a bird can die without leaving offspring. It happens that the Indochka begin to rush badly – this usually happens if the care and feeding were incorrect. If the birds are bred with errors, this also greatly affects the number of eggs. The devil is not so terrible as he is painted – at home you can take care of the ducks and learn how to breed them as efficiently as they do in poultry farms. You can see the breeding secrets clearly in the video.

First of all, in order for the cultivation to not be wasted, you need to find healthy and strong birds on the tribe: only such can become good hens and bring good offspring. The selection of strong individuals and the screening of weak ducklings should occur constantly and soon become a habit. One male is enough for one, while the farm is small.

I ca begin to lay in March and April. Trot birds most often at night and in the morning, so we can not allow them to walk before 10 am, otherwise the eggs in the nests will wait in vain. When the clutch is filled with a dozen eggs, the mute swan sharply become caring hens and sit down to hatch. For birds that have been sitting for several days, poultry farmers begin to lay other people’s eggs from ducks, which can hardly be called approximate brood hens.

How much the duck sits on the eggs depends on many factors, for example, during the onset of winter months, the duration of hatching increases and vice versa. On average, babies begin to hatch on the 30-35th day of life. The chicks are left with the hens for half an hour, then they are taken and settled in a box specially prepared for them, where it is warm and cozy. It is better if the bird hatches eggs, because in the incubator the chicks are poorly hatched. Hatching has another noteworthy feature: most of the chicks will be male.

Growing chicks

After the duck has successfully hatched eggs, the chicks leave the nests (using the owner of the farm) and move to a special warm place where they can get stronger. How many days it will take them depends on the state of the duckling after birth. Kids grow up quickly, and after only 60 days they can be slaughtered. When feeding chicks, it is important to take into account several points, but do not be afraid that at home growing small birds is doomed to failure.

What can be done so that ducklings can safely turn into adult ducks?

1. In the first days of life, the birds, which are still sitting in the box, are fed with a chopped boiled egg mixed with animal feed. The first few times you will have to feed the kids with force, then they will learn themselves. Depends on the age of the ducklings how many times a day to feed them: the smallest – as often as possible, at least 8 times.You should be careful to teach the drinker because the duckling can get wet and get sick.
2. In the diet of chicks that have been living for about 3 days, you can mix a little greens and vitamin and mineral supplements. At this age, birds begin to be released briefly into the courtyard.
3. A feathered child who is already 10 days old can finally try mashed potatoes and canned foods that adults enjoy.

Pros and Cons of a Business

Thanks to the combination of the rapid growth of chicks and their pleasant meat, raising domesticated ducks at home seems like a promising plan for business. However, in order to sell the carcass more profitably, it is worth waiting with a slaughter for several months until the bird acquires an appetizing appearance. But young animals older than 4-5 months are usually not sold, because the price of such individuals falls.

Fortunately, you can find another way to recoup the costs of ducks – selling eggs.

At home, the mute sweeps swiftly and annually bring 110 eggs of 70 g each. Ducks rush twice a year. If the hen successfully hatches ducklings, but you do not want to wait until the stock grows, you can sell them small. It is possible to build good profits on ducks, but only if you take care of the birds and do not spare money for food. Now you know how the growing of swords occurs.