LAYING DUCK BREEDING TECHNIQUES IMPROVE LIVESTOCK PRODUCTIVITY BY 20%.

Raising commercial egg-laying ducks is one of many types of livestock farming that is developing, bringing high economic efficiency and is being widely replicated in localities. However, raising egg-laying ducks at this stage requires farmers to have experience as well as know how to apply science and technology to actual production. This article will provide detailed instructions on techniques for raising egg-laying ducks to improve livestock productivity by 20%.

Commercial value of egg-laying ducks

Fresh duck eggs are chosen by consumers to prepare a variety of daily meals because they are easy to preserve, quick to process, have reasonable prices and ensure nutritional needs. Duck eggs provide Omega 3 to help increase anti-inflammatory ability, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, in addition, duck eggs also contain high levels of protein, vitamins A, D, E, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, etc.

Thanks to the nutritional value that duck eggs bring to human health, the commercial value of egg-laying ducks is also enhanced and brings economic benefits to many farming households. To be able to manage the quality of egg sources, it is necessary to understand the techniques of raising laying ducks, requiring farmers to have experience as well as know how to apply science and technology to actual production. This article will guide you through the techniques of raising laying ducks to help improve livestock productivity by 20%.

Commercial duck farming techniques

Focus on 5 technical solutions for raising laying ducks:

• Solution 1: Building barns
• Solution 2: Selecting breeds
• Solution 3: Feeding program
• Solution 4: Care management
• Solution 5: Biosecurity – Veterinary

With the goal:

• Optimizing barns
• Selecting breeds with the best productivity
• Building an optimal feeding program
• Applying care processes according to each stage of duck development
• Minimizing disease and reducing veterinary medicine costs

Solution 1: Building barns

Building barns needs to meet a number of purposes:

• Cost savings: Building a barn needs to ensure cost optimization
• Environmental suitability: The barn also needs to ensure suitability with terrain, land, and pond conditions.
• Choosing a farm model: Depending on the scale and financial resources, the farm owner chooses to build a solid or simple farm depending on the area of land or pond.
• Convenient transportation: The farm design must ensure convenience for transportation, electricity, and water.

Building a barn must meet a number of requirements:

• Ensure ventilation: Building a farm must ensure that the farm is always airy in the summer.
• Ensure enough warmth: When building a farm, it is also necessary to ensure that it is always warm in the winter.
• Convenient sanitation: The farm design must ensure easy cleaning and disinfection after each batch of livestock.

2 POPULAR FARM MODELS TODAY:

Barn, shelter model	Images	Advantages	Disadvantages
Closed barn model	Often applied in raising parent ducks and high-yield ducks for eggs	Easy to manage the diseases Proactively control the microclimate of the barn ​Achieve high livestock productivity Clean eggs	High initial investment cost
Open barn model	Livestock farming type: Raising in riverbanks, ponds and lakes	Low investment cost, simple construction Easy to apply to different waterfowl farming and to many localities Traditional farming style: familiar, easy to raise	Difficult to control the farming environment Unstable productivity Ducks are susceptible to diseases and complicated to treat
	Farming type Cages	Low investment cost, simple construction No required large land fund Suitable for many localities without ponds	Difficult to control the microclimate of the cages Difficult in cleaning and disinfection
	Farming type: Free range ducks	Take advantage of available natural food sources No cost of duck burn Familiar, easy to raise	Difficult to control diseases Dirty and infected eggs Poor productivity

Solution 2: Selecting breeds

Breeds are a very important factor in raising ducks because the quality of the breed and the type of breed will affect the egg productivity of laying ducks, so choosing the breed of duck to raise is extremely important in raising techniques.

SOME MAIN DUCK BREEDS RAISED FOR EGGING TODAY

Duck Breed	Image	Productivity
CO DUCK		Starts laying at 140 days old. Egg yield: 200 – 225 eggs/hen/year. Egg weight: 64 – 65 g/egg. Eggs have a high fertilization rate.
MOC DUCK		Begins laying at 140 days old. Lays about 90 eggs over 25 weeks. Egg weight: 55 g/egg.
KHAKI CAMBEL DUCK		Starts laying at 140 – 145 days old. Average egg production: 260 – 300 eggs/hen/year, with some flocks reaching up to 320 eggs/hen/year.\ Egg weight: 65 – 70 g/egg.
CV 200 LAYER DUCK		Starts laying at 140 – 150 days old. Egg yield: 280 – 300 eggs/hen/year. Body weight at laying onset: 1.8 – 2.0 kg. Egg weight: 70 – 75 g/egg.
SUPER LAYER DUCK		Starts laying after more than 3 months. Egg yield: >280 eggs/year. Egg weight: 67 – 69 g/egg. Average body weight: 1.4 – 1.5 kg/bird.

Solution 3: Feeding program

During the care and feeding process for breeding ducks, a quantitative feeding regimen must be implemented to control body weight according to standards to ensure uniformity of the flock, not too fat or too thin, so that the ability to reproduce later will give high productivity.

Age	Nutritional Needs	Suitable Foods
Ducklings 1-125 days old	Physical condition
Ducks Lay Eggs	Development and Sexual Maturity
Laying Ducks	Lay Super Meat Eggs

Solution 4: Management and care

Steps of management and care of laying ducks:

• Step 1: management and care of laying ducks during the brooding stage
• Step 2: management and care of laying ducks during the duckling stage
• Step 3: management and care of laying ducks during the duckling stage

Stage	Image	Condition
Duck brooding		Uniformity of ducklings Good growth rate Fast feather growth and moulting rate Avoid stress factors for ducklings Ducks eat a lot and grow well Limit diseases from the rearing environment
Duck laying eggs		During this period, farmers mainly graze in fields combined with feeding rice Use additional food to help ducks develop well physically and ovaries Do not bring reserve ducks into areas with polluted water sources
Laying duck		When the duck lays the first egg increase the duck’s ration by 5% when the duck lays 10%, increase the ration by 10% and when the duck lays 30%, then feed freely Feed the duck twice a day, ensuring the amount of food is 140 – 160 g/duck/day Feed the duck more in the afternoon to make the egg-laying process more effective Ensure a clean water source for the ducks Increase the lighting time for the ducks by 1 hour each day until it reaches 18 hours/day Use continuous light (do not use fluorescent lamps) and appropriate light intensity to avoid stress for the ducks. Periodically supplement Calcium and Phosphorus, and periodically supplement antibiotics (Tetracycline or Amoxylin…) to prevent diseases for ducks Avoid using antibiotics containing Sulfamide because it causes reduced egg laying

Solution 5: Biosecurity – Veterinary

Although ducks are considered to be the most adaptable animals to external conditions and can withstand some disadvantages of the living environment, they are still often attacked by some diseases, causing serious damage.Therefore, duck farmers need to do a good job of veterinary hygiene and disease prevention to ensure the safety of their flocks and the effectiveness of the investment process.

3 LEVELS OF DISEASE PREVENTION MEASURES

Level 1: Biosecurity Program

Level 2: Stress Reduction

Level 3: Vaccines – Medicines

Notes to control pathogens:

• Feed ducks with specialized feeding troughs to avoid food loss and pathogens
• Regularly disinfect the breeding area and especially the duck grazing area
• Avoid letting ducks come into contact with water sources contaminated with pathogens
• Periodically supplement broad-spectrum antibiotics for ducks. Do not sell eggs to the market during the period of antibiotic use
• Vaccinate ducks for cholera and influenza periodically according to the vaccination program.

Conclusion:

It can be said that raising ducks for eggs is a direction with a lot of potential and advantages, helping farmers increase their income, reduce poverty and many households have become rich from this livestock. Therefore, in addition to practical production experience, it is necessary to clearly understand the 5 key methods and fully apply technical processes for safe, effective and sustainable livestock farming.