Feeding ducks
This information is from our Consultant of the portal for feeding farm animals and poultry, Denis Vladimirovich, for which many thanks to him!
Duck is a meat poultry, which is characterized by high growth rate in the initial period of life. Depending on the breed and feeding conditions, the weight of ducks ranges from 2.5 to 4 kg. The live weight of 2-month-old ducklings is 2.1-2.8 kg.
Ducks are demanding in terms of feeding and keeping. They need water walks. They need a lot of water for normal digestion. A lot of water is released with droppings and during breathing, so it is beneficial to breed ducks near reservoirs with spacious walks in winter.
Digestion in ducks is intensive and adapted to the assimilation of a large amount of plant food, mainly young greenery and vegetation of water bodies, as well as frogs, aquatic invertebrates - molluscs, worms, larvae, plankton. They have well-developed goiter and blind processes, in which there is an active assimilation of fiber with the help of microorganisms.
Feeding adult ducks.
The main task of proper feeding of ducks is to maintain their health, obtain high productivity, and good incubation quality of eggs. Only with normalized and full-fledged feeding that fully meets the nutritional requirements of laying ducks can a high egg production (up to 200 eggs per year) be achieved and year-round rearing and feeding for meat can be carried out.
The high productivity of laying ducks is closely related to their fatness. With a loss of live weight, their egg production not only decreases, but also the incubation qualities of eggs deteriorate. The duck egg is used only for incubation, in writing it can be used after special culinary processing.
With year-round ducklings rearing for laying ducks, it is necessary to feed abundantly throughout the year to ensure year-round egg production. This can be achieved by using two, and sometimes three, parent stocking at a high level of feeding in accordance with detailed norms. Examples of the norms of nutrients for Peking ducks per 100 g of compound feed and per head per day are given in table. 183, 184. The need for vitamins of ducks is provided thanks to guaranteed supplements, g per 1 ton of compound feed: vitamin A - 10 million ME, D3 - 1.5 million ME, E -10 thousand ME, K - 2, B2- 1, B2 - 5, B3 - 10, B4 - 500, B5 - 20, B6 - 3, B12 - 0.025, Sun - 0.5, H - 0.1.
In duck breeding, dry and combined types of feeding are used. In the conditions of large industrial farms, the dry type of feeding adult ducks is used with granulated complete feeds from automatic feeders with the simultaneous provision of fresh drinking water and gravel.
An example of a recipe for a complete feed PK-20 for laying ducks,% by weight: barley - 40, wheat - 26, sunflower meal - 10, feed yeast - 5, fish flour - 1, meat and bone meal - 2, herbal flour - 8, tricalcium phosphate - 0.9, limestone, shell, chalk - 5.6, table salt - 0.5, premix P 1-1 - 1. 100 g of compound feed contains,%: exchange energy - 265 kcal (1110 kJ), crude protein - 16.2, crude fat - 2.7, crude fiber - 5.3, calcium - 2.5, phosphorus - 0.7, sodium - 0.3, lysine - 0.64, methionine + cystine - 0.50 ... The approximate rate of feeding full-feed compound feed to adult ducks of the Peking breed is 240 g, to ducks of meat crosses - 270 g per head per day.
Combined type of feeding Adult ducks are common in small duck farms and household farms with one-time completing of the herd, which determines the seasonality of egg production and the division of feeding according to the seasons of the year (spring-summer period - egg-laying, and in autumn-winter - its absence).
In the spring-summer period, in the structure of duck rations, a mixture of concentrated feeds accounts for about 45%, green and juicy feeds - 55% of the daily requirement for metabolic energy. In the autumn-winter period, in addition to grain feed, the diet includes potatoes, beets, carrots and other roots, combined silage, grass flour. The composition of the mixture of concentrated feed include,% by weight; cereals - corn, wheat, barley, peas, etc. - 60-75, wheat bran - up to 7, cakes and meal - 6-12, animal feed - 3-4, fodder yeast - 3-6 and mineral feed - 4 -6.
An approximate diet for laying ducks with a combined type of feeding in the autumn-winter season, g per head per day: wheat - 35.2, barley - 81, sunflower meal - 40, feed yeast - 13, fish meal - 8.6, flour meat and bone meal - 6.6, bone meal - 2.7, chalk - 10.5, table salt - 1.6, premix - 2.2, boiled potatoes - 160, corn silage - 50. The diet contains,%: metabolic energy - 665 kcal (2780 kJ), crude protein - 40.7, crude fiber - 17.8, calcium - 6.35, total phosphorus - 1.87, sodium - 0.82.
With a combined type of feeding, ducks are fed with loose mash: liquid and pasty ones can cause blockage of the nasal openings. Drinking bowls are placed next to the feeders, which are filled with fresh water before feeding. Provide gravel at the same time. In the spring-summer season, instead of potatoes and silage, fresh green grass is included in the diet - about 300 g per head per day. During the productive period for the preparation of wet mash, cereal (mealy) feed and the weight of the necessary additives are moistened with skim milk, milk whey, buttermilk, yogurt. To increase egg production, laying ducks part of the grain (oats, barley) is fed in a germinated form.
Adult ducks are fed 3 times a day: in the morning and at lunchtime they give wet mash, in the evening - concentrates. The feeding front when using dry compound feeds and feed mixtures is 2 cm, with the combined type - 15 cm; drinking area - 4 cm.
Feeding the young.
For young ducks, as well as for adults, two types of feeding are used: dry and combined.
With a dry type of ducklings, from the first day after hatching and until the end of rearing (26 weeks), they are fed with complete feeds ad libitum, taking into account the norms (concentration) of nutrients and metabolic energy contained in 100 g of compound feed. Particularly effective are granulated compound feed with a granule size for ducklings of the first age (1-20 days) 2-4 mm, for the second age (21-56 days) 5-8 mm.
The growth rate of ducklings at the age of 1-3 weeks provides compound feed with a high level of crude protein (18%) and a moderate content of metabolic energy (1172 kJ) per 100 g. protein (16%), but higher energy nutritional value (1213 kJ), which promotes fat deposition and improves the presentation of carcasses (see table. 183).
An example of a recipe for a complete feed PK-21 for young Peking ducks at the age of 1-3 weeks,% by weight: corn - 10, wheat - 50, barley -15.4, sunflower meal - 7.5, feed yeast - 4, fish flour - 7, herbal flour - 3, bone meal - 0.3, chalk, shell and limestone - 1.6, table salt - 0.2, premix P 5-1 - I. 100 g of compound feed contains,%: metabolic energy - 280 kcal (1170 kJ), crude protein - 18.1 crude fat - 2.7, crude fiber - 4.3, calcium - 1.2, total phosphorus - 0.8, sodium - 0.3, lysine - 0 , 78, methionine + cystine - 0.61.
In the conditions of industrial duck farms, young animals are fed with compound feed from automatic feeders with the simultaneous provision of fresh water and gravel. The duration of the stay of gravel in the muscular stomach of ducklings is about 10 days. For 1 head, 10 g of gravel (granite chips or quartzite) is given per week. The size of gravel particles for ducklings aged 1-3 weeks should be 1-3 mm, 4-8 weeks - 4-5 mm; for adult ducks - up to 10 mm. In the absence of gravel, the digestibility of dietary nutrients is reduced by 50%.
Approximate norms for feeding full-feed compound feed to young Peking ducks per head per day:
At 8 weeks of age, the ducklings intended for meat are killed, and some are transferred to the group of replacement young. After 8 weeks, replacement young animals are fed with compound feed with a reduced nutritional value, containing 260 kcal (1088 kJ) of metabolic energy and 14% crude protein in 100 g, and are transferred to a limited feeding regimen until 26 weeks of age (before transferring to the diet of adult ducks), the norm compound feed is 230 g per head per day.
An example of a recipe for a complete feed for replacement young Peking ducks,% by weight: wheat - 55, barley - 20, wheat bran -7, sunflower meal - 3, feed yeast - 4, grass flour - 6, bone meal - 1.7, chalk , shell and limestone - 1.8, table salt - 0.5, premix P 6-1 - I. 100 g of feed contains,%: metabolic energy - 260.2 kcal (1090 kJ), crude protein - 14.3 , crude fat - 2.2, crude fiber - 5.1, calcium - 1.21, phosphorus - 0.7, sodium - 0.24, lysine - 0.51, methionine + cystine - 0.44.
With a combined type of feeding ducklings from the first days of growing are fed with moist crumbly mash, cooked on skim milk, buttermilk, whey, sour milk, yogurt, etc. fresh herbs. Wet mash is fed from trough feeders. From 10 days, boiled potatoes are introduced, which can take up to 30%, from 20 days - green and juicy forages, accounting for 15-20% of the daily requirement for metabolic energy. The composition of the concentrate mixture is as follows,% by weight: cereals (corn, wheat, barley, peas, etc.) - 65-75, wheat bran (from the 9th week) - 5-10, meal and cakes - 10-15 (up to 8 weeks) and 1-5 (from 9 weeks), animal feed (meat and bone meal, fish meal, etc.) -3-5 (up to 8 weeks) and 2 (from 9 weeks), feed yeast - 3-5, flour herbal 3-5 (up to 8 weeks) and 5-10 (from 9 weeks), mineral supplements (chalk, shell, bone meal) - 1-2.
To prevent the onset of premature puberty and to prepare replacement young ducks for intensive and prolonged egg production, the nutritional value of the diet in terms of metabolic energy is reduced from 739 kcal (3096 kJ) to 597 kcal (2502 kJ), and the amount of crude protein - from 40.8 to 32, 2 g per head per day. Restriction of feeding of replacement young ducks is carried out by including in the diet up to 10% grass meal and up to 40% root crops, combined silage and greens. Guaranteed vitamin supplements are per 1 ton of mixed feed or dry grain mixture, g: A - 7-10 million ME, D3 - 1.5-2.5 million ME, E - 5-10 thousand ME, K - 1-2, B1 - 1, B2 - 3-5, B3 - 10, B4 - 250-500, B5- 15, B6 - 1-2, B12 -0.025, Sun - 0.5, H - 0.1 depending on age ( the maximum norms for young ducks up to 8 weeks of age, the minimum - from 9 to 26 weeks of age). The front of feeding young ducks with dry type is 1.5 cm, combined - 5; drinking front - 2.4 cm.