Ducks: breeding at home as a business

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Ducks are one of the most popular household birds among summer residents and farmers. Breeding at home of this living creature is a business that does not require large initial investments and at the same time is quite profitable. But of course, a novice entrepreneur should definitely know what are the rules for caring for this bird.

Home breeding ducks as a business: what should you know?

A plot for a duck farm is best purchased away from the city. It is desirable if there is a small body of water nearby. The required size of the land allotment depends on the planned livestock. Ducks are bred in three ways: closed, walking and limited walking. In the second case, the area will need much more. For walking one duck needs about 10 square meters. m. With a closed content, you can get by with 2 square meters. m per person. The same goes for the limited free-range method.

Experienced farmersconsider that such an enterprise can be profitable only if it contains at least 500 indouts. As for other breeds, in this case even more individuals will be needed. For example, mulard ducks, which are quite profitable to breed at home, are usually kept in quantities of at least 800 pieces.

How to set up a business?

Usually, duck farms are registered as LLCs. Although a small enterprise can be registered as an individual entrepreneur. In this case, you do not have to keep accounts. However, in terms of the seriousness and prestige of the IP, of course, loses LLC.

In order to organize such an enterprise as a duck farm, a beginner poultry farmer, of course, will need start-up capital. Since such a business does not require too much expenses at the initial stage, usually 2000-3000 dollars are enough. If the person who wants to organize a farm does not have such an amount, he will have to contact the bank. In this case, it will be necessary to draw up a detailed business plan for the enterprise, indicating the initial costs, possible profits, etc.

What should a poultry house look like?

Ducks, which can be bred at home both by outdoor and walking methods, are unpretentious birds. And they will feel good in almost any building. Free-range content is possible only if there is a reservoir in the immediate vicinity of the farm. Therefore, most often ducks are bred by the outdoor limited-range method.

When building a poultry house, it is important to take careso that there are no gaps in its walls. Like all waterfowl, ducks are very sensitive to temperature changes. A small artificial paddock is usually arranged near the poultry house. Breeding a Muscovy duck at home, like any other, will be beneficial only if there is a large enough place for the bird to move in the fresh air.

The paddock is usually fenced with a fence 1.5 meters high from a chain-link mesh. When keeping ducks in large quantities, water should not be placed in the walking area. Otherwise, they will begin to fight for the right to swim and breed dirt on the territory. Breeds bred by modern breeders are well adapted to keeping without water.

A pond or lake on a farm is required only if its owners are engaged in such a business as breeding wild ducks at home.

In the poultry house itself, it will be necessary to determine a place for ducklings, grown-up young animals, as well as broodstock. The latter usually consists of two families of 3-4 layers and one drake each. In this case, it will be possible to get enough eggs to reproduce the herd.

Poultry equipment

Feeders and drinkers are installed in the duck shed and on the paddock. In the latter case, it is best to use models of nipple or drip design. It is better not to put open drinkers in the duck house. This is especially true for the winter period. In frosts, ducks can swim in a drinking bowl and freeze. If the opportunity to purchase dripthere is no structure, in winter the ducks will have to give snow instead of water. Open drinkers are removed for the winter. Nests should also be placed in the broodstock section.

Breed selection

Most often on medium and small farms they contain the unpretentious Beijing breed related to the meat direction of productivity. This bird does not eat too much and puts on weight fairly quickly. Breeding Peking ducks at home is considered a particularly profitable business. They usually keep such a bird up to two months of age. Therefore, two or three broods can be brought up in a year.

You should also think about the content of indoutok (musky). The main advantage of this bird is lean meat. It sells very readily. Breeding Muscovy duck at home can therefore be a very profitable business. However, if you want to keep just such a bird, you should keep in mind that Indo-ducks can fly.

Sometimes farms also breed mulardas, which combine the best qualities of musky and Beijing breeds, as well as wild mallards.

Feeding

Ducks, whose home breeding will be successful only if the diet is properly developed, usually eat three times a day in winter. In summer, the number of feedings is reduced to two per day. Of course, only if the farm has a large enough pasture with a pond. Feeding can be carried out using two technologies: dry, using compound feed and wet, using vegetable mixtures. In the first case, you do not have to hire service personnel for cookingmash. However, feed costs are higher when using the dry method.

When wet feeding, grated vegetables are mixed with chopped grass (carrot and beet tops, nettles, etc.) and seasoned with whey or meat broth.

If there is a pond or lake nearby, you can save a lot on feeding. Ducks willingly eat succulent grass, algae and plankton. In those areas where groundwater comes close to the surface, it is easy to make an artificial pond. To do this, simply dig a hole 2.5-3 m deep.

Breeding Peking ducks at home, mulards, as well as other breeds with a fast metabolism, has the peculiarity that the birds should always have food in the feeders.

Chicks at home

Ducklings are bred on farms, usually using an incubator. Eggs are laid in the apparatus for 28-30 days. For a farm, incubator models with automatic egg flipping are more suitable. The output of young ducks, unfortunately, is very small. The fact is that the eggshell of this bird has large pores. Because of this, an infection often gets inside, as a result of which the embryo dies. Therefore, incubators must be disinfected before laying. The eggs themselves cannot be washed. If the protective cuticle is damaged, the risk of infection increases many times over. Before laying duck eggs, it is very desirable to inspect with an ovoscope. Very often these devices are sold together with incubators.

Of course, eggs can only be takenfrom birds belonging to any breed. Hybrids will have to be bought annually. Not very productive ducks grow out of cross chicks. Moulards, whose home breeding is distinguished by just such a feature, are very popular hybrids. However, those who wish to breed them should take into account that one such duckling costs about 45-50 rubles.

Profitability

Duck entrepreneurs earn income:

• From the sale of meat. Ducks are usually slaughtered at 2 months of age. After molting, this bird has a lot of "stumps" on the skin, which spoils the presentation of the carcass. In addition, after two months, with an increase in the amount of feed required in weight, the bird begins to gain very slowly.
• From the sale of down and feathers. You can organize your own workshop for sewing pillows or donate raw materials to someone else's atelier.
• From the sale of manure. It can be implemented, for example, by summer residents.

Ducks, which should be bred at home using certain technologies, as you can see, are unpretentious. The main thing is to properly organize production and purchase chicks. And then the business of breeding this bird will be profitable and profitable.