Considering the issue of acquiring mulard ducks, poultry farmers are interested in how to feed and care for these particular hybrids.
Moulards are a hybrid of the meat direction and there are still feeding features. Before we talk about proper feeding, we recommend an article on how to breed ducklings in an incubator .
Feeding mulard ducks
Age 1-10 days
It is impossible to breed mulards at home, and the acquired young already have an age of at least one day. At this age, ducklings are already looking for food and now they need to be offered:
- boiled egg;
- cottage cheese;
- curdled milk;
- corn grits;
- wheat groats;
- barley groats;
- clean drinking water.
Start feeding with a boiled egg. The norm is calculated 1 pc. 10 heads per day. An egg is a balanced product in terms of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. To balance calcium and phosphorus, you should add fresh cottage cheese at a dose of 3-4 g per head, or yogurt, which is drunk from drinkers.
Grain ingredients are selected in proportion:
- corn grits - 20%;
- wheat groats - 50%;
- barley groats - 30%.
Having prepared such a composition, feed it ad libitum. Feeders must be constantly filled.
After 3-4 days, eggs and cottage cheese are removed from the diet, but yogurt can be left for another 1-2 days. From this period, they are fed with compound feed or mash. For home feeding, a mash is, of course, preferable. You can prepare high-quality food as follows:
- Water, whey or yogurt are poured into the pan;
- Salt in a dose of 0.2 g per head;
- Bring to a boil;
- As soon as the liquid boils, add the grain mixture;
- Stir until the porridge becomes like thick sour cream.
The rate of cereals and liquids is determined visually. The portion should be divided into two, so that half should be put to the ducklings in the morning, and the second part after 14.00. By evening, the mash should be eaten. If there is not enough food, then the rate of brew is increased. At the same time, the dry grain mixture should also be freely available.
Starting from 5-6 days, greens are gradually fed to the ducklings. Preference is given to legumes (clover, alfalfa, sainfoin). Greenery is not subject to regulation. Feeding is carried out ad libitum 4-5 times a day until completely consumed. If there are no green herbs, then you can use herbal flour, calculating the rate of 3 g per head.
Drinkers, feeders with sand and shell rock must be constantly clean and filled.
Age 10-30 days
Ten-day-old ducklings are fed the same feed, with some additives and a different proportion:
- corn grits - 30%;
- wheat groats - 30%;
- barley groats - 30%;
- sunflower meal - 10%.
At the age of 2 weeks, meat and bone or fish meal should be added to the grain mash at the rate of at least 7-10% of the diet. From the same age, you can feed boiled potatoes. At the same time, it should be taken into account that solanine accumulates in it in the spring, and excess of its residual amounts in the feed can lead to poisoning. To avoid this, after boiling, the water should be drained quickly, or the potatoes should be peeled.
When feeding, you should clearly determine the dose. Dry grain feed should always be. The mash should be eaten throughout the day.
Age 30 days and older
For ducklings of one month of age, the feeding ration is built from the following proportions:
- corn grits - 40%;
- wheat groats - 40%;
- sunflower meal - 10%.
Barley groats are removed from the diet, since it belongs to feeds that worsen the taste of meat.
The daily norm of table salt from a month is increased to 0.5 g per head.
During this period, you should increase the level of calcium and phosphorus in the diet.
For this, in addition to meat and bone meal, the same amount of bone meal is added. From the age of one month, they stop feeding fishmeal, since it will also affect the taste of meat.
There is a lot of information that ducklings are fed with bran. This should not be done before 2 months of age. Moulards are intended for fast, meat fattening, and bran is a feed ballast that does not represent nutritional value. If ducklings are not allowed to be slaughtered, but are kept by a certain date (by the New Year), then bran is introduced from 2 months, at a dose of not more than 10% of the total diet.
Natural grazing of ducklings on grass is, of course, ideal. At the same time, space should be limited, achieving full eatability of green mass per unit area. Ducklings do not eat herbs stained with droppings.
It makes no sense to mix chopped green mass with mash and cereals. In this case, the nutritional value will be lower, and the feed will turn sour faster.
Have the ducklings started to fall to their feet? Useful information from this article will help you: https://4541080.ru/zabolevaniya/utyata-nachali-padat-na-nogi.html
Useful video about feeding mulard ducks
A word about food
A balanced complete feed is a good thing. However, modern production involves the introduction of a huge amount of synthetic amino acids, preservatives, flavor stabilizers and feed antibiotics into its composition.
The use of compound feed in home fattening is possible, and poultry farmers very often trust this type of feeding. However, it should be noted that the quality of meat and liver, for which mulards are grown , is several times lower than when feeding is carried out with benign homemade feeds.
We advise: A detailed description of the process of incubation of eggs of an indochka .
Keeping ducklings
For newly acquired (daily) ducklings, it is necessary to equip a brooder. The temperature under the lamp should be between 24-25 ᵒC.
The bedding is done with sawdust or straw chips. There are special requirements for the bedding. Do not use straw with areas of growth of mold fungi. Ducklings are very sensitive to mycological diseases and death occurs very quickly.
After a month, the heating is turned off, and if the daytime temperature is above 25 ᵒC, then earlier. Feeding and maintenance of mulards does not provide for the water surface, although this is highly desirable for waterfowl. If it is possible to equip a pool, then the bird will be happy to use it.
In any case, water containers, drinkers should always be full. Observing the feeding ration, and adhering to the rules for keeping ducklings, in 2-2.5 months it is quite possible to feed ducks, the slaughter weight of which will be in the range of 2.5-3 kg.
Such ducklings are quite whimsical and their breeding requires a lot of effort and expense, and first of all it concerns nutrition. It's just that for me - I initially fed them not according to the rules, and as a result - there was a low level of weight gain, and some even had to be nursed. After the organization of proper nutrition, this does not happen.
I have ducks for the first time. I used to raise all chickens. So the advice of a professional was not superfluous to me. All took note.