Peculiarities of the breed of Peking duck and the subtleties of its breeding on private farmsteads

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videoduck. While the first information about this breed appeared three centuries ago, and the bird was imported to Europe in the nineteenth century, the ducks of Peking origin still compete with the newest meat crosses.

What is the secret of such popularity? How to keep Peking duck at home, and how profitable breeding of this breed?

Description of the Peking Duck Breed

In the USSR, Peking Duck was one of the most common. Today, in large farms, they are gradually giving way to highly productive breeds and crosses, but individuals of the Peking breed are still used as parent stock.

These birds are still unsurpassed in the rate of weight gain, endurance and unpretentiousness. Peking ducks can be easily maintained in any climatic conditions, they are not afraid of the cold.

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Already in one and a half months, ducklings weigh 2.3–3 kg each, and a commodity carcass can be obtained in record four months, when the weight of a duck reaches 4 kg. For a year, the hen gives from 80 to 120 eggs weighing about 90 grams. Peking duck meat is tender, juicy, and its output in relation to the slaughter weight reaches 70%.

Peculiarities of keeping and breeding Peking ducks

Intensive fattening allows you to get excellent meat products 60 days after the ducklings are born. However, when breeding Peking ducks at home, slaughter is performed somewhat later. Experienced poultry farmers advise not to overdo it. There are several reasons for this. After 70 days of life, ducks begin to molt, which:

  • slows their growth;
  • dramatically increases feed consumption;
  • complicates the removal of plumage from carcasses after slaughter.
Read also: Choosing for yourself geese from the Tula breed

And with an incorrectly chosen diet such birds can gain not muscle mass, but fat. As a result, the economic benefit of keeping Peking ducks is markedly reduced.

Among the features about which the poultry farmer, who is going to start breeding birds of this productive meat breed, needs to be aware, heightened nervousness and duct excitability. In addition, they are not very good chickens, so the eggs "peking" enclose under the hens of other breeds or lay in the incubators.

Representatives of the Peking breed will seem great to those who have had experience in serving indoutok, but they do not differ in cleanliness.

Breeding ducks at home

What features of the content is still? How to care for ducks of Peking breed in a private compound?

For beginners, the Peking ducks are bred at home due to the acquisition of day-old stock and the future residence of the livestock. It is better if the chicks support and care for the hen. This removes a lot of problems from the poultry farmer. If this is not possible, ducklings are settled in a room where the temperature must be maintained at 28–30 ° C.Heating inside the brooder is supported by special lamps, heating pads or other methods safe for the bird. During the first two weeks of life, the temperature in the house is gradually brought to normal, room, and the need for additional heating is eliminated.

In order for the fast-growing chicks to not feel constrained, you should not settle more than 15 ducklings per square meter. At the same time, the poultry farmer must constantly monitor the sanitary condition of the premises, the level of humidity, light and ventilation, as well as the appearance of the bird. Ducklings with signs of ill health, lethargic, refusing to eat or disheveled, should be immediately sown from the rest of the herd.

Attention to feeding Peking ducks from the very first hours of life should be maximal. The first meal is waiting for the kids when they dry out a bit.

At this time, the ducklings are fed with wet finely divided grain mash, porridges, and low-fat cottage cheese. The bird is given fermented milk products, chopped hard-boiled egg. A few days later in the diet of Peking ducks include juicy greens. This may be:

  • scalded nettle;
  • dandelions;
  • clover;
  • Alfalfa;
  • garden pea greens.

Ducks are very fond of cabbage leaves, carrot tops. To ensure the nutritional value of food in the feed, you can add a little boiled crushed potatoes.

And to meet the need for minerals ducklings offer:


  • chalk;
  • sifted wood ash;
  • shredded shells.
See also: Symptoms of diseases of laying hens and their treatment rules

Little by little in the menu include table salt, shells and gravel. Up to one and a half weeks, ducklings are fed six times a day, flavoring the mash with sour milk, fish or meat broth. Gradually, the number of feedings is reduced to four. And from one month of age the bird is released to a safe reservoir, where Peking ducks not only swim with pleasure, but also perfectly obtain food in the form of aquatic vegetation, small crustaceans and insects, mollusks and worms, as well as young fish of local fish.

Despite the naturally high growth rate, Peking ducks, like other related waterfowl, have rather short intestines. This speeds up the passage of food and determines the high intensity of metabolism. In order for the bird to consistently gain weight, it must be fed often and satisfyingly.

Read also: Original business - breeding pheasants

Digestion of grain feed lasts about four hours, and wet mixtures are processed in just three. To get good quality meat, it is important to provide balanced feed, rich in both carbohydrates to maintain the body's energy supply, and proteins for building muscle. Here fish and meat meal are indispensable, and if possible, ducks give minced fish, ground meat and heat treated meat products.

The composition of the diet also includes mineral supplements that are responsible for the replenishment of the body with trace elements, and especially calcium, as well as vitamins.

These include crushed shell and chalk. To improve the digestion of roughage, fine gravel is poured into individual feeders. We must not forget about the needs of birds in clean drinking water.

For bathing birds near the house, separately install water tanks or give the herd access to a reservoir with a safe descent.

Ducks love green succulent plants. Both aquatic vegetation and garden crops are introduced into the summer menu. When breeding Peking ducks at home, you can use boiled potatoes, sugar beets, carrots, and other root vegetables. They give soaked bread to the bird and add yeast rich in vitamins of group B.

The presence of a reservoir nearby when breeding Peking ducks helps to save a significant amount of feed. However, it is not possible to completely disclaim responsibility for feeding the poultry farmer. Only when the rules for keeping and caring for the bird are observed, Peking ducks show truly outstanding results and give the carcass of good fatness and quality.

Comparison of Peking Duck with Star-53 Breed - Video

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