Shipun, or Muscovy duck, is a meat-bearing bird, which can often be found in domestic farmsteads. In addition to tasty and tender meat, it can also give good eggs, although for this purpose they are rarely bred. What are remarkable spines and what you should know about the features of care for them - read on.
Origin and distribution
Muscovy ducks, they also indoutki, appeared in private breeding during the time of the Aztecs. Over time, they were transported from South America to the lands of other states, where they are successfully divorced in our time. In 1981, spines entered the former USSR from the German Democratic Republic, and in 1988 they began to be imported from France. 
Some researchers believe that birds got their name due to their ability to release fat from fleshy growths (its smell resembles the flavor of real musk), others suggest that it comes from the word musisk, the names of almost forgotten Indians who once lived on the territory of modern Colombia .
Familiarize with the breeds Indo-stock for home breeding.
Description of the species
Muscovy duck is a majestic bird, at least, this is the impression that comes from a single glance at it. 
In Indo-ducks, the following exterior features should be noted:
- a large head with a flat forehead, a protruding crown (in the place of a drake, long feathers stand out), with large eyes and an even curved beak, the color of which depends on the color of the plumage;
- a dense and elongated body, with a short neck (expands slightly at the base), a powerful rounded chest and a slightly arched, almost horizontal back;
- wings - long, high, with wide swing feathers (their ends reach to the tail);
- long and wide tail continues dorsal line, rounded at the end;
- the legs are almost completely covered with feathers, the metatarsus are medium, with shorter membranes than other duck breeds.
Of course, the drakes of the spines are larger than the females, and it is very easy to recognize them by their powerful body. As for the color of plumage, it is usually dark, white, chocolate or brown, although there are exceptions. There is an opinion that a mixed color indicates a mixture of rocks with others, but even in this case, many options fit into the concept of "norm".
Did you know? Despite the relatively short neck of the ducks, it has more cervical vertebrae than the giraffe.
Productivity characteristic
Due to the high weight of musk ducks often bred for meat: The living weight of the drake often reaches 6 kg, and the duck - 3.5 kg. The optimal slaughter age is 3-4 months, since after this period the weight gain of meat is already insignificant, and only fat will accumulate. 
Indeootki also differ quite good indicators of egg production. Of course, they are still far from ordinary whites, but you can get 90-110 eggs a year from one female (the first egg appears at the age of 180-200 days). The weight of one egg is on average 75 g.
Learn more about the properties and use of egg ducks, as well as when to cut duck meat for meat.
Advantages of Mute Ducks
Among the advantages of the musk duck are the following:
- cleanliness (always look well-groomed, and their fluff is widely used in industry);
- calm and docile nature (birds behave very quietly in the yard and do not annoy the owner with a cry);
- high taste characteristics of meat (most often for this purpose, females are used, with low-fat, soft and devoid of unpleasant smell meat);
- unpretentiousness at cultivation, the reservoir is optional;
- good maternal instinct;
- drakes liver can be used to make a very delicious dish called foie gras.
The disadvantages of Mute Ducks
Cultivation minuses are much less, than pluses, and to the main carry:
- slow growth;
- intolerance of confusion and cold;
- propensity to disease when kept in conditions of high humidity.
Important! When crossing musk ducks with a no less popular Peking breed, breeders received a mulard hybrid characterized by a shorter ripening period, fast weight gain and good adaptation to cold and hot climatic conditions.
Breeding shypunov at home
Muscovy ducks (spines) do not require too much attention, but for their full growth and development it is still worth knowing about all the nuances of feeding and care. 
Nutrition and feeding
The most advantageous solution to the problem of feeding indoutok is the use of compound feed mixtures, applying which 45% of grain crops reach the birds unchanged, and the rest is mixed with greens, root crops and vegetable crops.
Important! It is advisable to give unground grain to ducks in the evening, and use wet mashes in such quantities that the bird can eat it in 45 minutes: in summer, wet food quickly sour, and in winter it freezes and becomes unsuitable for consumption.
It is possible to prepare mash as with use of water, and with application for moistening of milk and the remains of liquid food from the general table. It is also useful to add vitamin-mineral complexes to food, and sometimes salt (normalizes the level of sodium in the body of a bird). 
Particular attention should be paid nutrition of young stock. In this case, the approximate feeding scheme is as follows:
- On the first day after the birth of small ducks, they feed often, up to 8 times a day. For the role of feed, a mixture of eggs with mixed feed will do, and if the chicks do not want to eat, you may have to feed them by hand.
- Starting from the third day of life, porridge masses, including chopped greens, are gradually introduced into the diet.
- With high activity at the end of the first week of the life of the young, it can be released outside, but only in good weather. It is also useful to include in the menu vitamin supplements (sold in veterinary pharmacies in finished form), which will reduce the likelihood of rickets.
- Starting from two weeks of age, more nutritious ingredients are added to the menu of small spines: boiled potatoes, finely chopped meat products.
- The water in the house with small indouts should change several times a day and keep room temperature.
Read also about the features of breeding musk ducks at their summer cottage: incubation at home, maintenance, care and feeding of indoutiat.
Muscovy ducks are almost omnivorous, but corn remains the favorite food. Feed adult birds can be fresh cabbage leaves, linseed cake, green legumes, beet tops and even kitchen waste. Bread is better not to give, and boiled potatoes can take no more than 20% of the total amount of food produced.
Video: Musk Duck Diet
Important! At any time of the year hot food and drink should be completely excluded from the diet of indoutok.
Bird care
Indoot care can not be called a very difficult task, but without some knowledge here is not enough.
Among the most significant aspects stand out:
- Cleaning house and place of walking. Unlike chickens, ducks do not rake, and trample even more litter, so food and feces can mix in it. Once inside the body, such a mixture can cause various diseases of birds, which, of course, is very undesirable. The regularity of removing the top layer of the litter depends on the number of livestock and the size of the room, but in any case, cleaning is carried out at least once every 2-3 days.
- Walking. For well-being, indoouts need to ensure sufficient activity throughout the day. Birds rush in the morning and evening, so you can let them out after 10 in the morning and pick them up at sunset. If you do not want the spikes to move freely in the yard, you can fence them with a net, only water and dry food should always be inside. It is also useful to organize feathered "pools" by digging out small grooves or by installing water tanks. The water in these tanks must be changed.
- Vaccination. Ducklings are sometimes exposed to viral hepatitis and soon die. It is very difficult to treat the disease, but timely vaccination of the livestock will help prevent its development. The vaccine is given twice: in the fourth and eighth week of bird life, by subcutaneous injection. When breeding in disadvantaged areas, vaccinations begin with the third week of life of the ducklings, and revaccination is carried out after another two to three weeks.
- Timely replacement of water and cleaning of food residues. Indeliity has always been in good health, but in order to improve their immunity, it is important to monitor the quality of what they consume.
- Regular inspection of birds and timely isolation of diseased individuals. If a duck refuses to eat and looks sluggish, it is worth while to put it in the quarantine zone and, if necessary, treat it.
Did you know? Only female ducks quack, and drakes of many breeds rarely make any sounds at all.
Conditions of detention
- Practically any room will be suitable for holding indoutok, the temperature in which will be able to stay constantly within +16 ° C, and the humidity will be no higher than 60-70% (for small chickens the optimum temperature values will be slightly higher). The size of the duckling should correspond to the number of spines (per 1 sq. M not more than 3 birds).
- As for the internal arrangement of the room, the floor and the litter material on it deserves special attention. For the role of the latter, straw is perfect, and so that it does not damp, with the onset of cold weather you will have to arrange heating in the house.
- In the place of feeding or high humidity, it is reasonable to cover the floor surface with a grid, with a cell size of 24x24 or 24x30 mm. Feeders placed in a duck house must have partitions so that the spikes do not scatter food. Drinking bowls, if possible, are better attached to the wall, but only so that birds can freely drink and not spill liquid.
- In order to sleep and lay eggs in the house, nests are made in the size of 40x50 cm and height of 8-10 cm. This space will be enough for 2-3 individuals.
- The optimal length of daylight when the contents of the spines are to be within 14 hours, so in the winter time you will have to illuminate the room (electric light bulbs at the rate of 5 W per 1 sq. M of area will fit).
- When breeding poultry on an industrial scale, you need to take care of a good ventilation system, while when breeding a small number of ducks at home, it is enough to ventilate the house rather regularly (but only without drafts).
Important! Given the good ability to fly, when organizing walking for musk ducks, it is advisable to stretch the net over the fence or cut the flight feathers to the bird, eliminating the possibility of escape.
Video: Musk Duck Benefits
Musk Duck Reviews
Due to the unpretentiousness of the spines to the conditions of detention and care, even novice poultry farmers can be engaged in breeding them, having applied relatively little to this. At the same time, this is a great view for breeding on an industrial scale, so in any case it makes sense to get more closely acquainted with its nuances and characteristics.
