Duck Farming

Duck farming is not a recent method of farming. From the very beginning of human civilization, duck farming is being exercised in almost all wet land areas. In the past times people raised duck to meet up their demand of meat and egg. At that time normally duck were cultivated in a small quantity. Duck egg and duck meat are very testy and nutritious, and that’s why duck farming has achieved a huge demand in present time.

Breeds of Ducks

There are a lot of known and unknown breeds of ducks around the world. Some of them are pet duck and some are wild duck. For this reason it is very difficult to say the exact number of duck breeds in the world. Till now 66 duck breeds have been officially recognized. Some of them are famous for egg and some are for meat. All breeds of ducks are not common to the farmers or general people. The most common duck breeds are –

Khaki Campbell

• American Pekin Duck
• Call Duck
• Cayuga Duck
• Indian Runner Duck
• Khaki Campbell
• Magpie Duck
• Muscovy Duck
• Rouen Duck

Why Duck Farming?

Duck is one type of bird, which is very much pet in nature. In the past times, basically the housewives raised ducks. They used the wasted foods of the family members to feed the ducks. They raised those ducks to meet up the egg and meat demand of their family. But from last few decades commercial duck farming has been started. Duck farming is now considered under poultry business.

There are two main reasons for this massive duck farming. One is for food value, and another is for the testiness. Duck is a great source of protein. We get egg and meat from duck which are highly nutritious. On the other hand, duck egg and duck meat are much more testy than the other poultry products.

Duck Farming Process

Duck Farm (Outside View)

Duck farming is not as like as the normal poultry farming. As ducks prefer to live in water, a special type of housing is needed for duck rearing. A duck farm needs to be situated beside a pond. The duck house has nothing special. It is almost similar as a poultry farm. But the main thing is that the door of the duck house must have to be faced to the pond, and a certain area need to be surrounded by net or fence. The surrounded area starts from the door of the duck house, cover the pond side and goes into the water also. This special patterned farm is needed so that duck can go to the water directly in day time and come back to house at night.

Duck Farm (Inside View)

Duck farms can be divided into two types according to the purpose of duck farming. One is duck farming for meat, and the other one is duck farming for both egg and meat. Simply that means male duck (drake) farm and female duck (duck) farm. For the male duck, they become ready for sale in 3-4 months. But if the farmer keeps them for 5-6 months the ducks get more weight and bring more profit. For the female duck it takes 9-10 months to get ready for giving egg.

Lifespan of Ducks

Lifespan of a duck depends on its breed. Some of the duck breeds like Mallard, lives around 20 years in average. But all the duck breeds don’t exist so longer. The average lifespan of a duck is 10 years. A female duck starts giving egg when they are 9-12 months. They give egg almost all the life long, but the rate doesn’t remain constant. After starting giving egg, generally 2 to 3 year is the golden time for giving egg.

Benefits of Duck Farming

• The big benefit of duck farming is the low food cost. Duck takes less food than the other poultry products. Ducks stay in water in day time and collect food from there.
• High demand of duck meat is another great benefit of duck farming. Duck meat is highly nutritious as well as testy. That’s why demand for duck meat is always high.
• High price of duck meat.
• Huge demand for duck egg.
• High price of duck egg.
• Duck is heavily domestic.