Management of Muscovy Duck Hatching

The Muscovy duck originally lived in South America and is a domesticated wild bird. In countries such as the United States and Brazil, its meat has entered restaurant and household dining tables, adding a new type of poultry meat product to the market and being deeply loved by consumers. The Muscovy duck has its unique wild fowl flavor, a high lean meat rate, a protein content of 55.6%, and a low fat rate of only 5.02%. It is rich in 17 kinds of amino acids and various vitamins, is extremely nutritious, and can be called a premium tonic food, making it one of the excellent choices for human consumption of poultry meat.

The quality of Muscovy ducklings is directly related to the economic benefits of the breeding duck farm, and the hatching work directly determines the quality of the Muscovy ducklings. So how should Muscovy duck hatching be done?

For hatching breeding eggs, a machine or domestic hens can be used for incubation. The best time to set the eggs is around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so as to catch the large batch of chicks emerging during the daytime.

1. Cleaning and disinfection: Before the breeding eggs are set for incubation, they must first be cleaned and disinfected. The disinfectant should be prepared with Baidusha at a ratio of 1:600. During cleaning and disinfection, they must be handled gently to avoid breaking the breeding eggs.

2. Temperature control: If hatching in batches, use constant-temperature incubation. For days 1-6, the temperature is controlled at 37.8°C, and for days 33-35 it is 36.5-37°C. If hatching as a whole batch, use variable-temperature incubation. For days 1-6, the temperature is controlled at 38°C, for days 7-24 it is 37.4-37.8°C, and for days 25-35 it is 36.5-37°C.

3. Humidity control: For days 1-5, humidity should be controlled at 65%, for days 6-11 humidity is 60%, for days 12-24 humidity is 55%, for days 25-30 humidity is 65%, and for days 31-35 humidity is 75%.

4. Ventilation control: During hatching, good ventilation and air exchange must be maintained, which can avoid the occurrence of deformed embryos.

5. Turning eggs: To improve hatching quality, attention must be paid to turning the eggs when hatching breeding eggs. From days 1 to 7, eggs must be turned every day, once every 2 hours, and left turning and right turning can be carried out alternately.

6. Cooling eggs: Start cooling eggs from days 14-30. From days 14-24, cool the eggs once per day for 20 minutes each time; from days 24-30, cool the eggs twice per day for 30 minutes each time. When the temperature is high, spraying water can be combined to lower the temperature.

7. Candling eggs: Candling should be carried out once each on days 5-7, days 15-16, and days 31-32 after setting.

Establish and observe a hygiene and epidemic prevention system:

① Outsiders are not allowed to enter the hatchery. Staff entering to work must pass through a disinfection channel for disinfection, then change into clean work clothes.

② The work of receiving breeding eggs is carried out on the egg receiving table. Workers and vehicles delivering breeding eggs cannot enter the interior of the hatchery.

③ The chick delivery hall does not have an external door. Chicks are delivered through a specially made window, so neither customers nor pickup clerks can enter the interior of the workshop.

④ Products flow in one direction and do not go back the way they came. The flow order is breeding eggs, egg storage, incubation hall, hatching hall, chick sorting hall, chick delivery hall. Incubation carts (trays) and hatching carts (trays) must be cleaned and disinfected before they can return through the clean passage for reuse.

⑤ Staffing should be as sufficient as possible, with clear division of labor among the three tasks of selecting and coding trays, controlling machines, and sorting and packaging chicks. Try to avoid the spread of pathogens caused by the movement of personnel.

⑥ The by-products produced each day must be transported out the same day and must not stay overnight in the incubation workshop.

⑦ The egg receiving room, tray coding room, candling room, transfer room, chick sorting hall, and sales hall must all be disinfected before each use. After work is completed, they must be cleaned immediately, with high-pressure water used to wash the floor and worktables clean, then disinfected before being kept for later use. Tools and utensils are disinfected by soaking or wiping.

⑧ The duty officer sprays the hall floor and all passages with disinfectant once every 8 hours. ⑨ To avoid developing drug resistance, except for formaldehyde and potassium permanganate, other conventional disinfectants should be changed to another type after half a month of use.