What to feed little ducklings. We organize the proper care of young ducklings

Feeding ducklings in the first weeks after birth is a rather troublesome business. In this article, we will tell you how to effectively organize the care of little ducklings, discuss the nutritional features of chicks at different ages.

We will also consider what exactly to feed at home from the first days of their life.

Conditions for keeping

The main point in growing ducklings in the first weeks is the optimal uniform temperature in the cages where the young are kept. The temperature regime during the heating period must be maintained within the following limits: at the age of 1 to 5 days - 28–29 ° C, from 6 to 10 days - 25–27 ° C, from 11 to 20 days - 22–25 ° C, s 21 days to a month - 21–18 ° С.
It is important for beginner duckling growers to understand that for the proper development of the duckling, it is especially important to avoid night temperature fluctuations. Make sure that yellowmouths do not crowd at night, but are evenly placed near a heat source.

Density also plays a big role. No more than 40 heads can be placed on 1 square meter of cage floor area.

Use chopped straw or as bedding for cages. The bedding must be dry and free of mold and dust. Sprinkle the floors of the cages with dry sand, then lay 5-8 cm thick straw. Shake the bedding daily, clean it.
Remove soiled or damp bedding and replace with fresh. The air in the places where the chicks are kept should always be clean. Ventilate the room regularly, while avoiding drafts.

From the third day, the chicks can already be released for walking. In this case, the outside temperature should not be lower than 15-18 °C. Increase the time the chicks stay on the run gradually. Until the 25th day, babies should not be released for water walking.

Walking must be carried out in proper conditions. For the proper development of ducklings, it is necessary to provide them with direct sunlight. At the same time, the chicks should be able to hide in the shade so that they do not suffer from prolonged exposure to the scorching sun.

Place the water in the drinkers on the paddocks in the shade, in no case in the sun. In addition, the water should always be fresh and clean.
Keep the chicks out of the rain as they get wet quickly and may die. Do not let little ducklings out onto a grassy meadow damp from dew and rain.

Important! If the chicks get wet from rain or other reasons, take measures to dry the ducklings as soon as possible.

How to teach ducklings to eat

It is important not only to know how to feed little ducklings at home, but also to teach them how to eat.

First, drink the chicks from a pipette with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Next, put a mashed boiled egg mixed with any porridge on a sheet of green paper.
You can also put food in a wide container with low sides and tap on the bottom with your finger - the birds will instinctively begin to repeat the movements.

The old grandfather technique helps to teach inexperienced chicks to recognize food at the initial stage. Pour the mixture of food on the backs of the chicks. When falling to the ground, the food particles imitate movement, which attracts the attention of ducklings and encourages them to eat.

Did you know? It is known that according to the laws of physics, any sound is reflected under certain conditions. However, oddly enough, duck quacking is not subject to this law, it has no echo at all. Wherever this waterfowl quacks, you will not hear any echo.

Toddlers learn to hunt moving food. The effectiveness of this method is explained by the fact that food, according to waterfowl, must move.

We compose a diet

Compiling a diet for little ducklings is not particularly difficult. However, consider some nuances. For example, for what purposes the bird is bred, how quickly you want to fatten them. Also, when compiling a diet, take into account the breed characteristics of the duck.

Up to 10 days

The first 10 days, the chicks should be fed little by little, but often, at regular intervals, at least 8 times a day. So, let's consider what to feed daily ducklings at home.

In the first 10 days after birth, focus on protein foods. Feed the chicks boiled, peeled and minced eggs (chicken or duck). For a couple of days, along with the eggs, give the kids corn, as well as oatmeal and barley groats.
Then add to the diet, cottage cheese (fat-free), kefir and other dairy products. For each head, include 5 g of cottage cheese in the diet.

Do not forget to add vitamin A and D concentrates to the mash from the 6th day. This contributes to the good development of waterfowl and rapid weight gain.

The composition of the food for little ducklings up to 10 days:

• crushed grain - 15 g;
• greens - 20 g;
• boiled chopped egg - 3 g;
• low-fat cottage cheese - 3 g;
• wheat bran - 5 g;
• soy - 1 g;
• boiled meat waste - 3 g;
• chalk - 1 g;
• bone meal - 0.5 g;
• fodder yeast - 0.2 g.

10–20 days

Important! Sometimes breeders mistakenly add bread to the diet of ducklings. This kind of food is wrong. This product may lead to undesirable fermentation reactions in the stomach of the chicks, which may further lead to their death.

Feed the chicks boiled root vegetables and potatoes. Also add wet mash based on crushed grains or bran to the diet. Knead the stirrers with milk. The resulting composition should not be sticky, pasty or too liquid.
Also during this growing period, begin to accustom the chicks to green food. For this purpose, chopped fresh is perfect. Grind nettles in advance and add to eggs or cottage cheese.

Until the chicks are 20 days old, remove the shells from barley and oatmeal.

Composition of a complete dry combined food (per 100 g of food):

20-30 days

From the 20th day until the age of one month, observe 3 times feeding.

• wheat - 47 g;
• corn - 10 g;
• barley - 15 g;
• sunflower meal - 9 g;
• fodder - 7 g;
• shells, chalk - 2 g;
• table salt - 0.1 g.

As soon as your pets are 20 days old, feed them scraps from the kitchen and garden. Yeast in the nutrition of ducklings is considered an important element.

Also take care of mineral feeds, such as sand, finely ground shells and gravel. Chicks should always have access to them.

Feeding week-old ducklings is one of the important issues that should be puzzled when breeding young animals. You also need to deal with all the features of keeping ducklings, if necessary, prepare all the necessary equipment: feeders, drinkers, brooders, etc.

We organize the proper care of young ducklings

Ducklings are afraid of cold and drafts, this point is important to consider. Therefore, a lamp should be installed in the house, with the help of which the chicks will be heated. Note that for individuals up to three weeks of age, it is important to choose the right temperature and light conditions.

The floor in the poultry house is covered with a layer of 10-15 cm with straw or sawdust bedding. The bedding must be kept dry and clean at all times. If it gets wet in the places where the drinkers are installed, it is recommended to change it so that dirt and dampness do not form.

Feeding week old ducklings

Weekly ducklings are fed at least 4-5 times a day. The food should be rich in proteins. Experts recommend preparing a mash using the following components:

• boiled eggs;
• skim cheese;
• a little kefir or whey.

The food must be fresh. If after all the ducklings move away from the feeders there is food left in it, it is recommended to remove it. However, if you feed ducklings with starter feed, then you can leave it in the feeder, since this feed is dry, and there is no chance of it sour.

You can start giving greens to ducklings from the age of three. Finely chopped green onions, nettles, dandelions, clover are perfect. Particular attention should be paid to the water that you pour ducklings into drinkers, it must be clean and fresh. Water should be changed as needed, but at least 3 times a day.

What to feed ducklings from two weeks of age?

Feeding two-week-old ducklings can be carried out using special compound feed, which is sold in specialized stores, as well as using dry food obtained by crushing cereals.

Under favorable weather conditions, ducks can already be released outside into pre-prepared fences, where the chicks can eat plenty of green grass, as well as other pasture food.

In the diet, you can gradually begin to introduce boiled vegetables, root crops. If you decide to give nettles, then it is recommended to scald it with boiling water. Chalk, meat and bone meal, crushed eggshells can be added to dry food.

Among poultry species, duck is the most precocious, its young grow faster than chickens and goslings. Already a month after hatching, the ducks increase their weight by 15-20 times (up to 2 kg), depending on the breed. By this time, they can already be slaughtered for personal use, and for meat, for commercial sale, the optimal slaughter age is 55 days, when the weight of the bird is maximum and is equal to the size of broiler chickens (4-5 kg).

Further maintenance of ducks becomes economically unprofitable, as the bird survives the first molt and loses valuable down, and body weight stops increasing.

For the growth of a new feather, the bird needs an increase in the diet. Therefore, the cost of feeding ducks increases almost three times. For this reason, in the future it is best to leave only the parent flock: laying ducks and 1-2 drakes of producers.

Features of growing ducks

Growing ducklings for meat is still preferable because the consumption per kilogram of weight is less than for chickens and geese, since in the presence of pasture and a reservoir, they find almost 50% of their food for themselves.

Of the special requirements that ducks need at home - any body of water. It can be a lake, a natural or artificial pool, even just a dug-in trough or an old bathtub.

Although, now the closed keeping of ducklings without walking is gaining popularity. To do this, special cages with mesh floors or aviaries with deep litter are built in the barn. In the summer, ducklings are kept on feedlots with shelter for the night and from bad weather. In this case, an intensive technology for fattening ducks of meat breeds is used, which makes it possible to obtain an elite bird of 5-6 kg in live weight by the 50th day. Restaurants buy such carcasses at a high price - because of the high quality of the breast and liver.

Brief overview of breeds

Not all breeds are suitable for growing ducklings for meat. The greatest increase in weight is given by white Moscow, Peking, Ukrainian ducks, as well as some crosses - ducklings old 53, mulard, medeo, black and white breast, Blagovarsky, super M4, agidel, cherry valley and Indian runners.

Muscovy ducks and mulards

Ducklings mulards and indouts differ from other breeds in that they do not have a voice - they can only hiss. Another advantage of this French cross is a quick weight gain: at two months, the bird's weight is always above 4 kg. Moulards are unpretentious, feel good on pasture, it is enough for them to build a small pool right in the courtyard.

Of the minuses, only one can be named - it is impossible to breed mulards on their own (they are self-infertile), hatching eggs or day old ducklings must be bought in nurseries, and their price is quite high. The cost of a mulard egg is from 50 rubles, a duckling is over 200 rubles.

Peking ducks

The breed, bred more than 200 years ago in China, was improved in the USA and received the name Cross Star 53. Ducklings gain weight faster than other broiler breeds - by day 50, the carcass weighs up to 4 kg, about 30% of them are dietary brisket.

White Moscow ducks

The breed was bred on the basis of the Beijing breed, the weight of the bird for slaughter reaches 3.5 kg of very valuable, dietary meat. In addition, laying hens can produce up to 150 eggs per year. They are the most delicious among ducks.

Broilers Agidel

Two new, very promising crosses of domestic selection - Agidel 34 and Agidel 345, have already won over many farmers and private traders. Duck meat is lean, the carcass reaches 3 kg of weight, a laying hen produces up to 120 dietary eggs per year. The ducks of this cross are excellent mother hens, they can breed 2 times a year, the hatchability of chicks is almost 60%, which is an excellent indicator for ducks. The bird is completely unpretentious, adapted to our climatic conditions. A big plus is that this cross is not focused on predominant feeding with compound feeds, like foreign breeds. Already from 3 weeks they can be transferred to whole grains.

Duckling care

The easiest way to grow with a hen. But most breeds of meat ducks do not sit well on eggs, so incubation or the acquisition of day old chicks is more often used. Regardless of the breeding method, the feeding period is divided into two stages: up to 30 days and up to 50-60 (before slaughter). And since the growth rate of ducklings is very high, there should be no errors in care - this will lead to weight loss or diseases.

Cultivation of young ducks up to 30 days

From the day of hatching until 10 days old, ducklings should only be kept in brooders or multi-tiered cages in a heated room. And further, at least up to 20-25 days they should sleep in a warm place.

Minimum box dimensions:

• width and length 65x65 cm;
• height 45 cm.

The following indicators testify to the health of the chicks:

• mobility and energy;
• healed umbilical cord;
• soft small belly;
• even smooth fluff;
• fast response to sound;
• a good appetite.

Age in weeks	Temperature	Lighting time in hours	Fluid volume per head per day	Number of chicks per 1 m2

The first feeding must be done no later than the first 18-24 hours of life. The first time to feed ducklings is to give a hard-boiled egg, and then cook wet mash with the addition of cereals and fresh herbs. And if you are going to feed the bird with ready-made feed, then you can immediately take a complete starter feed.

Table. Feeding rates and weight of ducklings - average indicators

Indicators	Age of ducklings in days
	1-10	11-20	21-20	31-40	41-50	51-60
Chick weight	250	550	950	1500	2000	2500
Feed units in g	35	85	130	220	240	250
Digestible protein	5	13	20	29	30,5	33,3
Calcium (lg)	700	1860	3000	4010	4400	5000
Phosphorus (lg)	350	930	1500	2000	2200	2500
Sodium (mg)	180	480	720	990	1030	1270

The diet for the first month should include the following components:

• wholemeal flour and small cereals from 3-5 grains - 30-40%;
• bran - at least 10% by weight;
• crushed green vitamin feed (clover, nettle, alfalfa) - 30-35%;
• hay flour - 5%;
• ground chalk or shells - up to 1%;
• grated carrots - 3-5%;
• beer (or baker's) yeast - 3-5%;
• up to 1.5% fish oil.

Such a diet should be followed up to 10 days, then the amount of green fodder can be increased up to 40%. And from day 16, ducklings can be transferred to adult duck food, in which the corn content can reach half the amount of grain. It is strongly not recommended to give bread to ducklings and adult ducks - they get bloating and indigestion from this, which inhibits weight gain.

The first 3 days you need to feed ducklings 5-6 a day, then they should have constant access to food and they themselves will regulate the number of feedings.

Chicks should have fresh water at all times. The first days of the drinker should be such that the ducklings reach the bottom with a key, otherwise they may choke. For the first week, it is recommended to add a pinch of sugar to the water - this will increase the vitality of the chicks.

The fact that ducks are water birds does not mean that they will immediately swim - this is what their mother duck teaches them. And if it is not, then you can take on this role. To do this, you need to make a pool next to a brooder from a shallow basin and let the ducklings swim several times a day. They should not be left alone, as they may drown. It is necessary to pour water into the pool at about 28-30 degrees, run the chicks for a few minutes, then take them out, wipe them with a towel and send them to the brooder again. The fact is that down to 9 weeks the ducklings get wet and if they are left wet, they can catch a cold.

In order for the chicks to grow strong and healthy, they should be given prophylactic drugs and vitamins. Schedule and names of drugs - in the table:

Age of chicks	Name of the drug	Dose and type of treatment	The action of the drug
Before brooding		2% solution, aerosol, 1 spray	Prevention of viral and bacterial diseases
1 to 4 days			Vitamin preparation with anti-stress effect
Day 5 to Day 9	Entroflokacin 10% Entroxil 10%	Daily drinking of 0.5-0.1 ml per liter of water	For the prevention of stomach and colds
10 to 14 days		Daily drinking of 0.3-0.5 ml per liter of water	Strengthening immunity
Thereafter once a week		0.5 ml per liter of water	Health Support

Growing ducklings up to 60 days

At the second stage, the chicks can be transferred to adult content. In winter, it is better to do this from 30, and in summer it is possible from 20 days. Winter maintenance is mandatory in a warm and heated room. In summer, you can transfer ducklings to pens with canopies.

Important point! Ducklings are very vulnerable to predators. Enclosures must be carefully strengthened, including from cats and dogs, and from above - from birds of prey, which can easily catch them.

Even crows prey on small ducklings. During the day, chicks can be let out for walks, even taken to a pond (preferably under supervision). Often strange old ducks try to attack the young and can injure the chicks.

The diet for ducklings of the second month of life is presented in the table. There should always be enough water near the food - the chicks constantly drink food to swallow it. Without water, they can even choke.

Ducklings should not be given:

• bread;
• dairy products (except cottage cheese);
• flour;
• boiled cereals (except oatmeal);
• berries (strawberries, raspberries, any others);
• grape;
• silage;
• fresh nettle (it must be dried or doused with boiling water);
• cabbage;
• sunflower seeds;
• chicken feed;
• maple leaves (causes intestinal blockage and death of chicks).

You can feed corn, peas, legumes, oats, cake, meal, wheat, rye, barley, tomatoes, carrots, grass, give mineral supplements (chalk, shell rock, bone meal, coarse sand, crushed shells). Vegetables must be crushed and it is best to fill with water. The bird also loves aquatic vegetation, insects and worms. Small fish can only be given after the ducklings have swum in open water.

Growing newborn ducklings is not an easy task, requiring the investment of strength and patience, especially if the poultry breeder is a beginner. One of the most important components that you need to immediately deal with and plan how to plan, having previously found the necessary information, is what ducklings are fed from the first days of life at home. If everything is balanced and thought out at once, then the owners will have a delicious and nutritious duck at the end of the season.

What do ducklings eat: diet and types of food

Ducklings, recently born, need careful care. Therefore, it is very important to decide how to feed day old ducklings. It is worth remembering that no matter how old the ducks are, the main component of any diet is fresh herbs, without which they can not do a single day. You need to know what herbs can be given to ducklings, for example, they are very fond of nettle, spurge, Chinese cabbage and duckweed. In addition, it will be useful to mix the main food with sources of calcium - chalk, small pieces of shells and sand.

Ducklings prefer to eat:

• Feed containing cereals. At the same time, it is necessary that this particular variety occupies most of their food. Whole grains such as oats, corn, and beans are carbohydrate sources that support even and healthy bird growth. In addition, ducklings will gain a lot of mass, which is also important.
• The green friends of birds are plants. The main advantage of living in the private sector is access to greenery. In addition to stems and leaves, small pets like to eat root crops. To facilitate the process of chewing, you can rub vegetables and plants through a grater or simply chop. Moulards, white Indians, mute ducks, musky ducks especially like it, and everyone else is not averse to eating such food.
• If we talk about healthy food for goslings, then these are undoubtedly products processed at industrial enterprises. They have a high content of useful minerals and vitamins. Most often, poultry farmers extract food waste, like potato skins and much more, up to yeast.
• The little gosling will be happy if he gets food of animal origin. Moreover, it will be very useful. These are dairy products, bone meal, etc.

Note! It is very important to help ducklings get enough useful minerals and vitamins, since the presence of table salt, egg shells, sand or chalk will facilitate and improve the process of digesting food.

How to feed ducklings from the first days of life

In fact, everything is not as difficult as it seems at first glance.

Feeding rules from the first week

The most important and difficult question to solve in many cases is how to feed week-old ducklings. The most important thing to remember is that the food should be combined. The necessary minerals and trace elements must be present to promote the healthy growth of ducklings.

Important! Substances that promote better digestion: chalk, crushed shells, etc. poured into a separate container, not together with the main feed. In practice, feeding with hard-boiled chicken eggs is also used, which is also very useful.

Ducklings begin to be accustomed to wild greens after the third day, having previously chopped everything as finely as possible, to facilitate consumption. The amount of grass should not be more than 20% of the total feed. It is necessary to ensure that small birds do not develop diarrhea, which is quite typical with a diet that is not entirely correct.

Experienced poultry farmers, with a complete lack of interest in ducklings for food, recommend attracting them with the sound of knocking on the feeder. It also happens that they refuse to eat at all, which is fraught with negative consequences, so you need to get used to feeding the little one from the pipette with a mix of yolk and milk.

little duckling

Nutrition and care for ducklings after 3 weeks of existence

The next question - how to feed two-week-old ducklings, is also very relevant, since both taste preferences and needs for the body change with age. Experienced poultry farmers are advised to start giving a mash, which is generously diluted with crushed pieces of wheat, bran, bone and egg flour, and barley. For all the same ease of eating, you need to properly moisten the mixture, but do not overdo it, as this will lead to the laying of the nasal openings of the birds, as a result of which they will simply suffocate. For this, whey or ordinary yogurt is ideal. It is worth giving this food during the daytime, and fill the feeders with compound feed at night.

Important! Birds love greens, so in the approaches between the main meals, you can throw an armful of grass or finely chopped vegetables to them. This will help dilute their diet.

It is also worth remembering that excessively long storage of the mash in the feeder can lead to the expiration date. When feeding dry food, it is worth monitoring the amount - the feed should be slightly more than necessary. It is very important that crushed shells, shells and stones are always present in a separate container with birds. Otherwise, the owner may face indigestion and other problems in birds.

After reaching two months of age, on average, birds gain weight of about 2000 g, which allows the owners to start slaughtering them. If the poultry farmer wants to fatten even more, there are no complaints, but at this age the meat of the birds is very soft.

two month old ducklings

Nutritional norms for ducklings

The main thing that the future poultry farmer should deal with before acquiring ducklings is why and for what he does it. It is also worth determining how long it takes for the birds to reach their maximum weight.

Important! If the bird hatched and lived a little in production, you may encounter the fact that it cannot get used to homemade food, which is quite natural. Therefore, it is recommended to first feed her with the food that she ate initially.

There is a set of some rules that are recommended to listen to:

• ducklings and adult ducks need the constant presence of food and water in the feeders;
• you need to feed several times a day: those who have just been born - up to 7 times a day, and those who have crossed the threshold of 2 weeks - about 5 times a day;
• before switching to roughage (for example, millet), small ducklings need to be adapted, first giving boiled yolk;
• after reaching the age of 16 weeks, you can begin to switch to food for adult ducks.

The nutritional norms of ducklings are shown in the table:

Type of feed (quantity)	Age of ducklings (up to 9 days)	Age 10 to 19 days	Age from 3 weeks to 1 month
Compound feed	24 g	69 g	111 g
Greenery during the summer season	16 g	61 g	91 g
Combisilos during the summer season	missing	9 g	19 g
food waste	missing	16 g	41 g
Needles	0.4 g	2 g	3 g
Chopped boiled potatoes	missing	9 g	16 g
Reverse	6 g	11 g	missing
Curd	4 g	missing	missing
Eggs	4 g	missing	missing
Duckweed	11	16	6
Flour from fish bones or meat	0.6 g	1.6 g	4 g
feed yeast	0.3 g	0.6 g	0.9 g
Dried nettle	0.6 g	2 g	4 g
shells	0.6 g	1.6 g	4 g
Gravel	missing	0.6 g	2 g
a piece of chalk	0.2 g	0.4 g	0.6 g

These rules must be observed in order to maintain the vitality of ducklings and take care of their health.

Vitamins and trace elements for ducklings

A very important part of bird nutrition, which is a necessary presence in their lives for healthy growth, is vitamins and minerals. If you avoid eating them, the birds will start to get sick and will have tasteless meat when slaughtered. To avoid deterioration in the general condition of birds, it is recommended to dilute bird food with the following:

• protein, which is contained in cottage cheese, dairy products, is diluted with a mash;
• top dressing containing minerals: crushed egg shells, table salt, wood ash, sand, which are placed in a container separate from other food;
• meat and bone or fish meal.

Important! For those who live in the private sector, it is very beneficial to give as many greens as possible to ducklings, especially adult ducks, because there is enough vitamins and minerals for healthy growth.

What to feed little ducklings

Feeding ducklings food that is forbidden for their digestion is fraught with dangerous consequences, for example, indigestion and other diseases, so it is very important to know what you can and cannot feed ducklings.

The lack of any necessary substances will immediately affect the appearance of the ducklings: they will literally begin to “fade away” before our eyes. Immunity will lose ground, exposing the little chick to the risk of contracting infectious diseases. One of the worst consequences for any poultry farmer is to stop growth, so you should be careful when you find out what they feed monthly ducklings or those that are older.

Important! Before filling the feeders, you need to feel the esophagus of at least one duckling. If it is still hard, then the process of digestion has not begun and it is not worth overloading the stomach with a new intake of food.

• you should avoid adding flour to the mixture for ducklings, as there is a danger of the formation of a paste that clogs the noses of ducklings;
• those who understand what ducklings eat know that their most dangerous enemy is bread, be it moldy or fresh, the consequences of feeding are aspergillosis;
• due to perishable properties, it is not recommended to feed ducklings with cereals, milk, as the consequences are diarrhea;
• if a poultry farmer living in the private sector has picked herbs, then it is very important to ensure that poisonous greens are not present there, which can be fatal;
• you need to boil the nettle in boiling water in advance, otherwise it will injure the organs of the ducklings from the inside;
• maple leaves are fraught with great danger for ducklings, so they should not be given to birds.

Keeping ducklings and then adult ducks is not an easy task, requiring complete dedication and a reverent attitude towards pets. And the feeding of pets plays a key role here. Preference should be given to food with the microelements and vitamins necessary for the development of ducklings, so that in the future they grow evenly and gain a lot of mass. When preparing a mash or feeding with compound feed, certain proportions must also be observed without overdoing it. It is important to remember that there are foods that are forbidden for ducklings, which can lead not only to indigestion, but also to death.

Mineral feed also plays an important role in fattening ducks for meat.

Feeding ducks at home

Shell, sand, gravel, lumpy chalk and other elements should be available for ducks. It is worth noting that dry mixes and granulated feed can be given even to babies. You should also observe the mode of feeding ducklings for meat.

Ducklings
Birth and maintenance

In home gardens, it is best to grow ducklings under a hen. Well, if there is a reservoir nearby, then the mother duck will teach her brood to swim, dive and eat water plants. Ducks are very careful with the brood, trying not to crush the duckling. Like the rest of the young, ducklings are born completely wet. Therefore, before taking them away from the mother hen, let the chicks dry under the warm duck plumage. Then place the young in a box or box, the bottom of which should be lined with a warm cloth. Keep the temperature in the boxes within 26-28 degrees. While the chicks continue to hatch, let them dry a little - and immediately into the box. Use electric heaters to provide additional heat. Only after all the young are hatched can they be put back under the brood hen. Mother duck will also accept incubator babies, but their number should not exceed 30 heads. It must also be remembered that ducks are much more selective than other poultry. If the young that you plant with ducks is too old, then the bird will not accept it. Ducks drive away other people's ducklings and do not want to raise them. Therefore, try to plant chicks in the first days of their birth.

By themselves, ducklings are unpretentious and will not cause you much trouble. Just like adult ducks, young ducks are resistant to cold. But still, the temperature in the house should not be below 5 degrees. The room for growing ducklings should be warm, dry and without drafts. You can divide the poultry house for young animals into two parts. The first should be young for three weeks. This part of the room must be well heated. And in the second compartment of the house, ducklings should be transplanted, which have already grown up and do not need additional heating. Moreover, too high a temperature can spoil the ducklings. They will get used to it, and as a result they will easily catch colds and get sick. Hang a thermometer in the house at a height of 10-15 cm from the floor and monitor the temperature. If suddenly you hang a thermometer higher or lower, then it may show a false temperature, and you will draw the wrong conclusions from this. And the ducks will pay. If in the first three weeks of the life of ducklings the required temperature should be 22-28 degrees, then the young animals are kept at 18-20 degrees. As soon as the time comes to release the young animals into the water, the temperature in the room should be gradually equalized with the outside temperature. The stocking density of young animals is 12-13 ducklings per 1 sq. m. In the first week after withdrawal, daylight hours should be 20-22 hours. Then gradually it is necessary to bring daylight hours to 14 hours. Young growth and without a brood hen grows well. The room in which the ducklings will live must be thoroughly washed, but do not allow dampness and high humidity in the house. Some novice poultry farmers believe that since ducklings love to swim in the water, the dampness will only harden them. This is an erroneous opinion. Ducks, of course, love water, but not so much! By the way, due to the fact that these are waterfowl, ducklings splash a lot of water when drinking. After all, they want not only to drink, but also try to flounder a little in the water. And this becomes another reason for high humidity. Therefore, drinkers should be protected with removable grates so that they can be easily removed during cleaning.

Ducklings can be reared on deep bedding, mesh floors and in aviaries. As a rule, young animals are kept in enclosures for up to three weeks to protect them from cats and other predators, and then they are transferred to deep litter. For cellular content, use floors with cell sizes of 15 x 20 mm. If you are raising Muscovy ducks, it is best to keep them separate on the floor. This way you will achieve the duration of rearing of males and females, reduce feed costs and increase the safety of young animals. Muscovy ducklings can also be grown on slatted floors, which consist of individual slats 20-25 mm wide and 50 mm thick. Planks must be nailed at a distance of 25 mm from each other.

Of course, it is best to keep young ducks on paddocks, where there is some kind of body of water. But first, ducklings need to be taught to land walking in dry and warm weather, where they must get used to the sun's rays. The sun has a beneficial effect on the growth and development of young animals, but still make sure that the chicks do not have heat stroke. Ducklings, which are not yet five days old, are very afraid of the sun. Therefore, it is better to keep them in the shade for now. And soon they themselves will begin to run out under the warm rays of the sun.

If ducklings are brought up without a hen, then they need to be released into the water at the age of three weeks. First, let them swim for 2-3 hours, and then, starting from the fourth week, the ducklings can swim for at least a whole day. The fact is that before this age, the coccygeal gland still functions poorly in young animals, with the fat of which they lubricate their plumage. Teach your ducklings to come home from ponds on their own. To do this, constantly feed them in the evening. The young must know that delicious food is waiting for them at a certain time, then he will have an incentive to return to the house. This task is facilitated if an adult bird swims with the brood. She will teach them wisdom.

What to feed a duck? Keeping ducks

Muscovy ducklings swim poorly, so they need to organize a full-fledged land paddock.

Feeding

In the first days of life, young ducks are fed in the same way as chickens. Ducklings need to be taught to accept food. To do this, sprinkle them on the backs of a finely chopped hard-boiled egg. Young animals will peck small crumbs from each other. Also, ducklings are fed various wet mashes, they are given green food in large quantities. It is desirable that the composition of the mash includes several types of grain-mealy feed, 2-3 types of protein feed of animal and vegetable origin, greens and mineral feed. The green consumption rate for ducklings is 15% of the total diet. If the ducklings were born at a time when there was still no greenery, then be sure to add fish oil to the mash. From flour feeds, introduce pig feed into the mixers. But just do not feed feed for cattle, as there is a large amount of table salt, which is detrimental to young birds. Knead the mash in milk or meat broth. Don't give ducklings milk alone, as careless chicks don't so much consume it as splash it. It is necessary to feed ducklings 6-7 times a day during the first week, in the second week - 5-6 times, in the third - 4-5 times. Then gradually switch to three meals a day.

For the first 10 days, feed your ducklings barley, oat, and wheat flour. The optimal dose is 20-40 g per day per head. Don't forget to sift barley and oatmeal to free them of fiber. If you feed young animals with porridge, then remember that porridge quickly sour and cause indigestion. Therefore, cook porridge in such quantities that the chicks eat it at a time. Throw away the rest of the porridge and in no case do not feed them to the ducklings a second time. Week-old chicks can be fed porridge with ground soy, potatoes and fish. Grain is best soaked overnight. Crumble finely chopped leaves of Jerusalem artichoke, burdock, cabbage, cucumber, raspberry and watermelon into porridge.

When fattening for meat and fatty liver, different diets are used. If you decide to feed the young for meat, then in the first three days of life, let the ducklings have hard-boiled duck or chicken eggs. But do not just grind them, but mix with millet, fine corn or oatmeal. One duck egg can feed five chicks. Starting from the second day, add fat-free non-food cottage cheese to the diet, which contains complete protein and B vitamins. It is recommended to add plants from reservoirs to the feed mixture. Especially young ducks love duckweed, which is also easy to catch and does not need to be crushed. The consumption rate of duckweed for ducklings of 1.5 months of age is 200-250 g per day per head.

If you keep ducklings in a pond, then you should feed them only 3 times a day. The rest of the food the young will get themselves, swimming in the water. As soon as the ducklings are a month old, feed them 2 times a day. In order for the young to swim more and eat aquatic vegetation, do not feed them before walking to the pond.

For fattening on a fatty liver, musky drakes or mulards are grown. 10 weeks after hatching, you need to specifically select the plumpest and strongest ducklings. Then for 2 weeks it is necessary to feed the young with corn grain at 200-250 g per day per head. You also need to introduce a lot of greens into the diet - 400-500 g per duck per day. You need to feed such young animals twice a day - in the morning and in the evening. After 2 weeks, start force-feeding the ducklings. One of the most nutritious foods is corn. Therefore, the diet of young animals fattened for fatty liver should mainly consist of steamed corn. Before you steam the corn, you need to clean it of foreign matter. Then pour the corn into the container and fill it with hot water so that the water level is 10-15 cm above the feed level. Constantly stir the grain. In this case, pieces of corn cobs will float to the surface - remove them. In half an hour you will have excellent steamed corn. You can soak corn not in hot, but in warm water. In this case, the corn should be steamed for 6-8 hours. Before feeding, add table salt, vegetable oil to steamed corn. If sunflower oil is not available, it can be replaced with pork fat or fodder margarine. In the first three days, feed the ducks corn twice a day, then three times. It is recommended to give food according to this schedule - 6 am, noon and 6 pm.

In order to feed the young for a fatty liver, they need to be fed 2.5-3.5 times more food than the rest of the ducklings. Of course, the young do not understand that they have to eat a lot of food, and therefore will refuse excess food. In this case, you will have to force-feed the ducklings. If you have a small number of young animals, then you can feed the birds with a funnel. The funnel must be carefully inserted into the duckling's esophagus through the open beak and slowly push the steamed corn grains with a stick. If you decide to put the fattening of young animals on a commercial basis, then the number of fattened ducklings will be greater. You can’t fatten a large horde of ducklings with a funnel. There are special machines for force fattening musky ducks and mulards, which you will probably have to use.

Remember that the more the bird eats, the more heat it releases into the air. The more heat it gives off, the faster the room becomes hot and stuffy. Therefore, in the house where the ducklings fattened for fatty liver are kept, organize good ventilation. Make more windows, vents in such a house. Keep your doors open more often if the weather permits. And one more thing: at first, ducklings will not digest food well, as they are not yet accustomed to consuming a large amount of food. Therefore, before the next feed, check the esophagus of ducks. If it is full, do not feed the bird until the food has been digested. If the esophagus remains full for three days, then such a bird is not suitable for fattening and it is better to slaughter it.

Fattening lasts approximately 16-18 days. But these times may depend on your experience and the general condition of the bird. Properly fattened ducks move little, breathe heavily, opening their beaks. Their eyes are sunken, the beak is whitish, the fecal secretions acquire a greenish color. At first inexperienced glance, it seems that the ducks fell ill. But in fact, these signs indicate that by slaughtering these ducks, you will get a delicacy - fatty duck liver.

Sex determination

Drakes should weigh approximately 2.7 kg and ducks 2.3 kg. The drake has a longer body. Above the tail, ring-shaped feathers are twisted counterclockwise. Their heads are larger and their necks are thicker than those of females. Ducks have a more rounded head. You also need to listen to the sounds that young animals make. Ducks should quack, and drakes should hiss.

Duck breeding is a very profitable line of business. After all, these birds are rapidly gaining weight and in the shortest possible time the breeder can get a lot of meat. Fattening ducks for meat at home is another opportunity that will help the farmer enjoy his favorite food all year round. However, in order for the results to meet expectations, it is necessary to know how to feed the ducks and the fattening technique.

Fattening ducks for meat: the secrets of successful breeding

The diet of ducklings and adults should be very diverse. Juicy greens, cereals, vegetables, as well as feed of animal origin are essential components of the diet of birds. It is especially necessary to monitor how and what little ducklings eat, since they are most susceptible to disease and have weak immunity.

Mineral feed also plays an important role in fattening ducks for meat. Shell, sand, gravel, lumpy chalk and other elements should be available for ducks.

Ducks: feeding and care

It is worth noting that dry mixes and granulated feed can be given even to babies. You should also observe the mode of feeding ducklings for meat.

If you follow the recommendations of experienced farmers, then in about two months the weight of the ducklings will be 2 kg or even more. However, at the age of 65 days, the so-called juvenile molt begins in individuals, and ducks lose weight very quickly.

Feeding ducks for meat with the help of waste is not only a good opportunity to minimize costs, but also a way to quickly get a valuable and healthy product. Although at processing plants various cakes and meals are waste, they are essential for fattening birds.

What is the best food waste for ducks? As a rule, breeders use bran, beet pulp, bard, oilseed meal. Baker's or brewer's yeast makes it possible to enrich the duck's body with much-needed and useful B vitamins.

Greens and root crops are a real delicacy for ducks. The duck will be able to enjoy them plenty on the run. The breeder can also prepare succulent food for ducklings and adult birds in advance, and then feed them in the paddock.

However, there are also those products that are contraindicated for feeding ducks for meat. Moldy and stale food, milk porridge, flour in mash, fresh milk, maple leaves, celandine and a number of poisonous herbs - all this should not be in the diet of birds.

Fattening ducks for meat in the summer is associated with some difficulties. Since in the days of heat, individuals lose their appetite, they often do not even approach the feeders. What is a breeder to do? Experts advise that it is very important to change the feeding hours for ducks. For example, in the morning they need to be given food at dawn, when there is not yet a strong heat. As for the evening, the birds are fed at dusk. Wet mash, which the breeder will prepare and leave to the ducks, they willingly eat at night, which undoubtedly gives an excellent increase.

Fattening ducks for meat at home is one of the most important issues that concern breeders. A correct and balanced diet, feeding regime and the absence of harmful and unnecessary products will allow the farmer to quickly get a large carcass. In the shortest possible time, the bird will be ready for slaughter, and the owner will receive fresh duck meat. Continue reading on the website fermeru.pro.

Feeding ducks with vitamins to increase the hatchability of ducklings

It is very important to use vitamins for ducks in the wound-spring and autumn-winter period. If it is not possible to buy industrial vitamins for ducks, then you can try to make them yourself.

A good source of vitamins for ducks are baker's and brewer's yeast. Baker's dry yeast contains 10.8% water, 48.1% protein, 29.3% carbohydrate, 8.2% mineral and 2.6% fiber. Dry yeast can be given to ducks at any age at 1-2% of the total diet, and pressed dry baker's yeast - up to 5-6%.

If the yeast is irradiated with a quartz lamp or dried in the sun, then the ergosterol contained in it turns into vitamin D. It turns out that the yeast is able to provide ducks with two important vitamins at once - B2 and D. If fodder yeast is used, then the costs of baker's and brewer's yeast are significantly reduced.

It is very important to use vitamins for ducks in the early spring and autumn-winter period, when the birds do not get enough sunlight. You can use industrial vitamins for ducks or enrich their feed, for example, with fish oil, which is rich in vitamins A and D. Fish oil can be given to ducklings on the 3rd day after leaving the incubator at the rate of 1% of the weight of dry food, and for adults birds - 2 g per individual. Fish oil can be added to the mash or shaken with warm warm water or milk, taken in a double dose. It is important to remember that vitamin A is destroyed when fish oil is stored in an open container and in the light, and the result of its feeding is a gastrointestinal disorder in young animals.

You can prepare vitamins for ducks yourself. So, in order to prevent non-communicable diseases, a solution can be prepared that contains 70 thousand vitamin A, 8 thousand IU of vitamin D3, 100 g of tetracycline, 0.2 ml of vitamin B2 and 100 g of protein concentrate. 5 ml of this solution should be diluted in 1 liter of drinking water and given to the bird for 3-4 days. Such a complex of vitamins for ducks can be used to prevent beriberi, rickets and malnutrition.

To prevent hypovitaminosis of group B and increase the hatchability of ducklings, vitamins for ducks should be prepared as follows: 1000 mg of vitamin B1, 1000 mg of vitamin B2, 10,000 mg of calcium pantothenate, 15 mg of vitamin B12, 1 kg of bran. For ducklings, such vitamins for ducks can be given from the 1st to the 60th day, 300 g each, and from the 60th day, 260 g per 100 kg of feed. A mixture of prepared vitamins for ducks can be stored for no longer than four months.

A separate vitamin complex for ducks can be prepared to prevent eimeriosis, pullorosis, colidyspepsia and intestinal diseases. The complex includes: 3 million IU of vitamin A, 300 thousand IU of vitamin D3, 12 mg of vitamin B12, 1 kg of bran. It is recommended to use a ready-made vitamin complex from the 1st to the 80th day of life of ducklings at 300 g, and starting from the 60th day, the dose can be increased to 250 g per 100 kg of feed.

There is a recipe for preparing a vitamin complex, which increases the overall resistance of birds and weak chickens after hatching. The composition of such a complex includes: 20 thousand sq.

How to feed ducks and how to cook food at home?

IU of vitamin A, 10 thousand IU of vitamin D3, 1 ml of drinking water. For 100 chickens, it is necessary to prepare 50 ml of a vitamin preparation.

INvitamins for ducklings, as well as for all types of poultry and animals, for example, Chiktonik (1 l), Hepatonic (1 vial x 1 l), Vitamin E and selenium for animals Vit E + S (1 l)

Buy vitamins for ducklings, as well as for all types of poultry and animals in the online veterinary pharmacy Yusna Super Bio.

How to feed ducklings and how to water ducklings

Day old ducklings, especially musk ducklings, quite often do not begin to eat on their own and can die without food.

Day old ducklings, especially musk ducklings, quite often do not begin to eat on their own and can die without food. For this reason, it is very important to know how to feed day old ducklings. First, they should be forcibly drunk with a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate using a pipette. After that, to feed the daily ducklings, it is recommended to scatter a mixture of steep porridge and a boiled egg on a dark sheet of cardboard. You can sprinkle food on the ducklings themselves, which will set them in motion, and they will begin to grab the moving food. At the next feeding of day old ducklings, they are again forcibly watered and fed with a semi-liquid mixture, adding milk to the previous mixture.

Ducklings should eat food on their own for 1-3 days. You can feed daily ducklings with wet and crumbly mash, which can include mineral, vitamin and grain feed, as well as feed of animal origin. The first 2-3 days you can feed the ducklings with boiled eggs mixed with nettles. You can also add small corn, barley or oatmeal, as well as green onions. From the first days of life, ducklings can be fed with finely chopped nettle greens. From 2-3 days of age, fresh greens can be given in flour mixtures, and from 10 days of age, boiled potatoes are introduced into a wet mash.

At the age of 15 days, ducklings can be released into the pond. At the same time, ducklings should be fed three times a day, and at the age of one month they switch to a two-time grain top dressing.

What do ducks eat and is there a difference in the diet of wild and domestic birds

Ducklings should receive their first meal at 10 am. At the same time, they should not eat much so that they can eat well the greens of the reservoir. The second feeding should take place after roosting. It must be plentiful.

In hot weather, ducklings may lose their appetite. During such a period, it is recommended to change the feeding hours: the first at dawn, and the last at dusk. If, at the age of 20-30 days, ducklings use water bodies that are rich in natural food, then it is quite enough to feed them in the morning and evening with crushed grain or high-grade grain waste.

It is imperative to include mineral supplements in feeding ducklings: shell, eggshell, chalk, limestone. During the first 10-15 days of life, mineral supplements should be given at the rate of 1 g per head per day, and later, at the age of 2-6 months, the dose is increased to 6-10 g.

It is recommended to water ducklings from flowing drinkers with water, which has a temperature of about 20 degrees. It is important to remember that ducklings consume three times more water than feed. Drinking bowls for ducklings should be of such depth that they can rinse their nasal openings.

If you keep ducklings in aviary conditions, then you should worry about a sufficient number of drinkers, which should always be filled with clean water. Since ducklings drink a lot and often rinse their beaks, they can arrange a small pool of water - a suitable container dug into the ground. In such a pool, the water must be changed every day.

Buy vitamins for ducklings and supplements for other farm animals in an online veterinary pharmacy Yusna Super Bio

Little ducklings on the 1st day after birth eat eggs - either chicken or duck. At the same time, the eggs are well boiled, cleaned and chopped with a meat grinder. The next couple of days, along with eggs, they are fed with corn, and they also rub the fan and barley groats. For each duckling, 5 g of cottage cheese is included in the diet. 10 days after birth, they are fed with fresh herbs, which are pre-crushed. In addition, root crops and potatoes are added to the diet (See also "Planting potatoes under straw").

Even before they are 20 days old, shells are removed from barley and oatmeal. As soon as they are 20 days old, they are fed with scraps from the kitchen, garden and vegetable garden. At the age of 20 days, ducklings are fed 3 times a day, and from the age of 1 month - 2 times. Yeast in the nutrition of ducklings is considered an important element.

Features of feeding ducks for meat

When the ducklings are 45 days old, those ducklings that go for meat are fed according to one diet, and replacements - according to another.

Fattening domestic ducks for meat

That is, the power is divided. At this age, ducklings need to be given more green food and reduce the amount of protein. Whole grains are first given with mash, then gradually withdrawn from the diet, giving only in the evenings.

Feeding ducks in the pond

If the ducklings walk in the water, then they should be fed 2 times a day: in the mornings they give a wet mash, and in the evenings they give whole grains or grain waste. If there are no fish and meat and bone meal in the diet, then they are replaced by scrap meat, as well as cottage cheese.

If ducklings at the age of 1 month are kept in a reservoir that is rich in food, then you do not need to feed them with food with vitamins and proteins. Ducklings need to be fed with grain 2 times a day. In the evenings, the ducklings are given more grain so that they eat their fill.

If there is sufficient vegetation in the reservoir, the main costs of feeding are reduced. Thanks to the use of plants in water, as well as their harvesting, good savings come out.

It is known that ducklings can get food from 0.5 m depth. It is for this reason that not large reservoirs, as well as shallow water, should be used. If ducklings are raised on the water, the banks should be gentle. 7 days before slaughter, they are already stopped walking on the pond, and they are transferred to fattening.

If ducklings are raised for meat, they are fed abundantly with crumbly wet flour mash. In this case, the following ratio is taken: 10 parts of liquid to 3 parts of dry mixtures. At the same time, cakes, mineral feed, vitamin feed, 2-3 types of ground and crushed grains, wheat bran are used as mixtures.

If you want to breed birds at home, see the articles Breeding turkeys and Raising guinea fowls.