Poultry Flashcards
Major duck commercial breeds
Called dabblers - Pekin, Muscovy, Mule
Grow out definition
Meat duck
Developers definition
Younglings to become breeders
Hen to drake ratio
1 to 5
Pekin incubation
28 days
Muscovy incubation
35 days
Incubation in Mallards
25-29 days
Curtain-sided barns
Main type of housing in Ducks, Natural lighting and ventilation
Supplemental lighting
Used for seasonal breeders
How much light per day must ducks be kept in if it is supplemental?
12 hours
Most common type of supplemental light
Kerosene lanterns
Water sources for Ducks
Nipple Lines, Water troughs, Showers, Cup drinkers
Challenges for duck farming
Lameness, Lighting, Biosecurity, Water sources, Fatigued ducks, Flip-overs
Major Layer breeds
White Leghorn Hybrid, Brown Hyline/Lohmann
Young female layers
Pullets
Female layers after 16 weeks
Hens
Brooding definition
Growing
Conventional farming types
No cage-free housing, large-scale
Cage-free farming types
Enriched cages, Barn/open field, Aviary
Genetic selection criteria for layers
Egg number, quality, and size, Body Weight uniformity, Feed conversion ratio (FCR)
Conventional cage benefits
Improved livability, less disease, less stress, cleaner eggs, improved economics
Conventional cage downsides
No expression of behavior, poor skeletal health, poorer feathering, overgrown claws, more susceptible to heat stress
Enriched cage benefits
Includes environmental enrichments, allows for some natural behaviors
Enriched cage downsides
Malfunction of elements can lead to injury, still a “cage”
