FARMS: The duck, reproduction and cultivation.

gaetano23 (58)in #farms • 6 years ago (edited)

The domestic duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is an aquatic bird that flies reluctantly and badly. Its predecessors are the wild duck or the common wild duck. Due to the ease of maintenance and reproduction, ducks are some of the most popular birds in the home. A human reared ducks for eggs, meat, liver and feathers.

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REPRODUCTION:

Not all breeds of ducks are good layers. For example, but musk ducks have an instinct developed to incubate eggs.

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The nest of each duck should be separated, closed and spacious with a soft material like leaf litter.

A duck usually sows up to 20 eggs. The ducklings are born between 28 and 35 days.

Duck eggs can be incubated at a temperature of 38 ° C and good ventilation. On the twentieth day the temperature is reduced to 30 ° C.

DUCK CULTIVATION

After the ducklings were born, they are kept in a warm, dry house, and are protected from drafts. The minimum size of the room is 1 m2 for 12 ducklings.

The temperature in the poultry house is maintained at 22 ° C during the first three weeks, then it is lowered to 20 ° C. The daylight duration for the ducklings is significant and is at least 22 hours, it is gradually reduced to normal (14 hours).

Feed the chicks with herbs with minerals and vitamins. During the first week after incubation, the ducks feed 7 times a day, as they grow, they are transferred to three regular meals a day.

It is important that the birds have a constant availability of drinking water in a volume of at least 1.5 liters per day per unit.

Interesting data:

In China, 2 million ducks grow annually, this is the most popular local bird.
The newborn ducklings take as their mother the first to be seen when they are born.
The legs of duck differ in the absence of nerve endings, so that birds can walk even on ice and snow.

The duck is classified among the poultry animals and enters the class of red meat

that is used when the animal is approximately 3 months old and weighs approximately 2 and a half pounds.

From a nutritional point of view, the duck has a modest lipid content concentrated mainly in the skin. The duck is also a good source of iron and vitamin and is appreciable above all for caloric intake (around 159 kcal per 100 grams of edible product).

At the time of purchase, one can recognize the age of the duck by observing the peak, which in the youngest samples flexes easily under the pressure of the fingers. Another detail to take into account are the legs that are very wrinkled in the oldest specimens.

TYPES OF DUCKS

The duck jar, quarrelsome and aggressive.
The freshwater diver duck, which dives and swims.
The sea diving duck, which comprises 21 species.
Indian runner ducks, so called for their speed on land, moves upright, with the neck stretched.
The Pekingese duck, with its plumage as indicated by its name, has the merit of not producing sounds.

The duck is very appreciated in the kitchen for the properties of its meat:

reddish and lightly oily roasted chicken is excellent, especially in combinations with fruit: with citrus, with cherries, with coconut, with chestnuts (duck breast all "orange, duck stuffed with apples and grapes).