Indoor women are common birds, especially in European countries. This is due to the fact that their meat is lean, with excellent taste. In the wild, these fairly large birds are found in several countries in South America, including in Mexico. They are not picky about care and food, have a unique ability to survive. Thanks to such qualities, breeding indochka does not cause difficulties, they are ideal for home growing.
Bird description
An indigenous mother is called musky ducks. They have a wide chest and a small neck. Their legs are short and their wings are powerful. The average mass of the drake reaches six kilograms, and the length is 90 cm. The female is much smaller than the male. Its weight is from three to three and a half kilograms, length - 60 cm.
The color is different, it depends on the breed. On their head, flush with the eyes and under the beak, there are red growths, from which older birds smell the musk, which defines the name.
What is the peculiarity of the indoor fish?
They differ from ordinary birds of this species in size, color and various exterior characteristics. Their meat has the same nutritional properties as goose and ordinary duck. It is soft, the texture is dense, a little fat, it is considered a dietary product.
Indoor women have another positive feature: they do not cause inconvenience, as they behave silently, sometimes creating a quiet hiss. For this, they received another name - "mute". Due to its positive characteristics, breeding indochka in our country is becoming popular.
Female and male: how are they different?
Sex is determined when the ducklings are very small, two to three months old. How to distinguish indotok? The male from the female is distinguished by the presence of feathers on the tail tail feathers connected by a ringlet. This is the main symptom. The gender of the bird is also determined by its neck. In the female she is thin, graceful, in the male it is large, with a smooth transition to the head.
Indoor breed
These birds are distinguished by a number of signs:
- The color of the plumage.
- The color of the eyes and legs.
- The color of the beak.
Indoor breeds are shown in the table below.
Breed name | Plumage coloring | Eyes | Beak | Other |
White | Corresponds to the name | Gray | Pale pink | Yellow legs |
Black | Colors of night, purple torso, blue-green wings | Common color for birds | The black | Gray fluff |
Black and white | Resin, shiny overflow of black on the back, purple - on the body | Brown, rarely blue | Red with a dark ending | White feathers on the head and chest |
Wild brown | Chocolate with green shimmer | Brown | Red with a dark tip | White feathers on the head and chest |
Blue | Corresponds to the name | Common color for birds | Black gray | Dark Wing Edging |
Wild | Black with greenish, purple, purple overflow | Brown | Brown | Yellow fingers with black metatarsus; coverslips white |
White with a pattern | White with black marks | Common for birds | Red-blue, charcoal at the base and tip | Metatarsus yellow with black spots |
Wild blue | Blue with dark stripes on feathers. | Common for birds | At the base - black, then red-blue, tip - dark | Dark Metatarsus |
How to prepare the room?
Adequate content of indolets during their breeding is the main condition. It is important to consider the peculiarity of these birds. Musk ducks are unpretentious, but they do not get along with animals of other species. Therefore, for their breeding, you need to prepare a separate room. One must take his choice seriously: in winter, the bird's house should be warm, and cool in the summer. The room must be equipped with ventilation and make sure that there is no humidity in it. To prevent biting, bright lighting is unacceptable. To do this, the bulb should be painted red or orange.
Ducklings are most often placed in a private compound or in the territory of a summer residence. For this, the use of collapsible structures is the most suitable option. But for the winter such a house should be insulated. Its arrangement depends on what size the room will be. If it is large, its floor is covered with a grid with small cells. Only after that lay a bed of straw or sawdust. Insulation of the floor is a very important point when arranging a home for birds, since their paws are very sensitive to low temperatures. When breeding indolets, it is very simple to calculate the area of the room: for one individual, one and a half meters square is enough.
If the dwelling is small in size, birds are placed in cages, which are arranged in tiers in an upright position. In order for the indo-females to be kept clean, the back wall of the cage should be lower than the front. This design allows you to move the excrement from under the legs there.
Walking birds
Growing indolets for meat is carried out with the provision of walking. They are kept separately from other poultry in individual rooms with unimpeded entry and exit. The room should be more naturally lit and closed. It is very important that it is cool in the summer.
When breeding indolets for meat, the correct location of the walking is of great importance, as it will provide the bird with more sunlight. The walk should be south of the house. In order for the bird to quickly and safely exit and return, you need to make closing manholes in the wall, the size of which is 40 cm. The holes should be located at the level of a 30-centimeter mark from the floor. On both sides there are ladders from the boards for entry and exit of the bird without injuries on its paws.
The flock leaves for walking immediately after the morning feed intake, at about 10 o’clock. Here, the Indians spend the whole day, they are driven into the home an hour before dark. These birds have good immunity, are able to withstand cold weather. But in the early spring and late autumn, being on a walk, their paws often freeze. And if you let the indochkis swim in winter, icing of the feathers is guaranteed, since the fat content under the skin is very low.
How to make a bedding?
For this, the use of various materials is allowed: sawdust, wood shavings, peat, straw, chaff. For one bird per season, you need to prepare 10-12 kg of any material that can be used for bedding. Before laying it, the bottom of the room for keeping the indolets is covered with lime per one kilogram per square meter of area. The layer of the litter itself is thin, about seven centimeters. But at the end of the next season, its height increases to 20 cm.
If the keeping of birds continues in the house during the winter, and at this time young growth is expected, the litter needs to be changed and its thickness larger than the previous one, otherwise the birds may freeze. Ducklings can not be placed on the old flooring. It must be collected and taken out, and the room must be disinfected.
Ducklings equipment
When the birdhouse is built, the floor is covered with bedding, you need to equip it with everything necessary for the life of your pets.
- Set feeders per one piece for five individuals. Each should be one meter long, 25 cm wide.
- It is better to arrange the drinkers if they are not wide so that the birds do not bathe in them.
- To build perches 40 cm high from the floor. To do this, just put the logs on top of each other.
- Place near the drinkers nests. Their number depends on the number of flocks. The birds themselves will find their nests, insulate them and lay eggs, and when it comes time to hatch them.
- In winter, the temperature should be positive in the birdhouse. To do this, you need to install heating appliances in it, heaters for example, or stoves.
Feeders
Indow breeding at home for beginner poultry farmers always raises many questions. For example, regarding feeders: what to make of them, how many pieces are needed? A rectangular trough feeder can be made of thin boards. During a meal, ducklings usually climb in there with their paws. To prevent such actions, in which the feeder often remains upside down with the feed, a vertical bar is nailed on top.
Indoor breeding at home for beginners usually begins with a small number of birds. Therefore, the feeders are made in a simplified form. It is enough to stock up with tin jars that can be used. Carefully cut the lid, beat the edges with a hammer so that the birds do not hurt, and hang them on evenly spaced hooks.
How many feeders are needed and how long they should have is calculated taking into account the area of the feeder for different foods per one indochka. This norm for dry food is two centimeters square, for a blender - at least 10 cm of the entire length of the feeder.
Nest
In the wild, the bird itself will take care of the place where the eggs hatch, and at home its owner should think about it. Indoor nests should be prepared before April, since it is at this time that the instinct of incubation is triggered.
- The socket can be arranged in a cardboard box. At its bottom should be laid a fabric litter of natural fibers.
- The box contains 20 eggs. After hatching for two weeks, you can put as much more.
- Near the nest there is a small yard with a feeding trough, a drinking bowl, and a swimming pool. The fact is that, while hatching eggs, the duck-mother for a long time is in one place in a sitting position. From this, parasites start up in her feathers. To get rid of them, the bird will bathe. In addition, by moisturizing the feathers, the hen maintains a moisture regime. The nest needs protection. If there is no fence, alien chicks often penetrate it. When the hen sees them, she will not be up to her own nest. She throws him and begins to raise foster chicks.
What kind of eggs does a musky duck carry?
In size, they differ little from chicken, perhaps a little larger. An indochka egg weighs about 70 g, is painted white, sometimes with brown dots. It resembles an ordinary duck egg in form and useful properties. Therefore, without a doubt, it is possible to eat indochka eggs in food, but only before that it is necessary to do the heat treatment.
The eggs of these birds are a fatty product, but the fats contained in the yolk are unsaturated. The yolk has a pronounced orange color, due to the high content of carotene, which has a beneficial effect on the brain. The egg shell is thick, its transparent film does not allow air to pass through well, so the process of properly incubating the embryo is difficult.
How to feed indoo
Musk ducks, despite their unpretentiousness in food, must be provided with a balanced diet. They can not be fed hot and warm food. How to feed indoo The basis of the diet are cereals. The birds are fed corn, oats, wheat, barley. Vegetable additives and greens should be present in the diet. The menu needs to be diversified with yeast, flour from bones and meat, oilcake, bran. A caring owner sometimes spoils the birds with porridge with herbs.
In summer, it is easier to feed them, since a significant part of the diet is fresh grass. The norm of water per one person per day is one liter, the feed - 400 g. In order for the indoutka egg to be with a strong shell, chalk or small shells are added to the feed. And to normalize the digestive process, containers filled with gravel are placed in the birdhouse.
How to care for chicks?
When growing indolets it is very important to get healthy offspring. Chicks hatch from eggs on the 35th day after they are planted by a brood hen. They are covered with a shiny yellow fluff, can stand on their legs. The eyes of the newborn are convex, with a sparkle. The chicks are very small and defenseless, their weight reaches only 60 g.
Newborns cannot eat and drink on their own. Their mother will teach them. But if the ducklings were bought or brought out in an incubator, they will have to be fed, resorting to a little trick. The first food of the daily chicks is an egg, hard-boiled and chopped into small pieces. Feed is poured on their backs. Kids are happy to peck it from their relative. If the egg crumb falls to the floor, they will find it there too.
On the second day, in addition to the egg, the chicks are fed bran and milk. On the fifth - add waste from meat in boiled and crushed form. By the tenth day of life, the chicks can be fed with boiled potatoes. From birth you need to give supplements of vitamins and minerals. They are bought at the pharmacy. Be sure to observe the dosage that is indicated in the instructions.
Useful information
When breeding indolets, you need to stock up on knowledge so that their productivity is high. Some tips:
- Plucking feathers from each other means a lack of vitamins and greens in the feed. To do this, diversify the diet of birds containing their additives.
- Chicks, which are day old, cut the wings at the ends so that they do not have the opportunity to fly. Places of cuts are treated with potassium permanganate. If this procedure is done to adult Indians, they will not lay eggs.
- Sometimes chicks accidentally swallow small objects made of metal: nails, pieces of wire. This should not be allowed, since they will die immediately.
- Bird productivity will decrease if they experience hypothermia in the winter.