DUCK REARING

General Information

Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. The ducks are divided between several subfamilies listed in full in the Anatidae article. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, mostly smaller than their relatives the swans and geese, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Most ducks have a wide flat beak adapted for dredging. They exploit a variety of food sources such as grasses, aquatic plants, fish, insects, small amphibians, worms, and small molluses.

Ducks occupy an important position next to chicken farming in India. They form about 10% of the total poultry population and contribute about 6-7% of total eggs produced in the country. Ducks are mostly concentrated in the Eastern and Southern States of the country mainly coastal region with non-descriptive indigenous stocks, which however are poor layers. Ducks are comparatively harder than chicken and are easily manageable. They give economic production even during their second year of lay.

Breeds
Khaki campbell for egg production and White pekin for meat are the other popular breeds.

Origin of breeds
Khaki Campbell
Egg type parent stocks imported from U.K. These are prolific layers which can give up to 300 eggs per laying cycle. These birds are very much suitable for rural development programmes for sustainable economical development in rural areas. 

Among the egg laying breeds, Khaki Campbell is the best producer. Individual egg production of almost an egg a day in this breed for well over twelve months has been recorded and flock averages in excess of 300 eggs per duck per year are not uncommon. Khaki Campbell ducks weigh about 2 to 2.2 Kg and drakes 2.2 to 2.4 Kg. Egg weight varies from 65 to 75 gm.

    Khaki Campbell

White Pekin
Meat type imported from Vietnam, suitably adopted for Indian conditions. Pekins are known worldwide for their fast growth rate and good meat convertibility. White Pekin is the most popular duck in the world known for table purpose. It is fast growing and has low feed consumption with fine quality of meat. It attains about 2.2 to 2.5 Kg of body weight in 42 days of age, with a feed conversion ratio of 1:2.3 to 2.7 Kg.

   White Pekin

( Source: www.vuatkerala.org )