Backyard Duck Rearing in India: An Emerging Trends among Village People
Duck farming is very famous and completely a beneficial business. Ducks are extremely accessible around the world. There are abundant meats and eggs prolific duck breeds are offered throughout the world. All the contemporary farming ducks around the glove come from the wild birds. Those wild birds surprised around the globe, and some of them have been domestic as a good source of food. Nearly all those birds are from wild duck species. Parenthetically, all chicken of the world comes from red wild hen. One more thing is that, ducks are aquatic organism. Duck education is a gainful stock manufacturing in the globe since of its egg, animal protein and quill. Like chicken, ducks are raised for eggs and meat. Duck eggs are reasonably bigger, weighing about 4.5% of duck’s body weight. Furthermore, ducks are more productive than chicken and more flexible to free-range system of rearing. They also develop faster than chicken. They want humble housing, compared to chicken.
Both the second and third years of their lives, they are more productive and prodigious. As a result, the cost of food will be reduced. Ducks typically lay their eggs in the morning since it is so simple to gather them and they are less worried about losing them. Since rice cultivation and duck farming are interdependent, paddy cultivation and ducks can be coupled in all paddy agriculture areas. Given their intelligence, these birds may easily learn to perform their daily task, which reduces the need for monitoring. They are fairly tough birds who can endure pain and are immune to common avian diseases. Broiler or green ducks mature much more quickly than chicken and have better feed efficiency. Duck farming is a growing industry in India that can be created in various locations by farmers for their own personal interests. It wants individuals to be much more conscious in order to improve their ability to predict the future. Duck farming is a tremendously successful industry. Ducks are raised for their flesh and eggs and are highly prized as pets. In India, duck farming is significant in addition to chicken farming. They make up roughly 10% of all poultry and generate 6% to 7% of all eggs produced in the nation. Up until recently, tiny and marginal farmers mostly in southern and eastern coastal regions, north-eastern India, and Jammu & Kashmir were the only ones who practically raised ducks. Different people raise ducks for various purposes. Some people raise ducks for breeding, while others do it for the meat, eggs, or both. On a farm with cattle, others may raise ducks to control the fly population.
Duck farming is becoming an emerging sector in India. Similar to chicken, duck farming has a significant contribution to the country’s poultry production. Ducks form about 10 percent of the total poultry population in India, with a contribution of 7 to 8 percent in the country’s total egg production.
Traditionally, West Bengal and Kerala were considered as the largest states for consuming duck meat and eggs. Out of 15 million duck population, West Bengal leads the list, followed by Assam, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa. A few years back, ducks were reared only by marginal farmers in southern and eastern coastal areas, north-eastern India and Jammu & Kashmir. The reasons behind keeping ducks for these farmers vary from breeding to fulfilling the purpose of meat and eggs to keeping down the fly population on a farm having livestock.
Backyard poultry farmers emphasising duck farming
Duck farming provides a profitable business idea to poultry farmers around the world. The availability of duck breeds and convenience in raising them for meat and eggs makes poultry farmers focus on backyard duck farming. Starting a commercial duck farming business also depends on the factor that ducks can feed on agro-industrial wastes. Further, they can survive in marshy areas and in the areas where no agricultural crops can be grown which makes it easy for poultry and other farmers to shift to commercial duck farming for adding an additional source of income.
Farm size
This business starts with determining the farm size which is typically measured by the number of ducks that can be reared. Since ducks are less demanding in terms of housing requirements, a fully functional duck house can be made with local resources, facilitating proper ventilation and ensuring their safety. In an intensive duck farming system, a floor space of a minimum 3 sq. ft. per bird is required while in a semi-intensive system, a minimum 2-2.5 sq. ft. area per bird is required for night shelter.
Benefits of duck farming include:
Compared to raising other species, duck farming is simple because of the following benefits:
Ducks flourish in scavenging environments and require less care. Highly resistant to common avian illnesses; requires less acreage for duck farming
• Able to consume all available feed kinds. The size of the duck egg is about 15 to 20 gms greater than the hen egg, and ducks lay more eggs per bird per year than chickens.
• Live a longer, more successful life. Even in the second, they laid well. Ducks lay 95-98 percent of their eggs in the morning before 9.00 AM, are fairly resilient, and are easier to brood. thus reducing labour and time requirements. Duck rearing systems Raising ducks can be done in a variety of ways. Farmers can actually modify this rearing strategy to fit their particular requirements and the resources at hand. The free-range system Only at night are the ducks confined inside. The ducks can freely graze outside during the day in search of food. A little additional food is placed in the shelter at night to lure them inside. Just a nest for egg-laying and a place to spend the night are all the ducks need. If you treat the ducks nicely, they will stay close by. The ducks go to the feed and get it themselves, which is a benefit of this arrangement. By doing this, farmers can access nutrients that they otherwise would not be able to.
Enclosed system
The ducks are permanently confined, either in an enclosed structure (an indoor system) or in an outdoor run. Ducks remain in the same location. It is simple to monitor and examine them. It is simpler to provide the ducks with access to water when they have an outside run because the open run space can accommodate a pond.
Indoor apparatus:
The indoor method is used in large-scale duck farms where production is automated to save money on labor. Compared to the other two housing systems, this one requires a larger financial commitment. The farmer is responsible for providing all feed, water, and routine cleaning. Growth may be quick and output can be cheap with the right management. Give the ducks access to a sizable, shallow container of water so they may wash and bathe. They should be situated over a drained area with a wire or slatted floor, similar to open drinkers.
Systems for Integrated Duck Rearing
Duck farming works well with other types of agriculture. In these systems, the various modes of production work in harmony, resulting in improved productivity and greater financial gain for the farmer. Byproducts and waste are utilized.
Paddy cultivation combined with duck keeping
Ducks in rice fields consume hazardous insects and snails, which benefits the paddy while also providing a healthy diet for the ducks. Farmer disperses risks. For instance, there is still a yield of eggs and duck meat if the rice yield is minimal. Poor agricultural laborers in South India engage in the practice of migratory duck farming. By raising ducklings, the farmer begins raising ducks in December. Large farmers were contacted for ducklings. By February, after the second crop of paddy has finished being harvested, the workers begin migrating with the ducks. In general, the paddy farmers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are happy to see the ducks. The ducks consume snails and small fish as well as leftover paddy grains from the field. When the water becomes muddy, the ducks’ activities move the water, which reduces photosynthesis and prevents the growth of weeds. Their actions also promote the growth of the rice stalk, root, and leaves, hastening rice growth. Additionally, the ecological system benefits from less pesticide and fertilizer use. The ducks stay in the fields at night. The ducks are released an hour or two after sunrise, when egg-laying is virtually finished and eggs can be easily gathered. Duck eggs are provided to landowners as payment. By eating paddy fields, the ducks thrive and the fields are fertilized by the castings of the ducks.
Duck farming combined with fish ponds
In integrated duck-fish farming, the waste from the duck shed can be recycled and used for fish cultivation. This boosts the ponds’ natural food production, which in turn boosts the fish population. The culture of duck and fish can be combined to produce greater rewards. This result the farmers’ positive outcomes. The faeces can be evenly distributed in the ponds and used as a good fertilizer if the ducks are free to swim around in the fishponds. These help to reduce the cost of fish feed, supplemental feed and fertilizer. Due to the ducks’ presence, the fishponds’ biological productivity is increased and aquatic weed growth is inhibited. The amount of oxygen in the ponds rises as a result of the ducks’ swimming activity. Ducks do not require additional feed because they consume the weeds, insects, larvae, worms, and other organisms that are present in the pond. Only fish longer than 10 cm should be provided in duck-cum fish culture since fish shorter than this could be consumed by the ducks. Ten thousand fish seeds per hectare can be sown. The stocking density may change depending on the type of fishpond and the availability of fish seeds. The species of ducks that are raised depend on their ability to lay eggs. An important factor in getting more meat and eggs from the duck-fish culture is effective management. The shed should have adequate ventilation, and waste water should not stand still. 200 ducks are enough to fertilise a pond that is 1 hectare in size. The pond itself serves as the natural food source for ducks. They can easily survive on household garbage, rice bran, broken rice, and legumes.
Duck, fish and paddy cultivation
Duck and fish can be raised on the same field as paddy is being grown.
Management of Duck Feeding
Between hatching and four weeks of age, the majority of duck farmers feed their flocks broken rice, rice bran, powdered coconut stems, or similar things. In some places, market-purchased grains and sago are fed to ducklings as food. Reddy claims that the Tamil Nadu duck farmers fed their ducklings various meals based on their age. Insects, snails, kitchen scraps, paddy grains, and weeds are the next sources of food for ducks after their foraging-derived diet. The rice paddies receive fertilizer from the duck excrement. According to Reddy, adult ducks primarily ate fish, snails, and insects from ponds and waterlogged areas as well as grains from post-harvest rice fields. In Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, duck farmers feed adult ducks a combination of locally accessible feed ingredients.
Watering of Ducks
Contrary to the widespread belief among farmers, even though ducks are water birds and love the water, water for swimming is not necessary at any stage of rearing. However, the depth of the water in drinkers or water channels supplied inside the home should be sufficient to let only their heads to submerge. If they are unable to accomplish this, their eyes may become crusted and scaly, and blindness may eventually set in. Additionally, they regularly wash and clean their banknotes to keep them tidy.
Ducklings brooding management
Ducklings can be raised on a wire floor, in litter, or with the help of batteries. Layer ducklings are capable of brooding for 3–4 weeks. Two to three weeks of brooding are sufficient for meat-type ducklings. In general, the brooding period might last up to one or two weeks longer during the winter months. Give each duckling 90 to 100 square centimeters of hover space beneath the brooder. 30–40 ducklings can be raised using a 100 watt bulb. Throughout the first week, a temperature of 32°C is maintained. Until it reaches 24°C during the fourth week, it drops by around 3°C each week. Up to three weeks of age, each bird needs 0.5 square feet in a wire floor and 1 square foot in a litter. Water in the drinkers should be 5.0 to 7.5 cm deep, just enough to drink without dipping oneself. To absorb the excess moisture in the ducks’ excrement, deep litter brooding requires litter that is at least 3 cm thick. The heat of the brooding shed is retained by creating “Closed tents” (Tent brooding) to supply the necessary temperature in the large system, which does not need artificial heating. After the brooding stage, the ducks are free to swim in the water.
Grower Management
Both intensive and semi-intensive systems can be used to raise ducks. Up to 16 weeks of age, a floor space of 3 sq.ft per bird is enough in an intensive system. For the free flow of birds up to 16 weeks under the semi-intensive technique of rearing, a floor space of 2-2.5 square feet per bird for the night shelter and 10–12 square feet per bird for the outdoor run is required. To let their heads to fully submerge, the water in the drinkers should be 10 to 12 cm deep. Ducks can be controlled with partitions between the pen and run that are 60 to 90 cm high. Straight run ducklings (male and female) are raised in rural duck farming until they are 10 to 15 weeks old.
Layer Management
A floor space of 4 sq. ft. per bird is required for an intense system. In a semi-intensive system, each bird needs a floor space of 3 square feet for a night shelter and 10 to 12 square feet for an outdoor run. It takes 10 cm of feeding area for wet mash and 7.5 cm of feeding space for dry mash or pellets per bird. A nest box of 30x30x45 cm must be provided for the gathering of clean hatching eggs at the rate of one nest box for every three ducks. It need 14 to 16 hours of light per day to produce eggs at their best. In intensive farming, Khaki Campbell ducks can lay their first egg at 120 days, produce 50% of their eggs by 140 days, and lay 320 eggs annually. During the laying stage, depending on the pace of egg production and body weight, the daily feed intake ranges from 120 to 140 g. At 40 weeks of age, the body and egg weigh, respectively, 1.8 kilogramme and 68 grammes.
Management of breeding
The ideal sex ratio for ducks is 1:15–20 for an extensive rearing system and 1:16 for an intensive rearing system. Farmers maintain a wide sex ratio of 1:20–25 when raising ducks in rural areas, but they nevertheless experience reasonable good fertility of 70–80 percent. Drakes frequently mate while swimming.
Veterinary Care
Compared to chicken and turkeys, ducks are sturdier and less prone to disease. If infections do arise, they are almost certainly the product of poor management, an unsanitary environment, or a genetic weakness brought on through breeding. To determine whether a duck is ill, you must first understand what a healthy duck looks like. Regularly observing ducks for a little period of time will help you become familiar with how a healthy duck seems. This does not imply that you must pick up every duck every day; instead, simply spend about 10 minutes watching the flock of ducks as they forage, noting their appearance and if they appear to be feeding well. The two most crucial factors in avoiding ducks from getting sick are practicing good cleanliness and immunizing them.
Vaccinations
It is worthwhile to vaccinate the ducks to protect them from some diseases because they are so contagious or widespread. It is especially important to vaccinate your duck if duck keeping is widely popular in the area.
- No Name of the Vaccine Route Dose Age of ducks
- Duck Cholera (Pasteurellosis)- Subcutaneous -Ducklings, Adults 1 ml- 3-4 weeks
- Duck Plague- Subcutaneous- Adults- 1 ml -8-12 weeks
Breeds of Ducks That Lay Eggs
Khaki Campbell:
The English-bred Khaki Campbell duck is a medium-sized breed that weighs 1.5 to 2 kg at two months of age, lays white eggs, and produces 250 to 300 eggs annually.
Indian Runner: Indian Runner Ducks are a small-sized duck breed that are white in color and stay well in both ground and water. They lay about 250 eggs a year and are native to India.
Breeds of Bangladeshi Egg-laying Ducks:
Small breed that is native to Bangladesh, lays 60–70 eggs annually, and is well suited to the climate of Bangladesh and other Asian nations.
Duck the Magpie: They are English-born, have huge, white eggs that are black and white in colour and lay 220-290 eggs annually.
Ancona: Ancona Ducks an English invention, 240 eggs are laid annually by medium-sized breeds of chickens that produce a variety of white, cream and blue-green eggs.
Nutrition of duck eggs
Duck eggs have more protein than chicken eggs, slightly more cholesterol than chicken eggs, slightly more fat, more vitamins and minerals, and a higher amount of omega-3 fatty acids. Duck eggs can be consumed by people who are allergic to chicken eggs.
FEEDING FOR DUCKS
The majority of Indian farms employed the country-side approach of feeding the ducks. Furthermore, the farmers of the farms are tired of having to feed the ducks wheat, rice, rice bran, coconut stem powder, or some other food. In certain farms, the farmers give their chickens very good care and feed them wholesome meals purchased from marketplaces. According to a report, duck farmers in Tamilnadu feed their ducklings varied diets depending on their age. Insects, snails, kitchen scraps, paddy grains, and weeds are consequently used as food by ducks in addition to the foraging-derived feed. The faeces from ducks is used as rice fields’ fertilizer. Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu duck farmers mix locally available feed ingredients to feed mature ducks. Ducks must never be allowed access to areas where there is no water to eat. Birds must always have the right to eat during the first eight weeks, but as they become older, they can start getting two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. Up until the age of 20 weeks, Khaki Campbell ducks consume approximately 15.5 kg of feed. Following that, the amount of food consumed per bird every day varies between 120 g and more, depending on the availability and rate of production of greens. The recommended nutritional requirements for layer and broiler ducks, the feed scale for Khaki Campbell ducks, the normal living weight and feed intake of broiler ducks, and the feed processes monitored at the duck farm are all given.
WATERING OF DUCKS
Although ducks are water birds and enjoy being in the water, contrary to the widespread farmer myth, water for swimming is not required at any stage of upbringing. However, the depth of the water in drinkers or water supply canals inside the home must be sufficient to allow for the absorption of only their heads and not themselves. If they fail to do so, their eyes may get scratchy and irritable, and in some circumstances, sightlessness may set in.
BROODING OF DUCKS
Ducklings may be incubated in a battery, litter, or wire ground. For 3–4 weeks, layer ducklings go through a dark period. Ducklings of the animal protein variety only require 2-3 weeks of darkness. Typically, the brooding period might last up to one or two weeks longer than the stable period during the winter. Per duckling, provide 95–100 square centimeters of hover space throughout the brooding season. 30–40 ducklings can be hatched under a 100 watt bulb. During the first week, 32°C remains the temperature. It cools down by around 3°C per week until the fourth week, when it reaches 24°C. Up to three weeks of age, 0.5 square feet per bird on a wire floor and 1 square foot per bird in a litter is acceptable. Drinkers should have a depth of water between 5.0 and 7.5 cm, just enough to allow for drinking without having to lean over. In order to entice the excess humidity in the ducks’ composts, the depth of the litter during deep litter brooding will be 3 cm and above.
Ducks typically start laying at around 6-7 months of age, and within 5 weeks after the start of laying, they should be laying at a rate of about 90% (i.e., 100 ducks laying 90 eggs each day). Duck eggs take 28 days to hatch, but Muscovy eggs take 35 days. By putting duck eggs underneath a broody duck or even a broody chicken hen, duck eggs can hatch spontaneously. At a temperature of 37.5-37.2°C (99.5-99° F), good results are obtained in artificial incubators. Incubation should last for the first 25 days at 30-31°C (86-88° F), and the final three days of hatching should be at 32.7-33.8°C (90-92° F). From the second day until the 25th day, eggs are sprayed with lukewarm water containing sanitizer once daily and allowed to cool for a maximum of 30 minutes. Candling is finished on the seventh day. Every hour, the eggs are rotated. On the 25th day, the eggs are transferred to the hatcher.
Adult stock rearing
Duck strains with high egg production begin to deposit eggs between 16 and 18 weeks of age. By nine in the morning, 95–98% of eggs are laid. For every three ducks, a nest box of 30 x 30 x 45 cm (12 x 12 × 18”) should be available. A mating ratio of 1 drake to 6-7 ducks is appropriate for breeds that deposit eggs. The ideal amount of light per day is between 14 and 16 hours.
Factors to increase egg production include
- Offer nutritious food.
• The right amount of feed is necessary for maximum production; a duck should consume no more than.35 pounds of feed per day from the time she is three weeks old until she is laying well, or else she will gain weight.
• Clean water.
• Adequate lighting: From January to June, as the days grow longer, sexually mature ducks begin to lay eggs; from July to December, this process is slowed. For up to 17 hours, alternate natural and artificial light.
• Reduced stress. In India, duck farming is significant in addition to chicken farming. They make up roughly 10% of all poultry and contribute 6-7% of the nation’s overall egg production. Duck farming may be both profitable and pleasant. Raising ducks successfully requires creating a safe breeding habitat and paying attention to egg handling and production.
Compiled & Shared by- Team, LITD (Livestock Institute of Training & Development)
Image-Courtesy-Google
Reference-On Request.
