Indeotki - a very interesting option for breeding at home. This is a calm bird, completely unpretentious in the care, with good survival rate of chicks and high-quality lean meat. You can also hear another name - musk duck. And if such birds appeared in you, then surely you thought about breeding offspring. To do this, you will have to work a little and prepare nests for egg laying for your indo studies.
General nest tips
In order to get started, you need to know some general points:
- Hatchback nests should be located in those areas of your plot, located under the house, where it is warm and dry. Best of all, if it is some kind of room.
- At the location of the nest should not be a scorching sun, large changes in air temperature and draft.
- From the inside out nest straw, you can sawdust.
- Provide low moderate illumination for nesting sites.
- Provide a nest device so that the laid eggs do not roll out of it, that is, there must be a span.
- Make the required number of nests so that the ducks do not fight for a place to lay eggs. And if there is such an opportunity, then place the broods away from each other.
- As much as possible, provide birds with peace of mind so that they will be quiet and calm Do not allow unauthorized persons and other poultry close to the nesting site. Otherwise, the birds may throw the clutch.
When to nest the indutki
If you have decided to get offspring in hayboys, then by the end of February you should get a drake for fertilization of the females. But laying eggs ducks begin in April. This must be taken into account, because by this time everyone should find a secluded corner where the process of laying will take place.
Poultry farmers should be familiar with the intricacies of making a nest and feeders for domestic ducks with their own hands.
In the absence of a prepared nest, the duck will independently choose for itself something suitable in her opinion: a box, a box, a basket, a barrel. You just need to move this item to the place reserved for this purpose. Birds can even sometimes start digging their burrows for themselves, but it’s better not to allow it. Just prepare the nest houses yourself. It is more practical to do this in the fall or winter.
In any case, everything should be ready by the end of February. Intoys will have time to choose a suitable place for breeding.
From which you can build
Houses for indoutok can be made from any available material that is in your farm. And it can be:
- any barrel;
- plastic bucket;
- wooden or plastic box;
- cardboard box
- Wicker basket.
Agree, it is very important to provide the bird with comfortable conditions for development. Read about how to build a house for indoutok and mandarin ducks with their own hands.
Here the most important thing is that these tanks should be suitable in size and design. The most interesting thing is that sometimes the duck chooses for itself a nest from an object that you didn’t even think of using for these purposes. In this case, you need to take into account the wishes of the bird and just put the object you liked in the right place. Well, if you decide to make a nest with your own hands, then chipboard, plywood, wooden boards, parallel bars, old wooden furniture, etc. are suitable for this.
Important! For each individual, it is best to make individual nests and place them in different places. Well, if there is no place for it, then make a common house, but make strong partitions. So the birds will be more comfortable.
Jack socket sizes
In the manufacture of the house you need to take into account the dimensions of the indoot. Therefore, the recommendations on the size of the following:
- depth - 40-45 cm;
- height - 40 cm;
- width - 30-40 cm
How to do it yourself
Now let's take a closer look at all the stages of manufacturing the nest, including the preparatory ones.
Necessary materials
First of all, prepare the necessary materials:
- Chipboard, plywood, boards, parallel bars or other materials from wood, selected by you;
- fixing material (nails, screws, etc.);
- waterproofing material (film, linoleum) for laying the nest on the floor;
- litter (straw, sawdust).
Consider all the details of breeding musk ducks at their summer cottage, and in particular the rules for feeding musk ducks.
Instruments
At your hand should be:
- hammer;
- pliers;
- saw;
- screwdriver;
- tape measure or ruler;
- scissors.
Step by step manufacturing process
Now you can get down to business:
- Cut from boards or boards pieces of the desired size.
- Bring down all the prepared pieces in the form of a wooden box, it will be the bottom of the nest.
- Increase the walls of chipboard, plywood or other selected material, taking into account the height of the house.
- Make a hole for entry, it can be round or square. Do not forget about the low threshold, about 10 centimeters.
- Cover the structure with a roof that can be made of chipboard, plywood or boards. But if the tree is not enough, then you can cover with something else, for example, slate.
It is known that there is a predisposition to certain diseases in the indoutok. Familiarize with indoutok diseases and how to treat them.
Where to put
As we have already noted, it is best to place the nests indoors, in places where it is dark and dry enough, there are no drafts. Ideally, for each individual will be a separate house. Also close by at a short distance (about 50 centimeters) should be provided for the feeder, drinker and bathing tank for the indouka.
Place the duck nests in different corners and put them in such a way that the front part is turned from the entrance to the house. So ducks will not interfere with each other and see the incoming owners or other birds.
How to teach
Now, when you have prepared everything and are looking forward to the fact that the ducks will live in their new houses, you need to control this process and accustom them to the nests. If you have made them and set them up well in the fall or at the beginning of winter, then everything can happen naturally. Birds, when the time comes, will themselves choose the prepared places for laying and hatching eggs.
Important! Unlike ordinary musk ducks, they are not particularly keen on swimming. They even have less grease on their feathers.
But there may be some problems. In order to make the indoouts placed where necessary, you can resort to the "false egg" method. It consists in the following: put an egg in the prepared nest, the bird, having seen it, can carry it there again. Thus, the process will be launched. In order not to confuse the eggs, mark the false egg in any way, then it can be removed from the laying without any problems.
Well, if, despite all your efforts, the duck does not go to the nest, then check whether you have fulfilled all the necessary conditions. Also inspect your entire aviary for parasites and rodents. After eliminating all the problems, the situation should recover
Number of nests in relation to livestock
And the last thing you need to know is how many nests you need to prepare, based on the size of your duck family. To do this, calculate how many females you have, and taking into account the fact that only one of the three ducks sits on their hatching, calculate the required number of places for laying. Just in case, make a couple spare.
For sure, it will be useful for you to read all about egg production at home, benefit and harm of eggs, as well as to know when they start to carry eggs at home.
If you decide on independent breeding of indoutok and want to get good results, then undoubtedly a lot of trouble awaits you. But when the bird lays the eggs in the nest you have prepared, sit them out, and in a month with a little tail there will be little ducks, your labors will be rewarded.