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Muscovy duck is a native of Central and South America, where it still lives in the wild. These ducks were domesticated in antiquity. There is a version that the Aztecs, but it is clear that there is no evidence.
There are several versions of where the name “musky ducks” came from. After the duck was brought to Europe, it was believed that old drakes secrete fat with a musk smell from growths on their heads. But modern Muscovy ducks don’t smell. It is unlikely that during the stay of musky ducks in Europe these glands atrophied. Most likely, the name comes either from the ancient name of the Indians of Colombia – Muisca, or … from the word “Muscovy” – the name of Our Country common in Medieval Europe (and the hand of Moscow reached here).
In the latter case, it is assumed that the muscovy duck was imported to England by the English trading company Muscovy Company, from which the name of this species of duck in English came – Muscovy Duck.
The more common name in the -speaking space “indo-outka” does not indicate the hybridization of ducks with turkeys, as is sometimes seriously stated on some sites. This name only shows the similarity of head growths in musky drakes and turkeys. Sometimes Indo-ducks are called mute ducks and mute ducks.
In the photo you can compare the growths of a musky drake and a turkey.
The second version of the origin of the name “Indian duck” is an abbreviation of the phrase “Indian duck”.
Whatever versions of the origin of the names may be, this does not affect the popularity of indouts among the owners of personal farmsteads.
Indian women on a personal farmstead, breeding and maintenance
The wild Muscovy duck is dark in color with a small amount of white feathers. It weighs no more than 3 kg, if we are talking about a drake. Eggs in clutch 8-10.
Domestication had a strong influence on the Indoutok. Various breeds, like mallards, musky ducks did not work out, but the colors became more diverse. Indo-cats today can be found in black, white, blue, white-winged, fawn, and piebald in combination with any basic color.
Muscovy ducks have doubled their body weight and slightly increased the number of eggs laid for incubation. Domestic Indochka lays 8-14 pieces.
The advantages of indouts are in their quiet behavior. They only hiss, not annoying neighbors with quacks. As for the quality of the meat, opinions vary. Muscovy duck meat is not as fatty as mallard meat, but that is why it is drier. This meat is for everybody. Minus indoutok – long growth of ducklings. In mallards, young should be slaughtered at the age of 2 months, while indo-ducks do not yet gain full weight at this age.
Keeping and feeding indoutok
The maintenance of musky ducks is not difficult. These are very unpretentious birds. It is only necessary to take into account that the Indians are thermophilic and will not tolerate the cold well, contrary to the claims of the sellers. For the winter, they need a warm barn with deep bedding. Since Indo-ducks love water as much as mallards, for the winter you need to take care of the type of drinking bowl from which musky ducks will not be able to splash out water.
In the summer, Muscovy ducks can perfectly live in the open air. It is only necessary to watch the length of their flight feathers, as the domesticated Indo-ducks, like turkeys, have been forgotten to be told that they have too much weight for flying. And the ducks themselves don’t even know about it.
Device perches for indoutok
In the barn, you need to attend to the arrangement of places for resting indoutok. Duck roosts are different from chicken roosts. For ducks, shelves are made about 15 cm high from the floor. For musky ducks, this is important, since, unlike Peking ducks, they cannot tolerate dampness and dirt.
Feeding
Indo-ducks eat the same as ordinary ducks. Never give up greens and fruits. But they need to cut the vegetation, since the Indo-ducks do not have devices on their beaks for cutting grass.
Feeding in nature on algae and small aquatic animals, in captivity musky ducks are happy to eat small snails, replenishing calcium reserves along with animal protein.
Although the Indians do not hunt mice and rats, the same drakes, being large enough, are quite capable of swallowing a rat strangled by a cat. It will take a long time to choke, but it will push through.
Feeding on water bodies, all species of ducks swallow large amounts of water along with food. When eating dry food, they need to soak it so that it passes into the stomach normally. It is noticed that all ducks immediately after feeding with compound feed run to the drinkers.
What you need to breed indoutok
Muscovy duck breeding in private farms can be carried out in two ways: incubation and breeding ducklings under a hen.
With any of the methods, you need to take care of the formation of families of Indows. One mature drake is determined by 3-4 females. Theoretically, it is possible to “give out” 5 ducks to the male, but then he will work to the limit and there will be no confidence in the high-quality fertility of the eggs.
Removal in a natural way
Muscovy duck is a good mother hen, able to incubate not only her own eggs. The problem of lining other people’s eggs under the mute is that indo-duck eggs have a long incubation period. If mallards sit for 28 days, then musky ducks sit for 35 days.
Theoretically, an Indian female can lay 70 to 120 eggs a year, but before sitting on the eggs, she will lay only 20 to 25 eggs, and then sit on them for a month. She will hatch not all the eggs, but only about 15 pieces. Under favorable conditions – it started nesting early and the weather is warm – the musk can hatch 3 batches of eggs. Even if each time the mother hen will bring 15 ducklings, the profit from her will be only 45 heads of young animals. Against a minimum of 70 potential eggs.
No, not all ducklings in the photo belong to this mother hen. She obviously slipped incubators.
If it was decided to breed musky ducklings naturally, then the mother hen needs to be equipped with a shelter. It’s better to have a few to choose from. Having chosen a place for the nest, the Indochka begins to lay eggs there, along the way bringing nesting material.
The temperature at which the Indian duck will lay eggs should not be below 15 degrees, since musky ducks are a heat-loving species. In the event that an Indochka began to lay eggs in cold weather, they should, if possible, be collected and placed in a relatively warm place. It has been observed that more ducklings hatch from eggs stored for two weeks in such a cool place than from freshly laid indochki.
The advantage of such breeding of musky ducks is that you do not have to suffer with temperature conditions and a protective film on the egg shell. The mother hen will do everything herself. Even in hot and dry weather, musks manage to breed ducklings.
Muscovy ducklings immediately after hatching remain under the hen until all the living ones get out of the eggs, dry out and stand on their paws. After that, the ducklings quickly learn to peck at the food, but constantly keep the herd. Immediately after hatching, it is impossible to understand who is a duck and who is a drake. But drakes have to grow twice as big as ducks, so they quickly gain weight and, as a rule, after a couple of weeks it becomes clear who is who.
Egg incubation method
Incubation of musky ducks in home incubators is a very troublesome business. Even enterprises that tried to incubate indouts abandoned this idea due to the too low output of ducklings. The opinion of the owners of indo-outs: some factor is missing.
It seems that this factor is a mother duck, who thoroughly knows everything about the rules for breeding ducklings. Copying her methods is very difficult, if not impossible.
In particular, musk eggs are covered with a dense fatty film that protects the egg at the initial stage from infection. But subsequently, the same film prevents oxygen from the air from penetrating through the shell. As a result, the duckling dies of suffocation.
There are no such problems with the mother hen. Periodically dipping into the water and returning to the nest, it gradually erases this film with its paws and wet feathers.
Muscovy duckling hatching
When incubating, the film will have to be manually washed from the egg on the 10th – 14th day. And for this you need a hard washcloth for washing dishes.
When washing eggs, the temperature regime will inevitably be violated.
At the same time, Muscovy duck eggs need periodic cooling. The mother duck will do everything herself, but the man is tormented.
Muscular ducks. Debriefing”
Therefore, breeding at home is best done with the help of mother ducks. If we take into account that a small number of ducklings are obtained from the incubator, then with natural incubation, most likely, even more ducklings will turn out.
Breed “Mulard>”, who is it
In fact, the mulard is not a breed, but a hybrid between two different types of ducks: an indo-duck and a domesticated mallard. Out of ignorance, malicious intent, or simply for ease of perception, the seller may write in the ad that he sells “Mulard” ducks. You can buy for meat, but you should not hope to get offspring from these hybrids. They are barren.
In the photo it is mulard.
Its advantages: rapid growth, like mallards, and a large weight (4 kg), like indoutas.
To obtain and grow mulards for meat, you need to take care of the selection of a suitable breed of domesticated duck. Usually, mallard duck and musky duck drake are required to obtain mulard. Since the musky drake can reach 7 kg of weight, it is better for him to pick up the mallard of the largest possible breed.
Muscovy duck owner reviews
To summarize
Indo-duck is a bird that is beneficial for beginners, does not require special attention, but gives a decent increase in meat livestock over the summer. The fact that musky ducks only hiss also has considerable advantages. In the mornings, you will not be roused by the chorus of mallard ducks demanding food. Mallard drakes, by the way, behave much more modestly. They quack very quietly.