 |
| Housing | | Feed |
| Health | | Daylight Requirement |
| Management | | Record |
Introduction
Rearing ducks is not as difficult as rearing chickens. In fact
the ducks possessed a higher survival rate and are not prone to disease attacks. The
method of rearing and management of layer ducks are easier and varies slightly from those
of chickens.
Breed Selection
Selecting a good breed is the main factor in ensuring good egg
production. Only ducklings from good farm producers or from accredited hatcheries
should be purchased for this purpose
Characteristics for good layer duck
High survival rate
Free from any deformity
High egg production (around 260 to 300 eggs per year)
Produce good quality eggs:
(i) Weight between 65 to 75 gm per egg
(ii) Hard shelled eggs
(iii) Golden egg yolk
Average body size. Bodyweight during lay (between 1.3 - 1.8 kg.)
Broad pelvic bone
Most suitable layer ducks are the crossbreds from Khaki Campbell from
Thailand, Taiwan and Australia.
Khaki
Campbell
Housing and Equipment
Housing for layer duck should have the following criteria:
Good ventilation. Good ventilation helps to dry up the moisture
content and also remove ammonia gas from the duck faeces
The size of the house should be suitable to the total number of ducks
reared. Do not build the house that is too small or too big. The space area
for an adult duck should be 3 to 4 square feet.
The roof of the hose should be more than 3 feet from the floor level
and several doors be installed facing towards the opened areas. The purpose of the
doors is to ensure that the ducks are enclosed in the house during the night so that they
are safe from enemies and at the same time the eggs are not lay indiscriminately which
cause the eggs to be dirty or lost.
The design of the duck house should be suitable for the farmers to
move around like washing, treating and collection of eggs.
Equipments
Amongst artificial brooder are hover, infrared, high voltage bulb,
kerosene lamps
Feeding and drinking troughs
Laying boxes
Egg trays, pails, spades for mixing feed etc.
Feed
An important factor to ensure successful production of the project is
feed. Feed is an important factor in controlling satisfactory profit. From the
economic point of view, feed will determine the cost of production. As a result the
farmers must be smart in evaluating different kinds of feed to save cost in managing the
project.
There are 2 types of feed suitable for layer duck
Commercial feed
Self mixed feed
1.Commercial Feed
Commercial feed is manufactured from feedmills whereby the feed
contained essential nutritious food values and vitamins that are formulated according to
age and species of the animal.
-
2. Self-Mixed Feed
One formulated feed which contains all the necessary vitamins that is
easily available can be self mixed for the good production and health of the duck. The
ingredient are:
Broken rice, padi grain, fish meal, prawn meal, soya bean meal, layer premix vitamins and
minerals, grounded limestones, corn, synthetics pigments and others.
Estimated Feed requirement for a layer duck
Age
For a layer duck controlling the feed intake is necessary when they are
7 weeks old. Controlling the feed can be observed by looking at the bodyweight and
for a layer duck that begin to lay, the feed intake should be around 1.3 kg - 1.75 kg.
(for Campbell Duck the maximum weight is 1.9 kg )
Health and Disease Control
Duck can succumbed to disease. Prevention is necessary to prevent
ducks from getting infectious diseases and the followings should be observed:
Always keep the farm clean
Give fresh quality feed without any moulds
Supply fresh water. Water mixed with 'anti-stress' should be
given to 1 to 3 days old ducklings
Those duckling that signs of sickness should be isolated and treated
or culled
The housing sheds should be sprayed with disinfectants such as lysol
or lindoress before the arrival of the new ducklings
Notify the Veterinary Department if there are any signs of diseases
Daylight Requirement
Daylight is an important aspect in the management of layer duck.
Daylight can be obtained from natural sunlight or additional light from electrical bulbs
or kerosene lamps.
2 aspect why light intensity is important at night
To brighten up the whole shed to avoid the ducklings from unnecessary
fright against foreign objects or noise at night
To speed up and increase egg production
Layer duck above 20 weeks require not less 16 hours of continuous
light. In view of the fact that only 12 hours of daylight is available, it is
suggested that an additional supply of another 3 - 4 hours of light must be obtained from
lamps in the sheds
Daylight intensity/electric bulbs of 250 watts/1000 square feet
The distance between the floor and the electric lamp should be 7 feet
If necessary the farmer can use a time switch for easy management
Management
Efficiency in the management of duck rearing is an important aspect in
determining maximum profit with minimum cost of production. The following
aspects in the management are:
Preparation before the arrival of the new ducklings
Rearing the ducklings in the brooder
Managing the growers
Managing the layers
Get ready the hover guard and artificial brooder (3 meter in diameter
will accommodate 500 ducklings)
Place some sawdust /padi husk into the brooder guard to a depth of 3
-4 inches
Supply with water and put on the heater 2 - 3 hours before the
ducklings arrive
The duckling should first be given with water. After 1/2 an
hour, feed is then given
The brooding period is 20 - 25 days. Adjust the heater by
observing the concentration of the ducklings around the heater. If the heater is too
hot the ducklings will stay far away from the heater. If it is cold the ducklings
will crowd around the heater. The ducklings will be evenly distributed if the
temperature of the brooder is ideal
Give the duckling anti-stress for 3 days
Give crumble starter feed ad lib
The brooder guard should be enlarged according to the size of the
ducklings and increase the number of feeding and water troughs if necessary
Ensure the flooring materials are always dried and evenly distributed
Managing the Growers
Remove the heater and brooder guard
Change into bigger feeding and water trough
Flooring material (sawdust) should always be dried
Give grower pellet feed or used mixed feed which should contained 16%
protein and energy 2500-2800 kcal
Weigh 2 - 3 ducks from each group to check their weights
Ducks whose age exceed 7 weeks old need to control the amount of feed
so that they are not too fat until they cannot lay
Managing the Layers
Ducks start to lay when they are 20 to 22 weeks
Give layer pellet feed. If used mixed feed, ensure it contained
2600 - 2900 k/cal
This feed must begin when the ducks are 16 weeks or 4 - 5 weeks
before they start to lay
Give feed according to correct measurement ( 150 - 170 gm ) per day
per bird
Other additional feed such as grass and vegetables can be mixed
together
To ensure good quality eggs, coloring ingredient Synthetic Pigment
can be added into feed (100 gm SP + 100 kg of self mixed feed)
Place the layer boxes ( 1 box = 5 ducks )
Keep the ducks within compound so that so that they won't lay
all over the compound.
Collect the eggs in the morning before feed is given
Check the necessary amount of light according to age
Products
The products that can be obtained by keeping layer ducks are:
Fresh Duck Egg
Can be sold to wholesalers, retailers, or individuals for making local
cakes. The eggs are graded according to the yellow contents of the eggs. This
can be observed by using a color instrument (Kipas Roche). Good quality eggs sold in
the market measured between 13.6 - 15.0.
Salted Eggs
Salted eggs are preserved eggs meant for consumption or storage.
The price of salted eggs is much better than the fresh ones. The method of preserving duck eggs had being explained in "
Guideline In Processing Salted Duck Eggs"
Record Management
Keeping records is important. Recording is one of the important
aspects in establishing a good management system. It also assists us in evaluating a
given project whether it is profitable or not. Besides records it also give us a
clearer picture so that we can do the planning for future
There are 2 types of record:
Rearing/Management record
Financial Record
Ducklings
& Goslings - MO
Ducks
of the World
Ducks
informations
Muscovy
Cayuga
Crested
Khaki Campbell
Pekin
Pommeranian
Duck Rouen
Runner2008–09 Cowdenbeath F.C. season

During the 2008–09 season Cowdenbeath competed in the Scottish Third Division, Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and the Challenge Cup.
Summary.
Cowdenbeath finished second in the Third Division, entering the play-offs losing 5–4 on penalties to Stenhousemuir