Technical Measures to Improve the Survival Rate in Meat Duck Farming
One, select good ducklings. To purchase ducklings, go to a breeder duck farm with good disease prevention work, where the breeder ducks are strictly vaccinated against fowl cholera, colibacillosis, duck plague, avian influenza, viral hepatitis and other diseases according to the immunization program, and the hatchery's disease prevention conditions meet national regulations. When selecting ducklings, hold the duckling in your hand and feel that it is plump and strong, with glossy feathers, robust and lively, with a loud call, and the selected duckling flock should be uniform in size among individuals.
Two, ensure good brooding.
1. Sanitation and disinfection work of the brooding house: before the ducklings arrive, do a good job of cleaning the brooding house, thoroughly wash the duck manure clean, spray once with a disinfectant (0.2% Baidusha solution), and clean, dry and disinfect the drinkers, feed trays, feed troughs, etc.
2. Brooding methods for ducklings: large-scale meat duck raising generally adopts floor brooding and wire-mesh brooding methods. Wire-mesh brooding has more advantages than floor brooding: good sanitary environment, increased brooding density and utilization rate of the brooding house floor, reduced duckling feed conversion is high, and fast growth speed.
3. Management during the brooding period:
(1) Brooding temperature: newly hatched ducklings have poor body temperature regulation ability, so heat preservation work must be done well. For ducklings 1 to 3 days old, the brooding temperature is 30 to 32 degrees Celsius, after which the temperature drops by 1 degree Celsius every 2 days, and heating is stopped when the house temperature drops to near the outside temperature.
(2) Brooding density inside the house: at 1 to 7 days old, floor brooding is 20 to 40 birds per square meter, and wire-mesh brooding is 40 to 60 birds per square meter.
(3) Duration of the brooding period: it is recommended that the brooding period in the cold winter and spring seasons be 15 to 20 days, and in the warm summer and autumn seasons be 7 to 10 days.
(4) Timely drinking and feeding: 12 to 24 hours after hatching, give the ducklings water and feed in a timely manner. The drinkers should be sufficient and evenly distributed, so that the ducklings can drink water in time; if necessary, manually train them to drink. 1 to 2 hours after the ducklings drink water, use full-price high-quality duckling feed (for 1 to 3 days old, chick feed can be used as a substitute), soften it with water, and evenly scatter it on the feed tray or plastic sheet to induce them to eat. After all can forage normally, switch to feed troughs for free feeding.
(5) Lighting: ducklings have a small food intake, strong digestion ability and fast growth, and eat continuously day and night, so the brooding house should have sufficient lighting, and electric lights should also be on at night to let them eat for 24 hours.
(6) Pay attention to ventilation: the brooding house should have good ventilation to prevent the concentration of ammonia and carbon dioxide inside the house from being too high, which can induce disease and cause poisoning.
Three, feeding and management after transfer to the fish pond.
1. Stocking method for the first time the ducklings go down to the pond after brooding is finished and they are transferred: when the brooding period of the ducklings is over, they should be transferred in good time into the fish pond for stocking. This is a key task. According to the weather conditions, let the ducklings go down to the pond to play in the water. In the cold winter and spring seasons, generally choose noon on a sunny day, and the first time the ducklings go down to the pond to play in the water is 15 to 30 minutes, but avoid the ducklings getting wet and sinking, to prevent them from catching cold, and drive them ashore in good time, after which gradually let them adapt. In the summer and autumn seasons, because the temperature is relatively high, the requirements for the first stocking in the pond are not high; generally choose to stock them in the pond between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on a sunny day, as long as they do not get all their feathers wet and sink to the bottom.
2. Feeding method for meat ducks: build a simple duck house beside the fish pond that is rainproof and sunproof. The transferred meat ducks should be fed commercial meat duck feed produced by a famous brand manufacturer, and do not suddenly change the feed manufacturer or variety midway. In the middle duckling stage (15 to 35 days old), feed large duck feed; when entering the fattening stage (36 to 60 days old), feed duck feed until they are sold. Meat duck feeding adopts free feeding or feeding 3 meals a day.
3. Rodent control and disease prevention: do a good job of rodent prevention and eradication to prevent frightening the duck flock, causing stress and spreading disease.
4. Ensure the water quality and hygiene of the fish pond: in order to create a good water-playing environment and a clean and hygienic drinking water source for the meat ducks, regularly do a good job of changing the water and disinfecting the fish pond. For a fish pond with a water depth of 1.2 m, use 1 packet of Xiaoteling per 1/15 hectare (1 mu), dilute it with a small amount of clean water and splash it over the whole pond, or use 30 kg of quicklime diluted and splashed, to ensure good water quality in the fish pond.
Four, do a good job in the prevention and treatment of duck diseases.
During the meat duck raising process, do a good job in preventing infectious diseases such as duck viral hepatitis, infectious serositis, influenza, colibacillosis, fowl cholera and avian influenza. For breeder ducks that have not received booster immunization with duck viral hepatitis and avian influenza vaccines, their offspring ducklings should be injected with anti-viral hepatitis yolk fluid after entering the brooding house, and then injected with avian influenza vaccine when brooding is finished and they are transferred to the fish pond for stocking. Other diseases can be prevented and treated with drugs such as oxytetracycline, enrofloxacin and amoxicillin. Pay attention to the daily cleaning and sanitation work of the brooding house, remove duck manure every day, prevent ammonia and carbon dioxide poisoning, and do a good job of disinfection inside the house. After the meat ducks are sold, the rearing site can be disinfected alternately with quicklime and Xiaoteling, and only after an interval of 7 to 15 days should the second batch of meat ducks be brought in for raising. This can better control the occurrence of diseases and improve the survival rate and economic benefits of meat ducks.