Agricultural
ducks are likely to reproduce rapidly and require less care that other forms of poultry such as chicken and thus rearing them can produce high profit as costs are less. In summary
Duck farming would not only a viable but alternative can complement other forms of poultry, wrote Fred Muzaale.
Ducks are domestic birds are raised for their meat and eggs such as chicken and other poultry. But in Uganda, some farmers acceded to farming of ducks, with many opting to back to place other types of poultry.
This is mainly because breeding ducks is not economically viable that few people eat duck meat and eggs. However, with the increase of the price of chicken eggs, duck eggs can provide an effective alternative since they can be used for everything from chicken eggs can be used to and this applies also to the meat of duck.
According to Mr. Hussein Kigozi, a professional, duck eggs give a taste different and more tasty than chicken eggs. But, because some people simply have a negative attitude towards eating duck eggs, many believe that they are not delicious and never tried to eat. According to the Census of livestock in 2008, the number of ducks in the country was estimated at only $ 1.5 million while other poultry has been estimated at 37.4 million.
The census indicates that only one of 25 in ducks households own country. But Mr. Kigozi said that, despite the fact that there are some people who eat ducks, ducks breeding can be an economically viable business that some people, especially in the North and East of Uganda have duck meat and eggs.
Apart from the people are not interested in ducks, Mr. Kigozi also accuses the number of small continuous in the country on the absence of parent stock or hatcheries which hatch eggs. He pointed out that the ducks have many advantages over the chicken.
Benefits
Ducks are very resistant to catastrophic illnesses and erosion of poultry, as the disease to chickens. He added that ducks don't require any sophisticated housing and need of less attention than the chicken. This means that a farmer spends less on the construction of a home for ducks and research after them.
Also when locally raised, outbreak in ducks is higher from chicken because of their thick plumage provides effective incubation of most of the eggs. Ducks lay eggs more chicken with a duck is about 40-50 eggs. This means in addition to benefits in cases where a farmer away ducks for eggs.
In addition, they have a high growth rate and feed conversion rate high and body gain higher than that of the chicken. Mr. Kigozi explains that the same amount of food given during the same period, a duck will put on more weight than the chicken. A drake (male ducks) weighs more than a rooster of the same age. Another advantage is that ducklings are less sensitive to predators like kites compared with chicks which means ducks can easily reach chicken.
Disadvantages
The ducklings are likely to be hot weather and can easily die when exposed to a lot of Sun. Ducks spend repeatedly feces because they take plenty of water for their droppings can easily foul the House makes the unhealthy House to live in. They also need much water, as well as periods where water is scarce, a farmer may incur costs to obtain water for them.
Diseases
As noted, the ducks are resistant to the diseases of poultry, but a few diseases can attack including: black disease that infects a duck after ingestion of worms cecum, called Heterarisgallinarum, which is an intermediate host to a parasitic Protozoan called Histomonas meriagridis. The most prominent symptoms of this disease is the obfuscation of the head and neck of duck. Also, the duck loses appetite and can die.
New castle disease can also affect of ducks, but because they are naturally resistant that they may be less seriously affected. Mr. Kigozi, asserts that performance of fish farmers can embrace breeding duck dans what is known as duck cum hatchery.
Agriculture of this type, he explained that a House for the ducks with a salty floor is built over the pond to fish so that the faeces fall into the pond. These droppings are a good source of food for fish and when the fish is harvested offal are, in turn, given to ducks for food.
In doing so, a farmer spends less on buying food for fish. Mr. Kigozi, however, note that, as long as extensionists educate farmers on the importance and benefits several ducks farmed, many farmers continue to ignore this form of agriculture. "Even if the meat of duck has no large market, if farmers back and eat meat, it can bridge the gap of protein in local communities especially in infants," he noted.