The musky duck, or, as it is also called, the indochka, conquered the hearts of poultry houses around the world. "Native American" ducks are distinguished by tasty and lean meat, a little like 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 the duck.
What are Musk Ducks?
It is difficult to confuse the Indo-female with other birds, even in the photo. It is a large bird with strong wings, broad chest and short legs. The drake weighs on average 6 kg, and the female muscovy duck weighs a little less: about 3.5 kg.
The duck has many qualities that poultry farmers appreciate:
- Ducks behave calmly and patiently. They are not prone to fighting (unless for a serious matter, for example, to protect their nest from another female) and do not like to make noise. Indowoks are called spikes, because they do not scream, but hiss.
- Birds eat any food, but their unpretentiousness in the field of food is so great that it creates problems. Birds can taste a piece of glass, wire, or other orphaned items, causing serious injury.
- 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 much time and effort in treating the bird.
- Indoor duck can not be called truly waterfowl, because they can do without swimming for a long time without any special health problems.
- 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 musk ducks:
- The bird grows for a long time.
- The duck does not like to live in dampness and cramped conditions, because of this it rushes badly.
The characteristic of birds is tempting, as it means that 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 fly. The reason that she does not sit on her eggs is the same. The content must fully comply with the requirements of musky domestic ducks.
Indo-duck breeds
Musk 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.
Poultry farmers in Europe believe that breeding mixed-colored musk ducks can improve the breed, as such birds gain more weight and are more productive than their plain counterparts. In Russia, such work is not widely conducted, therefore, the opinion is generally accepted in the country that only pure-bred breeds are purebred. Regardless of the variety, the care of any duck is the same.
- White Indochka. Plumage should be snow-white without yellowness. The beak is pale pink, the eyes are gray with blue. In musk white ducks with a pattern, the main difference is that the pattern of black feathers on different parts of the body is laid on the main white background.
- Black and white. The eyes are brown, the plumage is black with a purple tint on the whole body, except the back, white feathers form a pattern on the chest and neck. A completely black bird stands out in a separate breed.
- Brown. The birds are usually chocolate in color, their eyes and metatarsals are brown. People call such a 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.
- Blue. The blue Indoor has a matching color of plumage and black edging of feathers. The breeders bred a special variety of indolets called the “blue favorite”, which differs from musky ducks in many ways.
The origin of ducks
The birthplace of musky 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 Indo-duck
The number of poultry species cannot be counted on the fingers of two hands. In the market you can find birds for every taste and color, including those unpretentious like a musky duck. What attracts the muscovy ducks of poultry houses, what benefits can you get from their breeding? There are several options for starting a business: sending young ducks for slaughter, raising them for meat or trading ducklings.
- 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 be justified only for yourself. Muscovy meat is remarkable: it is tasty, but not fatty, almost dietary. If kept properly, birds will grow meat quickly and be ready to eat. The incubation period is approximately 32 days in an incubator, while the ducks of the musky duck gain weight by the thirteenth week of life, and monthly birds are suitable for slaughter.
- Eggs. Muscovy duck eggs are large, with dense protein, weighing up to 70 g. Each female lays an average of 90 eggs annually. The first time it rushes in the spring, the second - it sits on the nest in the fall. The hatchability of the chicks is very high: musk 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 Indian with a Peking duck to get a mulard: this is the name of the hybrid, which is able to grow faster and reaches about 4 kg in weight.
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:
- It should be dry and cool, as the birds do not like dampness and hot climate. The best temperature is 15 ° C. In a dirty and damp house, musky ducks wither and are poorly carried. It is recommended in order to avoid this problem to lay a floor from a grid with large cells.
- The drinker in winter should be located on the mesh floor. 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.
- In the house, perches for ducks up to 20 cm high and the same width should be arranged;
- 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 the premises, but also a paddock for walking in the fresh air. Cages, a barn or a room specially created for ducks can serve as a ducklings. You can make a house yourself, although you may need a circuit. At home, it is not always possible to provide a body of water, but this is not a vital necessity: the Indians live well without it.
Care Rules
The answer to the question of what do muscovy ducks eat is simple: almost everything. Wet mixers will serve as a food base: a mixture of chopped herbs, tops, leftover food from the kitchen, grain and corn. 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 you should know so that there are no problems with the duck:
- If there is a pond near the duckling, then the amount of feed can be reduced. Ducks themselves will get their own food by catching insects. However, in winter, mute mongrels cannot swim in the reservoir due to weak sebaceous glands.
- Indoor women are naturally curious and can taste small sharp objects, and swallow them immediately, which is why it is vital to monitor the purity of the pen.
- Food and water should be warm, never hot, even if feeding takes place in winter.
- Feathered fights with other species of birds for food if the feeders are shared.
- 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 laying.
Proper feeding should begin from the first days of the duckling'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 egg laying
The ducks of musk ducks cannot serve an unlimited number of females, the optimal ratio: one male for 3-5 females. Crossbreeding is not carried out between close relatives. The formation of the herd is best to start 1.5 months before the laying. Since, unlike the duck, the spleen reaches puberty later, it is better if in the broodstock it will be older than the females.
In particular, it is recommended to track the ratio of the weight of the male and the females. 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 whether they are breeding or not. In some cases, artificial insemination is performed.
Muscovy duck - the most profitable duck
Muscovy ducks. Care and maintenance. Summer 2014.
The subtleties of breeding duck ducks.
Musk ducks. Making nests.
Before laying, 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 an ordinary drawer. The main thing is that the box has a sufficiently high threshold, 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 pen. 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:
- It should not be in a damp place. It should not be placed close to a cold wall. One should also be wary of insidious drafts, from which ducks can get sick.
- The muscovy duck does not like noise and does not rush when 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 hatching.
- 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 over 180 days of age, the daylight hours are 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 for laying eggs comes to an end, the length of daylight hours is increased to 18-19 hours.
Before laying eggs of others in the nest, you will have to wait a few days. The maternal instinct in females awakens only after a week: only after a while does she begin to hatch eggs. After this, you can lay several eggs, remembering that the laying hen can hatch exactly as many eggs as can fit under it. It is believed that female incubation is a more acceptable option than incubation.
Incubation of eggs of musky duck is an alternative way to get chicks. Incubation is chosen by people who are going to do business, for example, trade in ducklings. Incubation is also useful in cases where it was not possible to plant a female to incubate 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. The eggs are kept for no longer than 2 weeks, after which they can no longer be incubated: the percentage of output will be too small. The reason is the thickness of the shell membrane. 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 is achieved, as well as other factors.
Incubation mode
First, the proper level of humidity is adjusted in the incubator and heated, after which they begin to lay eggs: from large to small. To remove duckling 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.
Table by which you can set the incubation mode of musky ducks:
Day | Temperature | Humidity |
17 days | 37.7 - 38 ° C | 55 – 60% |
8 - 29 days | 37.5 - 37.6 ° C | 45% |
30 days onwards | 37.0 - 37.2 ° C | 70 – 75% |
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 high.
There are several difficulties with ducklings:
- They are born later than chickens.
- The incubation of musky duck eggs is not as successful as the naturally hatched chicks.
Hatching occurs after 32 days.As in the case of other types 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 incubation occurs, you need to check the eggs every time. Ovoscopy allows you to identify defects at an early stage. It makes no sense and it is even dangerous to keep an unfertilized or defective egg in an incubator.
Raising 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 is time to choose healthy and strong babies: - they can be sent for reproduction 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 them grow.
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 adult birds will require a lot of time, stamina and attentiveness, a lot of things will have to be done. As the wise proverb says, patience and work will grind everything.
Now you know how the breeding of the musky duck breed takes place.