Raising Ducks for Beginners - 5 Crucial Tips To Begin

Raising Ducks for Beginners - 5 Crucial Tips To Begin

It is said that more than 22 million ducks are being raised in the US each year. Particularly because raising ducks seems to have become an enjoyable hobby as well, this number seems to be on the rise. Below are some tips for starters.

1. Determine what is your main purpose for raising ducks.

This will help you to select the duck breed best suited for your purposes. You will also get more optimal results. For instance, the Call Duck breed is often bred for ornamental purposes while the Khaki Campbell Duck breed are bred mostly because they are good egg-layers.

2. Start research on how to raise ducks. 

There are many resources that are available to you. Countless articles, such as the one you are reading right now, can provide many pieces of information on how you can start keeping ducks. You can also talk to other experienced duck breeders as they can give you invaluable tips on how to rear ducks which they have gained through their experiences.

3. For raising ducks, one important start-up equipment you must have is a duckling brooder. 

This will help you raise baby ducklings, which is a great first step in rearing ducks. You start with the duck eggs themselves and take care of the brood when the eggs hatch. Although you can choose from adolescent ducks or adult ducks, rearing ducks and ducklings may be a more rewarding experience for you. You will have more learning opportunities as well.

4. Make sure you also have your duck coop or duck hen in place. 

You wouldn't want your ducks scattered all over the place or unprotected from the elements. Raising ducks require a certain amount of investment and one of them is a safe and secure place for your ducks. Wood shavings and straws are recommended materials for your duck coop. You will also need to take sanitation into consideration since a duck coop will have the tendency to be wet most of the time. To prevent molds, you may need to change the litter everyday.

5. Make sure to provide adequate heating, especially if you are rearing ducklings. 

After your ducklings hatch, they will require a certain amount of heat for the next few weeks. A standard, 250-watt should meet their requirements. This will tend to lessen as they grow feathers, unless you have them in an environment where there is extreme cold climate. Learn more tips about how to raise ducks here.

Duck Housing Guide

 

Duck Housing Guide

Unlike poultry housing, duck housing is less expensive. They can be made from simple materials. Nevertheless, there are still a few significant points that you need to consider in terms of duck housing. First of all, ducks need protection against predators. Even if you have domesticated a duck, this does not mean that it is already safe. Dogs, cats, and even rodents can act as predators. So, the whole housing must be predator-proof. It must be made from simple yet sturdy materials such as wood and bamboo. Then, the housing must also provide protection from harsh weather conditions. Even if they are covered with thick feathers, they still need to be protected from extreme cold or heavy rains.

However, it is not ideal to raise ducks in cages often. If you have a duck, you must also let it loose once in a while. You can let it run around your backyard or swim in the pool. Just make sure that you bring it back to its cage when you sense predators coming. Then again, if roaming around is totally not possible, you can make the duck housing bigger instead. Allot enough space for it to eat, clean up, and socialize. You must avoid keeping it in a cramped cage. This will prevent it from flapping its wings and moving around. Ducklings need half a square foot of floor space during their first week, one square foot during the next, and three square foot during the third week and onwards.

The floor of the duck housing must also have appropriate bedding. This is to provide the duck with insulation and comfort. Some of the recommended materials for bedding are hay, fleece, and straw. You can also use strips of newspapers, but this should only be temporary. If the bedding becomes wet or moldy, it must be changed immediately. If it remains unchanged, it might cause health hazards to the duck. Moreover, wood chips and liter must not be used for bedding. These materials can present a choking hazard for the duck. Furthermore, you must make sure that the duck is kept warm. You can place a lamp with an infrared light bulb in its housing to provide heat.

How To Raise A Pet Duck Tips

How To Raise A Pet Duck Tips

To raise a pet duck is very enjoyable and really simple in contrast to other pets. You do not require so much to make it feel at home. These wonderful aquatic creatures are very pleasant and are usually fantastic attention seekers. Kids love ducks and can take a lot time being part of them or just gazing at them.

It's quite enjoyable possessing a duck as pet in your backyard, however you need some recommendations on raising ducks as pets. This creature life span can be as much as 10+ years and so they mature up after 7 months.

Actions On Raising A Pet Duck: 

Before you embark on buying a duck like a pet, it is great to hold out a thorough research. This is because you'll have to have so, much background information for the pet to develop. With analysis, you are in a position to determine the best duck breed. Normally duck are very social and so they need to be more that two to thrive nicely and be happy. So adopt greater than one. Ducks need 20% -22% of protein to grow up like a started feed during the first three weeks. 16%-18% when they are laying. 14%-16% once they aren't laying. This demands you to keep them in an air restricted to avoid contamination. Water is essential for life and ducks enjoys drinking water.

For raising a pet duck, you'll need a shallow dish exactly where the duck can reach for and drink from there and also swim in because they perform. Whenever your duck pet grows up you have to obtain a broad and harder plastic pool exactly where they are able to swim freely. Duck love clean drinking water hence its great if you replace water on a daily basis. The drinking water is required to clean meals down and also in cleaning the beak vent. The wading pool may be positioned inside your yard in which you believe you can see them nicely and where they are best suited.

Duck requires you provide them with enough meals for them to create noise. A caution is the fact that you should not overfeed them as this can make them have a bloated stomach and develop unhealthy. Raising duck pet demands you to have a cage with a warm covering around the bottom having a soft material or just a blanket. The space they live in there ought to be available supply of warmth for them to rest sound with no tension. A nesting house is required especially during winter for duck pet mothers. Ensure the location is secure. The residing area should be large enough space and not a cramp area, a place in which you pet duck can freely, flap their wings. For the pet ducks which have developed large they don't need a cage.

Ducks are naturally suited within their all-natural environment. But the reality is that as a pet duck owner you have to be very accountable whilst raising your pet duck. The key is giving it comfortable surrounding like its natural habitat, feed it well and be friendly, the pet is under your care.

Feeding Baby Ducks Effectively

Feeding Baby Ducks Effectively

Books on raising ducks have stressed the importance of a judicious feeding system in the overall health of poultry. If you're raising ducks for profit, know that your ducks' overall health has a direct influence on the profitability of your business. This means that if you want to rake in the profits, you'll have to learn about feeding baby ducks properly.

Basic Feeding

In feeding baby ducks, you have to take into consideration the quantity as well as the quality of the food. You have to give what has the power to produce the largest amount of flesh and the leanest kind of meat. When these are attained, you can bet on your fowl business - no pun intended - to become ludicrous in no time at all. It's not hard to find duck foods that can be bought in bulk and are of the highest quality. However, after you have accomplished this, you have to take into account the consequences that follow.

Common Problems

Fat hens are at high risk for a variety of diseases. Aside from this, they also cease to lay, prompting production to come to a halt - and your money to go down the drain. Fat drakes, meanwhile, usually become lazy enough to mate and do anything else. They are known to get apoplexy attacks and drop dead. These problems in feeding baby ducks can cause you your entire business. So, how do you avoid them?

Tried and Tested Solutions

It is imperative that you include unmedicated chick starter as well as unmedicated chicken grower feed when you're in the early stage of feeding baby ducks. This way, they can get the nutrition they need without growing fat to the point of becoming useless, and stay safe from potentially fatal diseases. You must also include lots of water into their diet. Just make sure that the brooder litter stays dry and that the ducklings have no way of falling into the water container.

Weaning Means

When they mature, you'll have to go about feeding baby ducks using chicken grower pellet feed, corn-grain scratch feed, and insoluble poultry feed. Customize your feeding schedule according to the habits of your ducklings, and switch to more protein-rich feeds once they turn into ducks.