Duck blue favorite - breed description and cultivation

Today, many villagers breed ducks of various breeds, usually to get tender and delicious meat, as well as eggs, down and feathers. When choosing the breed for breeding, the vitality and resistance of the bird to diseases are important, how quickly it gains weight and, of course, how well its meat is by taste, and also what are the disadvantages and dignities. Every year the market offers consumers all new, improved by some parameters of the breed. Relatively recently, in the late 90s of the last century, a duck blue favorite appeared. Description and main characteristics of this breed are presented below.

When and where did it appear?

This breed of ducks was bred in Bashkortostan, on the breeding poultry farm Blagovarsky in 1998. The basis was taken white Peking duck, which for a long time was interbred and was selected. Originally it was used for industrial breeding, but thanks to the excellent "operational" characteristics of the breed, the blue favorite's duck is increasingly found in both farming and ordinary rural farmsteads. Adult individuals are large birds with a beautiful, bluish-smoky color of the feather, which can range from light to rather dark tones. This is not a marriage, and this division is related to the genetic characteristics of the breed.

Blue favorite - duck: description, photo

Thanks to their beautiful grayish-blue feathering, these ducks have received such a name. In addition, the adult bird of this breed is distinguished by a dense, "tightly knocked down" physique. She has an elongated, elongated body with a broad and not very bulging chest. A large head with a rather long and flat beak is located on the neck of medium length. As mentioned above, the blue duck breeds can have plumage of different colors, which determines the color of the massive paws and beak of the bird.

Characteristics

Recall that the diversity of breeds of domestic ducks in terms of productivity is divided into three main areas: meat, common (meat-egg) and egg. To the meat-type birds is the blue favorite duck. The description given by the breeders indicates that the birds of this breed are early and gain weight well. With a special fattening for two months, the drake can gain up to 3 kg. It is during this period that the bird consumes the greatest amount of food. In the future, the amount of food eaten by one individual decreases, and the growth becomes more even. The meat of such ducks is lean, which distinguishes it from such common breeds as Peking and Bashkir. Duck is a blue favorite, the owners' testimonials confirm this, it tolerates both heat and winter cold.

Productivity

Most poultry breeders consider the main advantage of the blue favorite to be a good weight gain and how quickly and easily they fatten. So, by the time of sexual maturity, at 24-26 weeks, the drake can weigh about five, and the duck - up to 4 kg.

Eggplant

At the age of five to six months, the duck's blue favorite begins to be carried. Description of the egg:

• The average weight is about 90 g;
• Pleasant, gentle and mild taste;
• In a season it is possible to receive from 100 to 150, and in a year - 220-250 pieces.

Features of maintenance and care

Important characteristic for poultry breeders is the blue duck favorite - its endurance and unpretentiousness. Unlike many other breeds, a normal corral is suitable for breeding such a bird, and it is not necessary to spend time and effort on the construction and special equipment of the chicken. The immunity of these ducks is strong, which allows them to adapt easily to different climatic conditions. The quality of meat and egg production are not affected by elevated or lower temperatures, except for extreme values.

Preparation of a place for young animals

Before buying young, it is necessary to prepare a room, working tools and a place for walking. Before you start chicks in the room where they live, you need to do a wet cleaning, as well as disinfect walls, equipment and inventory with a hot solution of 3% soda ash. The place intended for the walking of ducklings should be leveled and sprinkled with a layer of sand in 5 cm.

Cultivation of ducklings

Once you have purchased and brought home, be sure to water from the pipette with a very weak solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate), chicks blue breed (duck). Description, photo of ducklings you see below. Then the ducklings are placed in a warm room, with a temperature of +20 ⁰ C to +30 ⁰ C, a room near the heat source. For normal growth and development of the bird, lighting is necessary for 16 hours daily, for which purpose special lighting or ordinary lamps are used. Straw or hay can be used as a bedding for the young. How well the heating of the ducklings is properly organized can be judged by their behavior: if they are active and vigorous, they move or sit a lot, without shrinking "into a ball" - the temperature is quite normal. If it's too hot, then any young duck is a blue favorite, the cultivation of which you exercise, will show you your heavy breathing, very different from usual. If the chicks are cold, they will shout loudly, "hang out" in one place and crush each other.

How and how to feed?

It does not have a special pretentiousness or capriciousness in terms of food, the blue duck favorite. Feeding these birds will not be difficult, even for a novice poultry breeder. Ducklings are first given chopped duck or chicken eggs, and a week later add to the forage finely chopped grass, dandelion or nettle leaves. During the first month you can give the chicks a low-fat cottage cheese and milk. As the birds mature, juicy foods such as carrots, clover, potatoes enriched with ground chalk or shells are introduced into the diet. At the age of one month the young can be transferred to grain mixtures. If the ducks are able to pinch the grass, as well as access to the pond, they will procure part of their food themselves. Feed the bird of the blue breed favorite should be 2-3 times a day. In the first method it is better to give different mixed moist feeds, and in the evening - sprouted grain. Ducks should always be available such additives as crushed limestone, shells, chalk, eggshell. In addition, fine gravel contributes to the normal digestion of these birds.

Water regime

For small ducklings, water with a temperature of about +20 ^° C is needed. When installing the drinkers, they should be placed away from the feeders, as the chick, chewing on the food, will try to immediately drink it. If he succeeds, then part of the food will simply be washed with water, and without hitting the bird's stomach. Adults need fresh and clean water to clean their nostrils, stuffed with food and rinse their beak. It is best to place the liquid in a few not very wide, but deep containers. The depth of the drinking bowl should be such that it can place its head blue duck favorite. The description of this bird does not give an opportunity to foresee the necessary size, therefore at manufacturing it is necessary to be guided by dimensions of your pets.

Advantages and disadvantages

Most owners who breed a blue favorite, note its following positive features:

1. High viability and survival of young animals.
2. Calm and even behavior.
3. Strong health and excellent immunity.
4. Uncomplicated, easy maintenance and care.
5. High adaptability to any conditions.
6. Good egg laying.
7. High speed of fattening.
8. Profitability of breeding, as the bird of this breed is large and early.
9. Lenten tender meat with a wonderful taste.

Duck blue favorite, reviews of which are quite numerous, has, in the opinion of poultry farmers and farmers, only one, but a significant drawback: it almost completely lacks the instinct of hatching eggs. Because of this, to obtain ducklings you have to use incubators or to lay eggs to poultry and ducks of other breeds. In rare cases, blue instinct ducks "wake up" this instinct, and then the bird does not leave the nest for the entire time of incubation, which is 27-28 days. She is excommunicated very rarely and for very little time, only to drink and eat. At one time a duck, feeling like a hen, can sit up to 15 ducklings, and grow up all 30. It is necessary to plant foreign chicks to any domestic birds on the same day when the "relatives" hatch. If you try to make a "settlement" at another time, then the hen will not accept them and just throw them out of the nest. The peculiarity of this breed is that the hen not only pulls out the fluff to insulate its nest, but also actively loses feathers. This should not be frightened, since it is a natural and quite normal process for the ducks.