Key Technical Points for Feeding Management of Breeding Ducks During the Laying Period

Early Laying Stage

The increase of feed amount in the early laying stage should follow the principle of gradual step-by-step increase. Generally, the female duck flock begins to lay eggs at 21-22 weeks of age. After laying begins, the feed supply should be increased by 5-10 g per duck per week according to the body weight of male and female ducks, so as to promote the flock to reach a 5% laying rate as early as possible. However, in production practice, some farmers, in a one-sided pursuit of early onset of laying (some breeding ducks begin to lay at around 135 days), larger egg weight of the first eggs, and an earlier laying peak, rapidly increase the feed amount in the early laying stage, sometimes reaching the maximum feed amount by 25 weeks of age, which will inevitably affect the economic benefits of the entire laying period. First, laying too early, together with overly large first eggs, easily causes prolapse of the cloaca in female ducks; second, the body maturity and sexual maturity of breeding ducks are not synchronized, especially in male ducks, which, although they have sexual desire and do mount, have poor semen quality, generally resulting in a lower hatchability rate of fertilized eggs.

Early Laying Period

During the rising phase of laying in the early laying period, the feed amount should be increased rapidly to induce the flock to reach the laying peak as early as possible. The maximum feed amount should be reached 2-3 weeks before the arrival of the laying peak; delaying the increase in feed amount often causes a 2%-3% loss in laying. At this time, check whether the laying rate of the female ducks has reached the peak. The method is to adopt a trial feeding increase: add another 5-1% feed per duck, feed continuously for 4 days and observe the change in laying rate. If the laying rate increases, continue feeding according to the increased feed amount; if the laying rate does not change, immediately return to the original feed amount. This method can be used multiple times.

Laying Peak Period

In production practice, in order to make the laying peak arrive on schedule, the maximum feed amount in the early laying period is generally 10%-15% higher than the feed amount required by this breed of duck at the laying peak. During the entire laying peak period, the feed amount should generally not be reduced and should always be kept at the highest level. However, after the laying peak is reached, the extra 10%-15% feed amount must be subtracted, otherwise it will easily cause breeding ducks to become overweight, especially male ducks, which will have difficulty mounting or be unwilling to mount, and female ducks will also experience a decline in laying rate due to being overweight. The feed reduction after the peak should be combined with laying weeks of age, laying rate, egg weight, etc. Feed reduction should begin 2 weeks after the laying rate no longer rises, generally starting at 31-32 weeks of age, when egg weight should also be above [threshold]; the extent of feed reduction can be somewhat larger. The average feed consumption per duck should be reduced by about 10-15 g, and over 2 weeks, after stabilizing the feed amount of the breeding ducks at the required maximum feed amount, constant feeding should be adopted.

Late Laying Period

After 48 weeks of age, the laying rate of meat-type ducks begins to decline at a rate of 1%-2% per week. Since at this time the female ducks have fully reached body maturity, and egg weight remains correspondingly stable, the nutritional requirements of female ducks begin to decrease. If the feed amount is not reduced at this time, it will inevitably cause fat deposition, making the female ducks overweight and leading to a sharp decline in laying rate in the later period, causing waste of feed. Therefore, starting from 48 weeks of age, feed should be gradually reduced as the laying rate declines. Feed reduction can also adopt a trial reduction method: that is, reduce the average daily feed consumption per duck by [amount], and feed continuously for 4 d. If the laying rate declines greatly during this period, immediately restore the original amount; if the decline is normal, it proves that the feed reduction is correct, and feeding should be carried out according to the reduced feed amount. This method is repeated every 10 days. Under normal circumstances, the daily feed amount of breeding ducks in the late laying period is 80%-85% of the feed amount at the peak period.