How to keep muscovy ducks at home

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The muscovy duck, or, as it is also called, the Indo-duck, has won the hearts of poultry houses all over the world. "Indian" ducks are distinguished by tasty and lean meat, which bears little resemblance to the meat of waterfowl. Bred birds not only for slaughter, but also for the sake of their delicious eggs. The bird is great for novice poultry breeders, as it does not require any specific knowledge and conditions for care.

Muscovy duck

Indo-ducks are one of the most unpretentious, unpretentious poultry, but despite their popularity, not all poultry houses know how to keep muscovy ducks and breed them. The article will help you figure out how to properly care for a duck.

What are musk ducks?

Indo-female is difficult to confuse with other birds, even in the photo. It is a large bird with strong wings, broad chest and short legs. The drake weighs an average of 6 kg, and the female muscovy duck weighs a little less: about 3.5 kg.

The duck has many qualities that poultry farmers appreciate:

1. Ducks behave calmly and patiently. They are not prone to fighting (unless for the sake of a serious matter, for example, to protect their nest from another female) and do not like to make noise. Indo-duck are called mute, because they do not shout, but hiss.
2. Birds eat any food, but their unpretentiousness in the area of ​​food is so great that it creates problems. Birds can taste a piece of glass, wire, or other orphaned items, causing serious injury.
3. Ducks are very hardy creatures: they are immune to many diseases. If you keep them correctly, in comfortable conditions, then they will be completely bypassed about the disease. If the symptoms of the disease are noticed at an early stage, it will not be necessary to invest a lot of time and effort in treating the bird.
4. Indo-ducks cannot be called truly waterfowl, because they can go without swimming for a long time without any special health problems.
5. The egg production of females is high, and they are not bad mothers: they will sit on eggs until all the chicks hatch.

There are some features that a farmer should consider when keeping musky ducks:

1. The bird grows for a long time.
2. The duck does not like to live in dampness and cramped conditions, because of this it rushes badly.

The characteristic of the birds is tempting as it means the duck is easy to care for. However, it is worth considering the fact that if the content is not satisfactory, the bird will not rush. The reason she doesn't sit on eggs is the same. The content must fully comply with the requirements of musky domestic ducks.

Indo-duck breeds

Muscovy ducks are different in color: there are white and dark, chocolate. The blue duck looks great, the wild one looks interesting. In Europe, birds of non-standard colors are bred, which are rare in Russia. Non-standard colors are passed on to descendants, and European farms sometimes specially breed mixed-color ducks.

Birders in Europe believe that breeding mixed-colored muscovy ducks improves the breed, as these birds gain more weight and are more productive than their monochromatic counterparts. In Russia, such work is not widely carried out, therefore there is a generally accepted opinion in the country according to which only breeds of monochromatic birds are purebred. Regardless of the species, the care of any duck is the same.

1. White Indoor. The plumage should be snow-white without yellowness. The beak is pale pink, the eyes are gray with blue. The main difference between the patterned musky white ducks is that the pattern of black feathers on different parts of the body is laid over a basic white background.
2. Black and white. The eyes are brown, the plumage is black with a purple tint throughout the body, except for the back, white feathers form a pattern on the chest and neck. A completely black bird stands out in a separate breed.
3. Brown. Birds are usually chocolate in color, with brown eyes and metatarsals. People call this bird "red". It is often seen that the farm is raising beautiful brown ducks with white feathers on their chest - this is a breed of brown and white ducks.
4. Blue. The blue Indoor has a matching color of plumage and black edging of feathers. A special variety of Indo-Ducks called "Blue Favorite" was bred by the poultry houses, which differs from musky ducks in many ways.

The origin of ducks

The homeland of muscovy ducks is South America, where you can still find wild representatives of this species. Wild birds are much smaller than their domesticated counterparts. The wild musky drake barely weighs 3 kg, while the wild female reaches 1.3 kg. The first muscovy ducks were domesticated by local residents, first of all they were kept by the Aztecs. For this reason, this species of birds is often called Indo-duck, which means "Indian duck".

Centuries after domestication, the first Europeans arrived in America. Immigrants from Europe gave the bird the name "musk duck", or "nutmeg", under which it gained worldwide fame. She got the name thanks to the fleshy growth on the head, which distinguishes the bird from other ducks. According to Europeans, the build-up has a musky odor that can spoil the meat, so poultry houses in the old days advised that when sending birds for slaughter, the first thing to do was to chop off their heads.

According to another version, the duck got its name from the word "muiska" - that was the name of one of the Indian tribes in Colombia.

Wherever the name comes from, the muscovy duck quickly gained popularity in the poultry industry. In 1514, she appeared in Spain, from where she came to other European countries. In 1550, the Indo-woman was brought to Africa, probably by former slaves. In Africa, she was given new names: "Guinean" and "Barbary" duck. The bird first came to the USSR in 1981, then it was brought back in 1988.

Why grow an Indo-duck

The number of poultry species cannot be counted on the fingers of two hands. On the market you can find birds for every taste and color, including those as unpretentious as the muscovy duck. What attracts the muscovy ducks of poultry houses, what benefits can be obtained from their breeding? There are several options for starting a business: sending young ducks for slaughter, raising them for meat or trading ducklings.

1. Meat. Indoor or musk duck produces very good meat, and in large quantities. You can build a strong business on this product, however, breeding at home will pay off only for yourself. Muscovy meat is remarkable: it is tasty, but not fatty, almost dietary. If kept properly, birds will quickly grow meat and be ready to eat. The incubation period is about 32 days in the incubator, while the muscovy ducklings are gaining weight already at the thirteenth week of life, and the monthly birds are suitable for slaughter.
2. Eggs. Muscovy duck eggs are large, with dense protein, weighing up to 70 g. Each year, each female lays an average of 90 eggs.The first time it rushes in the spring, the second - it sits on the nest in the fall. The hatchability of chicks is very high: ducklings hatch in 90% of cases. The seasonal business will generate good income if the product is sold at a higher price than the eggs of regular ducks.

You can cross an Indo-duck with a Peking duck to get a mulard: this is the name of a hybrid that can grow faster and weigh about 4 kg.

Poultry house arrangement

Duck ducks should be kept in a comfortable environment. First of all, the construction of a ducklings is required. The room in which the ducks will live must meet several criteria:

1. It should be dry and cool, as birds do not like dampness and hot climates. The best temperature is 15 ° C. In a dirty and damp poultry house, musky ducks wither and do not rush well. It is recommended to lay the floor with coarse mesh to avoid this problem.
2. The drinker should be on a mesh floor in winter. It is important to ensure that there is plenty of water: Indo-women drink a lot. There should be at least 3 m between the drinker and the feeder.
3. In the poultry house, perches for ducks up to 20 cm high and the same width should be arranged;
4. Care should be taken to keep the litter clean at all times.

The size of the ducklings should be large enough to house the broodstock. The breeding area should include not only a room, but also an outdoor paddock. Cages, a shed or a room specially created for ducks can serve as the duckhouse itself. The house can be made with your own hands, although a diagram may be required. At home, it is not always possible to provide a reservoir, but this is not a vital necessity: Indo-women live well without it.

Care rules

The answer to the question of what do muscovy ducks eat is simple: almost everything. Wet mash will serve as a fodder base: a mixture of chopped grass, tops, food leftovers from the kitchen, grain and corn. The compound feed should be suitable for the age of the bird and its state of health. It is important to take into account the peculiarities of the purpose: musk ducks for meat should be fattened according to different principles than Indo-duck, which are bred for other purposes. In terms of feeding, there are features that are worth knowing so that there are no problems with the duck:

1. If there is a pond next to the ducklings, then the amount of food can be reduced. Ducks themselves will find their own food by catching insects. However, in winter, mute mongrels cannot swim in the reservoir due to weak sebaceous glands.
2. Indoor women are naturally curious and can taste small, sharp objects, and swallow them right away, which is why it is vital to keep the pen clean.
3. Food and water should be warm, never hot, even if feeding takes place in winter.
4. Feathered fights with other species of birds for food, if the feeders are common.
5. Indo-women are prone to cannibalism. To prevent this from happening, it is important to keep an eye on the light intensity in the ducklings during egg-laying.

Proper feeding should be started from the first days of a duck's life. On the first day, the ducklings eat chopped boiled eggs, on the second day, you can add a mixture of eggs and porridge to the diet. Gradually, chopped greens are introduced into the diet, and at the age of 10 days, ducklings can be fed with potatoes.

Preparation for laying

Drakes of muscovy ducks cannot serve an unlimited number of females, the optimal ratio is one male for 3-5 females. Crossbreeding is not carried out between close relatives. It is better to start the formation of the herd 1.5 months before laying. Since, unlike the duck, the drake reaches sexual maturity later, it is better if it is older than the females in the broodstock.

In particular, it is recommended to monitor the ratio of the weight of the male and the female. If the size of the drake is many times larger than the size of the female, it is likely that he will harm her, crush her, it does not matter if they are breeding or not. In some cases, artificial insemination is performed.

Before laying the eggs, you need to equip the nests.A nest can be made from almost anything, for example it is a very good idea to make it from a regular box. The main thing is that the box has a high enough nut, then the eggs will not be able to roll out of it. The socket should be deep and the hole not too narrow. Pay attention to the behavior of the females when they start walking around the paddock. Some of them independently find objects that could become nests.

When arranging nests, it is important to take into account that birds fight among themselves if their egg-laying sites are too close to each other and in line of sight. Placing the nests side by side, you need to put high partitions between them.

Choose a nest based on the following factors:

1. It should not be in a damp place. It should not be placed close to a cold wall. You should also be wary of insidious drafts, from which ducks can get sick.
2. The muscovy duck does not like noise and does not rush if it feels in danger, so you need to equip nests away from the aisles. You should try not to disturb the ducks when they start to rush, and in no case should you transfer the nest on which the bird will sit. Otherwise, the bird will refuse to use it or become so alarmed that it will not rush or stop incubating.
3. The lining should be clean, it is better to change it every night. Keeping the lining clean is an important success factor in raising birds.

Features of breeding ducklings

For females aged 180 days or more, the duration of daylight hours is increased to a maximum of 16-17 hours. This allows them to increase their fertility. Birds can stomp on eggs and eat them. To prevent this from happening, the light should not be intense or too weak. Twilight is most suitable. To prevent cannibalism, daylight hours are increased gradually, day by day, but not sharply. When the period of laying comes to an end, the length of daylight hours is increased to 18-19 hours.

You will have to wait a few days before placing other people's eggs in the nest. The maternal instinct in females awakens only after a week has passed: only after a while does she begin to hatch eggs. After that, you can lay a few eggs, remembering that the hen will be able to incubate exactly as many eggs as will fit underneath. It is believed that hatching by a female is a more viable option than incubation.

Incubating musk duck eggs is an alternative way to get chicks. Incubation is chosen by people who are going to do business, for example, trading ducklings. Incubation is also useful in cases where it was not possible to plant the female to incubate the offspring. Incubation of musk ducks begins with collecting eggs for her: they are collected within 2 weeks, and then sent to storage. The emergence of chicks from eggs of irregular shape or damaged is impossible. The egg must be regular, oval, clean, with a smooth shell without defects.

Store products at 11 ° C. Eggs are kept no longer than 2 weeks, after that they can no longer be incubated: the percentage of hatching will be too small. The reason is in the thickness of the over-shell film. It is important to wait until it becomes thin for the incubation to be successful. How many chicks will hatch depends on the way in which this was achieved, as well as on other factors.

Incubation mode

First, the proper level of humidity is adjusted in the incubator and warmed up, after which they begin to lay eggs: from large to small. In order for the hatching of the duck to end successfully, from time to time the egg is turned over and sprayed with cool water. A duck that sits on eggs does this by spraying them with water on their own after swimming in a pond and turning them over with their paws. Sometimes the incubator has automatic egg flipping modes.

The table by which you can set the incubation mode of the muscovy ducks:

In the first week, it is necessary to turn the eggs 2 times during the day. In the second week, coups should be continued, sprayed and ventilated. In the third week, concentrate on cooling. The most important thing is that the temperature is not too low or too high.

There are several difficulties with ducklings:

1. They are born later than chickens.
2. Incubating musky duck eggs is not as successful as hatching chicks naturally.

Hatching occurs after 32 days. As in the case of other species of ducklings, you cannot help babies to cope with the shell, they must break through the egg themselves. Incubation rules, besides the regime, have no other peculiarities. As with other birds, when hatching occurs, eggs should be checked every time. Ovoscopy allows you to identify defects at an early stage. It makes no sense and even dangerous to keep an unfertilized or defective egg in an incubator.

Growing birds in an incubator can be viewed in detail on the video, because the description does not always allow us to fully understand the process. At the end of incubation, the chickens are transplanted into a separate box in a warm room and kept there from one to several days or more. At this stage, it's time to choose healthy and strong babies: - they can be sent for breeding in the future. If the farm has a hen that sits on the nest, the chicks can be thrown up to her so that she takes care of heating them and helps to raise them.

Growing muscovy ducks can be difficult, despite the simplicity of these birds. Growing them in the country should be fun, because otherwise the work will be too tedious. These birds are unpretentious, but caring for ducklings, and then for adult birds, will require a lot of time, stamina and care, you will have to do a lot. As the wise proverb says, patience and work will grind everything.

Now you know how the breeding of the musky duck breed takes place.