Mulardy: growing at home for beginners and feeding from the first days

Broiler breed bred by French breeders in the middle of the 20th century, is characterized by accelerated maturation and excellent meat productivity. Hybrid ducks, obtained from the crossing of musk drakes and Beijing females, are called mulards, their cultivation both at home and on large farms does not cause difficulties. Ducks quickly put on weight, give dietary meat with excellent taste, behave calmly and non-capriciously.

Good and bad sides

Pros and consquickly gain weight;do not require expensive food;not prone to gluttony;unpretentious to environmental conditions;adapt to any climatic conditions, including sharp interseasonal temperature changes;have strong immunity;distinguished by cleanliness, quiet and calm behavior;weigh in adulthood up to 7 kg, in 3-4 months - 4-5 kg;give high-quality meat with a fat content of not more than 3%, and with enhanced fattening and liver weighing up to 500 g for making foie gras.low egg production ( although the eggs are large, suitable for baking);infertility (you either have to buy chicks, or independently engage in selection).

Can I breed mulard ducks at home?

Breeding at home is possible. To get broiler chicks, Muscovy and Peking ducks are needed. If there is no time for self-selection, then you can buy ducklings from breeders. But sold mulards often turn out to be weak and die.

To buy he althy chicks that are highly likely to survive, you need to pay attention to their appearance and behavior.

He althy mularda ducklings are active, fussy, their wings are tight to the body, and the anus is clean.

Building a hybrid shed

The poultry house in which the mulards will live must be dry, lit, ventilated, but without drafts. An existing shed can be adapted for a poultry house, for this you need to fill in the cracks, eliminate dampness and mold.

If you don't have a barn, you'll have to build a bird house from scratch.The building is made of wood. The floor should be 40-50 cm from the soil surface, it is thinly coated with slaked lime, straw is laid on top. The entrance with a door and a lift is made from the south side. The roof should lie at an angle so that rain moisture does not get inside. It is desirable to provide natural lighting, with it the mulard ducks grow more actively, but artificial lighting can also be done.

A pen is attached to the poultry house. It is desirable that there is a natural reservoir nearby, in which ducks will swim, pinch algae. But if there is no reservoir, the mulards do not suffer from its absence.

Rules for caring for ducks

The temperature inside the house should be 16-18 °C, humidity - 60-70%. The litter should be thick, straw or sunflower husks are suitable. Sawdust should not be used: they absorb moisture. While the mulards of one brood are growing, the litter is periodically sprinkled. After slaughter, the poultry house is disinfected, the floor is re-coated with lime.

French broilers are easy to care for. Feeders are made of wood, plastic or galvanized iron. Ducks feed inaccurately, scatter food, so the food falls asleep on a third of the container. The drinkers are set small, otherwise the ducks will try to climb into them.

If mulards are intended to obtain not only meat, but also fluff, then in the absence of a natural reservoir, a basin with water should be placed in the corral, where ducks can swim. There should be no more than 3 individuals per 1 m^{2 of the poultry house, 1 individual per the same pen space. It is unacceptable that mulards be kept with birds of other species and breeds.}

Feeding and fattening

Feed broilers with compound feed, dividing the diet into starter (first 10 days of life), stimulating (10-25th day) and finishing (from 25th day before slaughter). In the absence of compound feed, you can feed the birds:

corn (60%);
oats (20%);
barley (10%);
meal, cake (5%);
bone meal, premixes, chalk, s alt (5%).

Grain is given crushed, in dry form and in a wet mash with the addition of boiled potatoes, bran, vegetables, silage, algae, fish. Fill the mash with water, whey, meat brew. For better digestion, ducks should eat a small amount of coarse sand.

Mulardy ducks feed according to the following scheme:

from the first days of life to 2 weeks of age - 7-8 times;
up to 4 weeks - 4-6 times;
up to 3 months - 3 times.

Breeding for Beginners

To breed broilers, choose one drake and 4 females 6-10 months of age. Hatchery breeding is not required, hens hatch eggs well. The correct time for bird crossing is from early May to mid June.

You cannot keep a drake selected for crossing with representatives of his breed, otherwise he will not want to cover females of another breed offered to him. As a result, ducklings will appear not mulards, but musky or Peking ducks. At first, mulard drakes usually ignore females of another breed, but gradually get used to it, get down to business.

If the musky drake stubbornly ignores Beijing females, then you can cheat: paint their backs with dark dye.

Ducks lay in comfortable nests with straw bedding. To raise ducklings, nests are built in a calm and secluded place. A feeder and a drinking bowl are attached next to the nest, a basin with water for swimming is placed. The collection of eggs begins 2 weeks after the connection of the birds, they are collected within a week. About 15 eggs are laid in the nest. The mother hen must be an Indian. Mularda ducklings appear after a month. The first week of life is the most difficult in keeping offspring. Mularda ducklings survive, grow quickly at high temperatures and intense lighting.

Raising young animals

On the first day, ducklings are fed with a weak manganese solution. On the second day they give a boiled yolk, it is crumbled on the backs of the chicks, since at first they grab only moving food. If this measure does not help, then you will have to put food in the duckling's mouth.

In the first 20 days, the ducklings of the mulards should be under infrared light at a distance of 50 cm. Then, in the house, a 60 W lamp is turned on for 3 m of space. Until mularda ducks reach 2 months, they must be kept under round-the-clock light. They begin to walk the chicks when they are 3 days old, if the outside air temperature is not lower than +18 ° C. The table indicates what the temperature should be in order for young mulards to grow without loss.

30-328-1520-22 16-21 22-30

Age of ducklings, days	Temperature in the house, °C	Temperature under lamp, °C
to 3	23-25	38-40
3-7	22-23
	27-30
18-20	23-25
16-18	20-22

When compiling the diet, the timing of the growth of birds is taken into account. For the first week, mulard ducklings eat crushed grain with boiled yolk. Next, the yolk is replaced with boiled potatoes. At 2 weeks, mulards begin to eat crushed algae to help strengthen immunity, bran and bone meal to strengthen the skeleton. Boiled carrots, grated fodder beets are added to the diet. Mineral sources are placed in a separate bowl - shell rock, chalk, crushed eggshells. From food additives, it is desirable to use low-fat cottage cheese, yeast (1 g per individual).

The water in the drinker is changed regularly. In ducklings, nasal sinuses are often clogged, so water is needed not only for drinking, but also for washing the nose.

Possible diseases and vaccination against them

Mulardy ducks are not susceptible to most infectious diseases. But there are pathologies that can occur in hybrid broilers:

Polymorphosis is a parasitic disease caused by an intestinal worm. Accompanied by emaciation, diarrhea. For treatment, "Dichlorophen" is used, once introduced into the feed (0.5 mg per 1 kg). To prevent disease twice a week, birds are given 0.1% copper sulfate to drink.
Aspergillosis is a fungal pathology that occurs when food and bedding become moldy. Manifested by lethargy, vomiting, shortness of breath, paralysis of the legs. To remove the fungus, the drug "Nystatin" is used.
Viral hepatitis. Mularda ducks need to be vaccinated when the farm is in a region with an unfavorable epidemic situation. A dry VGNKI vaccine (0.5 ml per individual) is injected intramuscularly into the thigh of a duck.
Cloacite - inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membrane of the cloacal wall caused by beriberi. For treatment, vitamin complexes are included in the diet. Ulcers and cracks on the anus of a duck are smeared first with iodine, then with zinc ointment.
Cannibalism. Mulard ducks attack each other, peck until they bleed, pluck feathers either in close, crowded conditions, or with a lack of proteins in the diet. In the first case, they expand the space of the house, in the second, they add bean greens, reverse, meat meal to the diet.
Baldness is a symptom of hypovitaminosis and mineral deficiency. Ducks should eat more food rich in vitamins A and D.

When you can cut

Mulardy ducks become suitable for slaughter in 3-4 months. Longer feeding becomes unprofitable, as the growth of birds slows down. Some farmers slaughter 2.5-month-old ducklings; by this age, pets already weigh 3-4 kg. Do not leave the birds for the winter.Mularda ducks in the cold will eat more than they should, which will further reduce profitability.