How to Raise Muscovy Ducks? Detailed Guide to Breeding Techniques and Precautions
The Muscovy duck is a common duck breed. Because of its distinctive appearance and tender, delicious meat, it is especially popular with people, and it also sells very well on the market. Nowadays, many people raise Muscovy ducks, and many want to increase their income by farming them, but before starting, you need to have a comprehensive understanding of the breeding techniques.
How to Raise Muscovy Ducks
1. For management, the duck house should be well ventilated, with 3 ducks per square meter. Prepare enough nesting boxes, and line them with straw to reduce broken eggs. For large-scale raising, you can fence off a corner of the duck house and simply spread straw on the ground to make a flat-floor large “nesting box” for laying eggs. Pay attention to the broodiness of Muscovy ducks. The most effective method is to move broody Muscovy ducks to a different duck house, staying in each pen for a little more than two days and nights; the move must be done in the evening.
2. Pay attention to the cleanliness and hygiene of the duck house and disease prevention. The bedding is generally changed once a week. Each time you spread new bedding, do not forget to sprinkle lime powder on the ground, and make sure the duck house is dry, ventilated and disinfected. For large-scale raising, especially of breeding Muscovy ducks, pay attention to regular vaccination against Muscovy duck parvovirus disease, duck plague, viral duckling hepatitis and other vaccines. Each region should formulate immunization programs and disease prevention measures as appropriate according to the specific local epidemic situation.
Muscovy Duck Breeding Techniques and Precautions
I. Breeding techniques:
1. Build the house on flat, ventilated, sunny terrain. Surround it with bamboo or wooden poles as a fence, and build the shed with bricks, raising 5-6 ducks per square meter. The exercise yard should be the same area as the duck house, and feeders, waterers and laying nests should be provided.
2. To meet the needs of ducks of different ages and different uses, mix the daily ration, paying attention to the requirements for energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. Corn and other grains should account for 45%-70% of the daily ration; protein feed such as soybean cake should account for 15%-25%; green feed should account for 20%-38% of the daily ration, and bone meal, salt and other mineral trace elements should also be added. Reference formula: corn 38%, No. 4 flour 20%, bran 10%, soybean cake 25%, fish meal 3%, shell powder 2%, bone meal 1.5%, salt 0.5%. Water lettuce, water hyacinth, azolla, water peanut, tender green grass and so on are the favorite foods of Muscovy ducks.
3. Feed twice a day, at 8 a.m. and at 4-6 p.m.; during the laying period, feed 4-5 times; each adult duck should be fed 150-160 grams of feed per day, and sufficient clean water should be provided for drinking.
4. Clean the duck house every day, remove droppings, scrub the feeders and waterers, and keep the water and feed fresh. Regularly inject duck plague vaccine and promptly prevent and treat soft-leg disease.
II. Precautions:
Muscovy ducks should be sent to market when they reach about 3 kg at 70-80 days of raising. Update the stock in time, and do not keep “longevity ducks.”
Feeding and Management of Medium Ducklings of Muscovy Ducks
Generally, 4-7 weeks of age is the medium duckling stage. At this stage, the ducks grow fastest and their feed intake increases greatly; they are especially fond of animal-based feed, and the feed given can be reduced in concentrated feed and increased in coarse feed. The general feed formula is: corn 50%, No. 4 flour 14%, wheat bran 7%, fine rice bran 10%, soybean cake 14%, fish meal 4%, with an appropriate amount of minerals and vitamins. Most specialized households use the pen-raising method, but some use grazing plus supplementary feeding. Even with pen raising, there are usually rivers and ponds beside the duck house for the ducks to play in the water. Because Muscovy ducks do not molt and are especially afraid of heat, attention should be paid to ventilation and coolness of the duck house in summer and autumn.
How to Prevent and Treat Viral Hepatitis in Muscovy Ducks
1. Immunize ducklings with attenuated duckling viral hepatitis vaccine; sufficient immunity can be produced 4-12 days after vaccination.
2. Inject prepared yolk liquid injection made from the eggs of recovered mother ducks or hyperimmune mother ducks, or their serum preparations, subcutaneously into the neck of ducklings for prevention or emergency injection, 0.5-1.0 ml per duck, which can also achieve the purpose of preventing and treating this disease.
3. Once this disease occurs, immediately isolate the sick ducks. After thorough cleaning of the duck house, use 4% peracetic acid for spray disinfection with the ducks present, once a day for 5 consecutive days. Then give the sick ducks antiviral disinfectants to drink.
4. Strengthen feeding and management, pay special attention to supplementing vitamins and minerals, and maintain good environmental hygiene.
When raising Muscovy ducks, you must pay attention to site selection, and ventilation is very important. During raising, daily feeding is also a key task, and the proportioning of feed must be done well when feeding. Muscovy ducks may also be harmed by epidemics, especially viral hepatitis, which is relatively common, so prevention and control work in this regard must also be done well.