What are the site construction requirements and precautions for raising Muscovy ducks?
When raising Muscovy ducks, the duck house is key. Not only must a suitable location be chosen, but the design must also suit the living habits of Muscovy ducks. Only scientific rearing can produce healthy Muscovy ducks.
1. Basic requirements for building a Muscovy duck house
Compared with other waterfowl, Muscovy ducks do not like water very much. The rearing site must be kept dry, and a flat, dry, wind-sheltered, sun-facing site with good drainage should be chosen for building the house. The site must be protected from external pollution while also not polluting the surrounding environment. The construction of a Muscovy duck house can also make use of and renovate old buildings according to local conditions.
2. Construction of a duckling house
The duckling house must be kept dry, because ducklings like warmth and dislike dampness. A duckling house facing south with its back to the north is best. The brooding house requires good insulation performance, a dry interior, and air circulation. It should be noted that ducklings must not be mixed with other poultry. The facilities in a brooding house are relatively complex. The brooding house must be equipped with heating equipment, such as coal stoves, high-power electric lights and other heat sources. It must also have ventilation equipment. For large-scale rearing, the net-bed brooding method is used, with the net bed about 80 cm above the ground. The brooding net bed should be equipped with a drinking water tank, feed troughs, guardrails and other equipment. The brooding house should be fitted with a thermo-hygrometer so that temperature and humidity can be controlled at any time.
3. Construction of an adult duck house
An adult duck house is divided into three parts: the shed, the exercise yard and the water pool.
The shed should be 8-12 m wide and no more than 100 m long, and the floor should preferably be concrete; if it is an earth floor, it needs to be level. It is best to also build a water trough in the duck house, with water flowing continuously; the daily drinking water of Muscovy ducks mainly depends on this water trough. A laying nest should also be provided in the duck house. The laying nest is fairly simple to set up and can be a manually dug earthen pit. Note, however, that the pit must not be too small; the diameter of the pit is about 0.5——0.8 m.
An exercise yard should be set up outside the shed. Generally, every 1000 adult ducks require 150-200 sq m of shed and exercise yard. Because Muscovy ducks have short-distance flying ability, the open top of the Muscovy duck house should be covered with netting to prevent them from flying away.
A water pool should be set up beside the exercise yard. The pool is 8——10 m long, 1——1.5 m wide and 0.5——0.6 m high. Every 1000 adult ducks require about 20——30 sq m of water pool. Besides drinking, Muscovy ducks can also bathe and play in the pool, which not only removes external parasites from their bodies but also keeps their feathers glossy, which is good for their healthy growth.