How to feed an Indoor at home? This type of poultry is unpretentious and quickly gains weight with a small amount of feed. The musky duck is recovering on par with the Peking duck, but it eats half as much, and caring for it is easier. In the summer, she can feed herself in ponds or in the yard. The breed’s popularity is constantly growing, as it is quiet, resistant to diseases, and it’s very profitable to grow such birds for meat.
How to feed an indigenous at home
Basic rules for feeding ducks
Keeping indolect at home is a fairly profitable occupation. The weight of an adult drake of this breed reaches 6 kg, the average weight of females is 3-4 kg. By the age of three months, the ducklings are recovering to 2.4-2.6 kg. At the same time, the cost of feed is very small. The basis of the diet is cereals with the addition of vegetables and green mass.
What do Indo-girls eat with ducklings? For fattening, you can use a special compound feed or make a menu yourself. Most private farms use the second option, on industrial farms - the first. The menu may vary, depending on the time of year. In summer, the emphasis is on vegetables, tops, green grass. In winter, cereals make up most of the diet.
Food should contain essential elements (proteins, fats and carbohydrates), vitamins and minerals. The main source of protein is wheat, oats, corn and legumes. Animal proteins are contained in meat and bone and fish meal, sour milk, skim milk. There are carbohydrates in almost all foods, grains and fresh herbs. The main sources of fat are oilcake and oilseed meal.
In order for indigenous women with ducklings to get enough vitamins, they need to be given vegetables, fresh herbs. In winter and spring, as well as during intensive feeding, breeding ducks give vitamins additionally. Minerals are found in chalk, salt, and eggshell. So that ducks do not stop rushing prematurely and gain weight well, these substances must be added to the diet. You can learn more about the basics of duck nutrition in the video.
Feeding ducks in summer
As already mentioned, feeding musk ducks at different times of the year is different. This is due to the availability of certain feeds. In summer, there is more greenery, birds can independently get their own food. In winter, the diet is limited. Indo-ducks do not have a developed subcutaneous layer of fat, therefore, the content in cold weather can only be closed, ducks cannot independently seek food for themselves.
So, the summer diet includes:
- Green food: any kind of grass, plant tops.
- Root vegetables and vegetables: cabbage, carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, beets (root and tops).
- Cereals: wheat, corn, barley, oats.
- Legumes: lupine, vetch, peas, beans and pea tops.
In the summer, an adult bird can be able to perfectly get its own food. Representatives of the genus eat snails, insects, worms. If there is a pond nearby, Indo-girls can swim on it and feed on duckweed and other aquatic plants.
In order for the musky duck to gain weight, it is enough to feed it twice a day, preferably in the early morning and evening. Here's an example of a daily summer ration for one musky duck:
- Wheat - 30 g.
- Barley - 30 g.
- Oats - 20 g.
- Mineral supplements - 8 g
As you can see, the consumption of feed at this time of the year is minimal, about 100 g, there is almost no need for vitamin supplements. The diet concerns those cases when the keeping of the birds is walking. It is imperative to provide the birds with water, 500 ml of water should be supplied to one individual per day. Intensive feeding looks a little different, we'll talk about that later.
Feeding ducks in winter
Many farmers prefer the seasonal maintenance of indorets. This simplifies bird care and reduces housekeeping costs. You can buy ducklings in the spring and by the fall to get full-fledged adults ready for slaughter. But with independent breeding of ducks, it is necessary to maintain a broodstock. A winter diet should be developed for him.
How to feed Indo-duck at home in winter? In the cold season, it is impossible to get green fodder, therefore many owners make supplies of silage, hay, grass meal. The basis of the diet is cereals, bran meal, root crops. Sometimes muscovy ducks are transferred to ready-made feed, which contains all the components they need. If you don’t feed the ducks with compound feeds, but make the mixers with your own hands, the nutritional standards for one individual will be as follows:
- Wheat - 30 g.
- Barley - 20 g.
- Oats - 20 g.
- Wheat bran - 20 g.
- Meat and bone meal - 10 g.
- Herbal flour - 20 g.
- Beets - 20 g.
- Potatoes - 30 g.
- Silo - 20 g.
- Minerals - 8 g.
- Salt - 1 g.
The total feed consumption in winter for one musky duck is about 200 g. The menu can include kitchen expenses, peeling potatoes and carrots, cabbage leaves, feeding birds with bread. This will reduce the cost of grain and vegetables. Give duck cake or meal of sunflower. But it is impossible to overfeed Indo-dogs with such a product. With obesity, their egg production and the percentage of egg fertilization drop. We must not forget about drinking: one individual per day needs 400-500 ml of water.
Minerals and vitamins in the diet
Minerals and vitamins in the diet are very important: they provide intensive growth, increase disease resistance, and affect fertility. In addition, they are included in the diet of laying hens. Here are the main vitamins that birds need and foods containing them:
- A - affects local immunity, stimulates growth. Contained in fish oil, egg yolks. Its precursor carotene is found in plant foods (carrots, clover, green grass).
- D - ensures the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, affects the growth of bones, the formation of eggshell. Contained in fish oil, fish meal, yeast, which must be included in the feeding of ducks with ducklings.
- E - affects the fertility of ducks, improves immunity. Its content is increased in sprouted wheat, barley, oat grains, soybeans, milk, vegetable fat.
- K - affects blood coagulation and metabolism in connective tissues. There is a vitamin in carrots, spinach, many herbs, clover, alfalfa, green peas.
- B1 - affects the body's resistance, nervous activity. There is oilcake from butter plants, dairy products, yeast, bran, greens.
- B2 - necessary for the normal growth and development of ducklings. Contained in milk, herbs, yeast.
- B3 - normalizes the metabolism of proteins and lipids, neutralizes toxins. The intake of the vitamin will ensure the feeding of meat and bone meal, grass, cake.
- B4 - is used to prevent perosis. It enters the body with cereals, beans, beets, and yeast.
- B5 - activates the digestive and nervous system, heart. Its content is increased in cabbage, potatoes, green grass, carrots.
- B6 - affects protein metabolism, normalizes blood formation, improves skin condition. There is a lot of vitamin B5 in animal feed, oilcake, grass flour.
- B12 - affects blood formation, amino acid metabolism, stimulates growth. It is found in animal products, especially fishmeal.
- N or biotin - regulates the metabolism of fats, affects the skin. Contained in legumes.
- C - affects the immune system, accelerates the change of plumage, wound healing. Indo-women synthesize it on their own, and also get it with fresh vegetables and herbs.
- Calcium and Phosphorus - are essential for normal growth and egg shell formation. Contained in meat and bone meal, chalk, eggshells, shells.
- Sodium is the main source of its table salt.
If any vitamin or trace element enters the body in a limited amount, this immediately affects the growth and health of birds. Especially often, the deficiency is felt in the spring, because during this period it is recommended to include special additives such as Premix in the diet, regardless of what indocks eat with ducklings. This is necessary not only for muscovy ducks to fly well and gain weight at home, but also for their health.
Feeding ducklings
How are young animals fed and what should be their diet? Daily ducklings are fed with finely chopped egg yolk. Potassium permanganate is added to the drinkers, which protects young animals from intestinal infections. Sometimes babies have to be taught to eat. They see only moving objects, so food is poured onto the backs of the ducklings, and they peck it off each other. Sometimes it is required to dip the chicks with their beaks in water so that they learn to drink.
On the second day, flour from oats or barley is added to the egg, 3-5 g of cottage cheese per individual. On the third day, you can add chopped nettles, quinoa or other herbs to the menu. From the fourth day, meat and bone or fish meal is introduced. Further, small ducklings can be fed with a mixture of eggs, oat or barley flour, cottage cheese with the addition of herbs, meat broth, sour milk. From the 20th day they begin to give boiled potatoes, which make up 20% of all food. Ducklings begin to feed grain at 40 days. It is possible, after 10 days, to transfer the ducklings to a special compound feed intended for broiler chickens.
Indo-women. History. Care and maintenance
How to feed ducks. How to make duck food
A super diet for the musky duck. | Raising Ducks.
All feed should be crumbly: if the mixture is sticky, it can seal the beak and clog the duckling's airways. In the first 10 days, chicks are fed 6-8 times a day. Up to one month - 4-5 times a day. After a month, they switch to two or three meals a day. It is important to remember that ducklings drink a lot, and therefore access to fresh water should be around the clock. How to feed the little ducks properly, you can watch the video.
Intensive feeding of ducks
Ducklings are raised and fed until approximately 2 months of age. At this time, they are gaining weight 2.4-2.6 kg. On profitability, this is the most optimal moment for slaughter. Feeding Indo-Ducks before slaughter has its own characteristics. It is aimed at rapid weight gain, the formation of body fat. This breed has a tendency to enlarge the liver. In terms of its qualities, it is not much inferior to the goose. In order for the weight to come faster, the ducks are kept during this period without walking.
How much food should I spend with intensive fattening? For one month for a brood with ten ducklings you will need:
- Compound feed - 1.5 kg.
- Boiled waste with meat - 200 g.
- Boiled potatoes - 600 g.
- Grass, nettle, beet tops, alfalfa - chopped and unlimited.
- Finely crushed gravel, shells, eggshells - at least 8 g per day per head.
Be sure to add Premix or other vitamins to the menu for intensive fattening. It is important to know that at 60-65 days, indigenous birds begin to drop feathers. At this time, they begin to lose weight and are not suitable for slaughter. The new plumage sits more tightly in the skin and is poorly pulled out. This is another reason why two month old ducklings are sent for meat.