Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
More information about our Cookie Policy. Prev Article Next Article. Muscovy ducks are prized for their dark, flavorful meat and ability to raise their own young. Ducklings are hard to resist! This Mallard duck is enjoying the pastured life. Most duck eggs are white, but some have a slight tint of green. Khaki Campbell ducks are one of the best laying breeds.
Raising ducks for meat is a good way to provide your own sustainable source of meat. Ducklings may go outside with supervision on warm days. Grow a Garden for Your Chickens! Opt in to receive news and updates. Thank you! You have successfully joined our subscriber list. Tags: ducklings , ducks. Kathryn D Strickland. Lisa Lombardo. Maria Zannini. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible.
Strictly Necessary Cookies Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. If you are going to free range them and sell them with that label, there are both requirements to consider as well as the specific land you will choose.
Free ranging feed requirements will vary with the productiveness of the land you start on, and with good management, will improve your bottom line over time, but you need to factor in feed costs based on the land's capabilities to produce forage.
Thanks for the link Swamp, that article has really given me a good jumping off point. JStark: If I were to actually put this project in practice you advice would be really helpful. For this feasibility study though, the teacher has already told us that we can assume that the property we pick out is ideal to our needs and he doesn't need to know the specifics in that department. This is really more of a financial awareness and accounting project than anything else, so those are the areas he wants to see details.
Otherwise, we can make up our numbers and conditions as long as they are reasonable. We don't even have to prove that the business will be successful, we just have to do a 5-year projection and then write about why or why wasn't it successful.
Very cool. I would include, projected two years, the improved soil conditions and their subsequent cost savings on feed. Even the ideal land will be improved for duck production, if handled properly, because they eat lots of greens, as well as other greens-eating competition slugs and their ilk , while providing nitrogen content back to the soil. It's important for economists and businessfolks to understand the economic benefits to sustainable agriculture and proper management of dynamic systems, and not see them merely as a nice side benefit or surprise.
That sounds like a well-wrought project, and a fun one! RavenStorm, This is a 63 page document with the accounting aspects discussed in the appendices. I wonder what a larger duck egg balut would bring? Oct 1, 2, 33 Northern Colorado. I am not sure how much work Joel Salatin has done with water fowl, but he sure knows pasutured chickens, pigs and cattle. I think he would be worth a look. I beleive he is quite approachable as well. I did not look up the spelling of the name but I am reasonably sure that is the correct spelling.
I beleive he is in Virginia. Mar 28, 2, 28 Central NC. Quote: Sorry but ducks are not Nitrogen producers every bit of Nitrogen in their poop either came from the land or from the purchased feed! If you plant your acres in clover,legunes or other plants that fix Nitrogen from the air then the ducks will love that green feed and pass it in their poop but you could get the same effect by plowing the green manure crops under.
Post reply. Insert quotes…. They will require safety from predators and inclement weather. A variety of methods can be used to protect the birds such as the chicken tractor, range shelter, or herding them into a barn at night. I have personally used all three methods and each is equally effective. Select the one that best fits your situation and have it ready for use prior to moving the ducklings on range. Ducks are voracious and sloppy consumers of feed and water.
Keeping them in clean water can be a chore. In contrast to folklore, they do not need a pond, lake or creek in which to swim but if they do, so much the better! Just be aware that they can create a lot of mess, feathers, and manure. As the ducklings grow, they become increasingly noisy. Keep them well away from the neighbors. Ducks enjoy tender, green grass, clover, insects, and weeds. Your range may need to be mowed to a height of four to eight inches of growth for optimum results from pasture.
Ducks should be raised to about age eight or nine weeks. The meat is much more tender than that of older birds. Have your birds ready for market from Labor Day until Christmas as your facilities, time and labor warrant. When it comes to raising geese, most purveyors of this delightful fall product purchase day-old goslings from a reputable hatchery and raise them to market size some 14 weeks later.
Goslings are brooded in the same manner as ducklings described above. What about the appropriate size of a duck coop? Ducks need as much space as possible to forage for food. Some farmers who provide extra feed and water to their free-range ducks raise about per acre. So long as your free-range ducks have enough feed and water, space is not as much of an issue. But what determines how much space your ducks will need and how can you harness the space you have for your ducks?
Free-range ducks are ducks that you allow to search for their food from the land. Ducks eat a variety of food but should be given extra feed especially if you are raising them for egg production, fast production of meat, or as pets. Many farmers raise ducks per acre. You can only care for this amount of ducks when you provide extra feed, water, and care. If you want to raise your ducks to feed mostly on what they can find, you will need a much lower ratio of ducks per acre.
The amount of feed present in a land determines how big the land should be. If your ducks do not have to walk long a distance to search for food, you can have more ducks on your land. The more feed available, the more ducks you can have on your land. You should consider giving your ducks some feed supplements to bolster their foraging. Some breeds are larger than other breeds. Some breeds are more active and eat more than other breeds.
If you have a breed such as the White Pekin duck that is very active, you will need more space for them.
0コメント