What to feed a baby mallard duck

Contents:

• 1

  Features of wild ducks

• 2

  How to keep

• 3

  Feeding wild birds

  310 .900

• 4

  Birds love to swim

• 5

  Additional recommendations

• 6

  Video “Wild Bird Drilling”

Features of wild ducks

Wild ducks do not need special conditions of detention. They do not need to be fed any specific food. There is no need for additional heating of the house, there is no need to arrange special cages. In addition, you do not need to purchase an incubator. This makes raising birds easy even for beginners.

As shown by numerous videos, wild ducks can live both in winter and in summer in a simple brick shed. For full-fledged breeding, you will need to design a special corral, enclosing it with a net. Ducks are able to easily endure low temperatures, coping well with adverse conditions.

The summer period can be called the bathing season. Ducks at this time try to spend as much time as possible in the water, to swim.

Birds require the same amount of water in both winter and summer. Poultry farmers will need to ensure that the drinker is constantly filled. In addition, the water must be fresh. In the summer, greens and small fish should be added to the duck's diet.

Keeping wild birds in bad or hot weather may require the construction of a special shelter. Under it, ducks can hide from the sun or rain.

With the onset of warm weather, females begin to build nests and incubate eggs. Little ducklings hatch into the light. Wild birds are considered magnificent mothers. They are excellent at incubating eggs.

The drake also takes an active part in the upbringing of ducklings. He is next to the offspring, guarding him. You should know that on the 70th day the drake begins to molt. Therefore, it must be sent to the slaughter earlier. Otherwise, it will be difficult to pluck it.

The video will show what wild ducklings look like when they live at home.

How to properly care for

Experts in numerous videos say that ducklings need warmth. Breeding chicks at home, it is required to equip the house with special equipment.

You can use some tricks:

1. You can construct a wooden box by placing it on the racks.
2. The inside must be lined with foam.
3. Place a container filled with hot water in the drawer. Volume - 10 liters. From above, the box should be covered with a blanket or pillow to provide thermal insulation.
4. Cut a hole in the side wall through which the ducklings can get to the heating pad.

This design is able to retain heat for 8 hours. In the first 7 days of the life of young chicks, a high temperature (28-30 degrees) should be maintained on the floor. After two weeks, the level must be reduced to 22 degrees. In three - to 16.

As numerous videos show, the easiest time to take care of baby ducklings is during the spring months. For a duck, it is enough to enclose a space in the yard. The main thing is to make sure that the chicks are protected from drafts.

Important! The room with young birds should be constantly lit. This will help the birds get used to the new conditions and environment. Subsequently, it will be possible to reduce daylight hours.

Wild ducklings are not indifferent to water. Numerous videos serve as excellent proof of this. However, experts do not recommend letting them into water bodies until they are 20 days old. If the chicks start swimming in cold water, they can catch a cold. Therefore, it is enough to put a container of water in the duckling.

Feeding wild birds

Ducklings should be fed once every two hours until they are 5 days old. Boiled and chopped eggs mixed with millet or barley grain should be added to the diet. It is also recommended to include greens (nettle, dandelion, clover) in the diet without fail.

As shown by numerous videos, birds love to eat mash, which is based on fermented milk products. Fish oil can be included in such food.

An approximate ration for a duck should be as follows:

1. Grain in ground form (20%).
2. Wheat bran (10%).
3. Various legumes (10%).
4. Cake (7%).
5. Half of the diet should consist of greens.
6. The rest of the diet falls on chalk, salt, shells.

As soon as the duckling is one month old, it is recommended to feed it three times a day. Experts in numerous videos recommend including potato or carrot tops, food waste in the diet. A real delicacy is duckweed and other vegetation growing in open water.

What should birds not eat?

Do not add sour food to the diet of ducklings. This is bad for their digestion. Experts in numerous videos claim that it is not recommended to feed waterfowl with bread. The greatest danger is the black edge, which can cause fermentation processes in the gastrointestinal tract of the duckling.

Birds love to swim

Raising a wild duck at home means that it must be released into the water. It is recommended to do this after the age of the chick exceeds the three-week mark. At first, they should swim no more than 3 hours a day. As soon as four weeks old, you can allow ducklings to swim at least a day and a half.

It is necessary to teach the duckling to return home from the pond on its own. To do this, you need to feed him regularly in the evening. The young will understand that food awaits at a certain time. The task can be simplified if an adult bird swims with ducklings.

Additional recommendations

Quite often, wild ducks are bred for meat. In this case, it is important not only to send them to the slaughter in time, but also to know how to pluck. There are many methods. However, you need to know some nuances.

Birds can be plucked hot. However, there is a high probability of discoloration of the meat. Therefore, after this method, it is better to cook the bird immediately, and not store it. If you plan to keep the meat in the refrigerator for a while, you can pluck the duck using the dry method.

If you decide to use the hot method, do not rush to remove the feathers immediately. Otherwise, you may damage your skin and burn your hands. Allow the bird to cool before plucking.

Video "Breeding wild birds"

The video will demonstrate what conditions it is possible to keep wild ducks.

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How to raise and feed wild ducklings at home?

Breeding birds can be profitable because of the valuable meat. Wild ducks take root well in captivity, not trying to leave the yard. They reproduce well, producing viable offspring.

If you feed wild individuals in the same way as domestic ducks, then the taste of their meat will change and will be no different from the meat of ordinary ducks.

Contents: Show

• What breeds are there?
• Details of maintenance
• Feeding
• Pond

What breeds exist?

The most common breeds of wild ducks are mallard, gray duck and pochard:

• Mallard is the most common breed. The weight of individuals can exceed 2 kg. Mallards are practically omnivorous, easily adapting to any habitat. A feature of the breed is that drake chicks hatch with more weight than females, and 13-15 hours after the birth of the first duckling, the family leaves the nest. At this age, the chicks already know how to swim and dive, which helps to escape from predators. When breeding mallards at home, it is desirable to have a pond where the birds can not only swim, but also forage on their own.
• Gray duck - due to its discreet color, it is well camouflaged in thickets of grass or reeds. Among breeders, the breed has gained popularity due to its unpretentiousness in food. The food of the gray duck is usually food of plant origin. Females and males can reach a weight of 1 kg and 1.3 kg, respectively. In summer, individuals shed heavily, so for some time they cannot fly.
• Red-headed pochard - the weight of individuals reaches 1.2 kg in the wild, while drakes and females weigh almost the same. With home maintenance and good feeding, weight may increase. Divers are excellent mother hens, so this breed will never have problems with hatching chicks.

In order to successfully breed a wild bird at home, it will need to create certain conditions. Tamed wild ducks can be used as decoys.

Details of maintenance

In winter, the birds will need a warm room with a walking area. An ordinary barn is suitable for living. If the ceiling and walls are well insulated in it, then additional heating is not required - wild ducks tolerate cold well.

In the summer, individuals do not need a house. A corral fenced with a metal mesh will be enough for them. The height of the fence should be at least 1.5 m. If there is a forest nearby, then it is necessary to completely close the corral with a net so that the birds do not become prey to predatory animals. Also inside you need to put a small house where the ducks could go in case of bad weather and at night.

Unlike adults, ducklings need warmth. A suitable design can be made by hand:

1. put a wooden box on the racks;
2. upholstered inside with styrofoam;
3. put a 10 l container filled with hot water into the drawer;
4. cover the entire structure with a blanket or a suitable pillow to keep warm;
5. cut a hole in the side wall through which the ducklings can sneak in and warm themselves.

Warmer drawer can hold heat for 8 hours.

The room with the chicks must be constantly lit so that they quickly get used to the new environment. As they grow older, the amount of daylight hours can be reduced. A prerequisite for keeping wild ducklings is the complete absence of drafts.

Feeding

The diet of chicks and adults differs significantly. As for young animals, the nuances of feeding depend on age. Very small, downy ducklings are given an egg - boiled and finely chopped. After a couple of days, you can introduce dry cottage cheese and crushed cereals. When the chick is a little feathered, he is offered coarser food - chopped grass, crushed grain.

After 10 days, young animals are given boiled potatoes, chopped greens. It is good to combine potatoes with other boiled vegetables. All food must be semi-dry, as the chick does not yet know how to clean its beak on its own after wet masses. Until the age of 5 days, young animals are fed every two hours. Then the intervals between feedings are increased, by the age of one month, bringing the schedule to three meals a day. Ducklings are transferred to an adult diet only after all their down has changed to feathers.

In winter, fresh grass becomes inaccessible to birds, they cannot catch duckweed or small fish in the pond. They need to make up for the lack of protein and vitamins. The main winter food is a mixture of cereals and legumes. Grain mixtures are given both in dry and soaked form. Part of the grain should be germinated, which will replace fresh grass for the birds.

Oats, which contain a large amount of amino acids and about 5% fat, are relevant for winter feeding. A versatile food is corn, especially the yellow-grain varieties, which are rich in vitamins. If wheat is used in the feed, it is recommended to choose one that is designed specifically for pets. Legumes, especially peas, are also suitable for a winter diet.

Many individuals are not able to swallow large peas whole, so they are crushed before feeding.

In summer, the emphasis is on plant and protein foods. If there is no natural reservoir on the farm where the duck can get natural protein, minced fish, bone meal, offal, small fish, fresh meat waste are added to the mash. Protein must be present in the diet daily. To improve digestion give gravel or sand.

Algae, duckweed, beet tops, chopped grass and vegetables (pumpkin, zucchini, various root crops) are offered as succulent feed. Extremely useful for wild ducks is kelp, the roots of aquatic and coastal plants. It is impossible to overfeed a wild bird, because even when kept at home, it eats less than ordinary ducks.

Fresh and clean water should always be present in the drinker. In summer, for disinfection, you can add a little potassium permanganate to the water - until the liquid turns slightly pink.

Brooding chicks is the best solution for beginner poultry farmers.

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