Peking duck breeders require

Ducks
Peking duck breeder production is a highly specialised area of commercial poultry activities. The reproductive capacity of parent stock is very high and ranks between that of a layer and a broiler breeder. However, there are a number of aspects in the management requirement of this species that make Peking duck breeders distinctively unique and interesting to work with.
By Hermann Klein-Hessling, Ph.D., International Poultry Consulting Services, Inc., Everberg, Belgium (E-mail: hkleinhessling@tele2allin.be)

here are two primary suppliers for Peking duck parent stock in Europe, namely Grimaud Freres from France and Cherry Valley from the UK. From a production point of view, Europe has a significant commercial Peking duck meat production in Germany (23 million), the UK (10 million), France (4 million) and the Netherlands (3 million). The remaining European countries are largely negligible in terms of Peking duck production and breeding. Globally, the biggest market for Peking duck breeders and Peking meat consumption is China. It is estimated that more than 400 million Peking ducks are placed every year. Within the EU, the consumption and distribution of Peking duck meat differs greatly. In Germany, for example, duck meat is sold predominantly as cut or frozen product or as frozen whole duck. However, in recent years, there has been a trend towards the production of pre-cooked, ready-to-eat entries (complete meals) for easy oven preparation and simple microwave applications. Conversely, France produces Peking duck meat mainly for the local Chinese market. The country also sells a fair volume of duck parts and cuts to Germany. Although France does not

take the leading position in terms of Peking duck meat production and consumption, it ranks first in Europe in hatching egg and duckling production. France produces approx. 4 million Peking ducklings per year, 40 million mallard ducklings and about 40 million Muscovy ducklings.

competitive products

In France, Orvia, through its selection centre Gourmaud Selection, has bred its own Peking and Muscovy strains through intensive breeding and selection methods. Specifically, Orvias standard Peking duck parent stock lines consisting of a female line called CKM and a male line called MPM are, in terms of technical performance, very competitive in the global duck breeder business, as well as in the international marketplace. For example, egg production, fertility, hatchability and liveability of male and female breeders and ultimately ducklings per female are performing comparably well with the lines of the UK-based competitor. At the level of the commercial end product bodyweight, daily gain, mortality and carcass yield are rarely discernable between the strains of the two breeder companies. Several years ago, Orvia began testing

parent candidates for feed conversion ratio (FCR) to rapidly improve the economically important trait of FCR. Using this technique, Orvia has improved the FCR performance of its standard product, on average, by about 8 points per generation, which is expected to continue to improve at the same rate in the future.

Figure 1 - Bodyweight development of Orvia Peking duck female ckM and male MPM from 1 through 60 weeks of age
4000 3500 3000 Bodyweight (g) 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56 Age (weeks) Male - MPM Female - CKM

Housing and rearing

In Europe, commercial scale-type brooding and rearing of Peking duck parent stock is typically performed in well-insulated, well-ventilated and light controlled floor housing systems. The ducklings are brooded in rings/ compartments of no more than 200-500 ducklings per compartment. Each ring must have its own heat source. Stocking densities within the ring will vary depending on litter, ventilation and heating capabilities to maintain favourable floor or litter conditions. The building should be pre-heated at least one day prior to arrival of the ducklings to ensure that concrete floors and litter have warmed up sufficiently. A temperature of about 35C should be targeted inside the compartments near

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e special management
Nest box management and egg collection
Peking ducks require a lot of nest boxes compared to other poultry species. This relates to their egg laying pattern. Usually not more than 3.0-3.5 females can be allocated to one nest. In lightcontrolled housing, approx. 80-90% of the daily egg production is laid within the first two hours after the lights come on. The laying patter (daily peak of egg laying) does not shift in light-controlled buildings to later parts in the day as it does in broiler and turkey breeders as the flock progresses through the laying cycle. This distinct egg laying pattern provides a natural biological basis for achieving high fertility rates, since most matings can or will take place at a time when there is no hard shelled egg in the uterus. Likewise, it is rather easy to time artificial insemination procedures (for pure-lines, etc.) effectively and conveniently into a daily farm activity schedule. Nest boxes are usually very simple wooden constructions. Typically, they have no gate to prevent multiple females from entering the nest. Common dimensions are 40x40 cm. They are also often completely open at the top which keeps them nicely illuminated. Nest boxes can be grouped at one side of the barn in a separate area. This method means that the females can be kept out of the nest area after all the eggs have been laid and makes it rather easy to prevent hens from entering the nest during the day. Although Peking ducks do not express broodiness or incubation behaviour in a significant way, separation from the nest is an effective preventive management tool to diminish the impact from this natural behaviour. Maintaining clean nest boxes by adding high quality straw and shavings regularly is a prerequisite to secure good hatchability. Eggs should be collected at least 2-3 times per day. The unique, highly condensed laying pattern allows for less frequent egg collections than in other commercial poultry species. However, extensive exposure to heat and unsanitary conditions for eggs that remain in the barn for long periods of time impair hatchability and must be avoided. Eggs should be stored on the farm at about 18C with nearly 70-80% relative humidity. As with all commercial poultry, hatching egg quality deteriorates with storage duration. Ideally, eggs should not be stored much more than 2-3 days on the farm. Also, in the cooler at the hatchery, hatchability continues to decline particularly after the eggs are more than one week old. Empirical analysis suggest a daily decline in hatchability of 1% if the eggs are 8-10 days or older.

the heat source on day 1, while the background temperature in the building should range from 25-27C. As with other poultry, the behaviour of the ducklings should serve as a guide for environmental adjustments and precede standard table values and operation manuals. At around 5 days of age, compartments must be gradually enlarged to allow the ducklings more space and to maintain litter conditions. At 15 days of age, ducklings should occupy about 50% of the barn and by about 3 weeks of age, all ducklings should be able to move freely through the entire building. Barn temperature will be dropped beginning at about 5 days of age by lowering temperature 1C every day until a 15-16C background temperature is reached at about 2 weeks of age. Peking ducks do not perform well when started only on nipple drinkers. Provisions with supplemental bell-type drinkers or troughs are essential and the risk of a water shortage may be higher during heat stress conditions if only nipple drinkers are used. After brooding, if only bell-type drinkers or water troughs are used, it is advisable to provide one drinker or trough for

every 150-200 ducks.

stocking density and feed

After the initial brooding phase, breeder ducks are raised at a stocking density of 3.5-5.0 ducks per square metre. This figure encompasses both females and males. Applied stocking densities vary greatly and depend on season, individual ventilation capabilities of the house, the ability to maintain litter conditions and the general management skill of the farm operator. Furbishing houses with slats in the drinker area has many advantages. Water restriction during rearing is also a very helpful and common tool to maintain litter conditions. Peking ducks require excellent pellet quality to avoid feed wastage and to obtain efficient feed intake supporting maximum growth. Selection of suitable feed pans and managing feed levels in the feed pans correctly (not too high) are helpful in achieving this goal. However, floor feeding systems similar to those applied in broiler breeders have also proven very beneficial in breeder Peking ducks. They help maintain flock uniformity by increasing the feeder
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space substantially and give the chance for all ducks to feed simultaneously. Even the best pellet quality from the feed mill can get damaged when the selected pellet size does not fit the available feed system in the house.

Male and female weight

Breeder males and females are commonly delivered at one day of age and raised in the same house, but in separate compartments. The males are introduced to the females at about 15 weeks of age. Bodyweight differences exist and are maintained during the feed restriction phase of both males and females. However, at peak of lay, the females may have equalised their bodyweight with the males or are even slightly heavier than the male breeder Peking duck. This weight relationship is usually maintained till the end of the production period. For example, during production, in the current Orvia breeder package (CKM/MPM cross) the males will usually never be heavier than the females. This is very different from broiler breeder or turkey breeder males.

Management during rearing

Peking ducks demand high quality

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Ducks

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litter materials. They must be highly absorptive and free of fungal contamination. Sensitivity and susceptibility to aspergillus infection in ducks is very high and of great concern, particularly when the annual straw harvest has been problematic due to wet weather conditions. Straw and/or wood shavings are used as litter material. Peking ducks are also susceptible to foot pad burns and foot pad dermatitis. Like in broilers and turkeys, this relates to a problem of excessive and/or wet manure on the litter and the challenge to keep this litter dry. Daily additions of litter material together with sufficient ventilation capacity and appropriate stocking density, as well as intensive water management (drinkers on slats) are necessary to minimise this condition. Sufficient drinker and feeder lines also influence litter conditions. When more lines are used, it is possible to spread and place equal pressure on the litter throughout the entire house. Water restriction, particularly during the night, but also during day time, is important and effective to maintain good litter.

Feed production requirements

Peking ducks start very well on well-textured crumbled feed for the first couple of days. After 4-5 days on crumbles they can be gradually switched to 2.0-2.5 mm pellets. Beginning with the grower feed at 4 weeks of age they can be placed onto 3.0 mm pellets. Acceptable feed intakes have also been achieved with 4.0 mm pellets. Ultimately, the pellet size selection decision should be made in conjunction with the practical and logistical aspects of the feed mill. Average feed consumption of the CKM female breeder Peking duck and MPM male breeder is about 18.7 and 20.5 kg from 0-20 weeks of age, respectively. During lay (42 weeks) feed consumption amounts to approx. 70 and 65 kg for females and males, respectively. Peking ducks have a very different feed-to-water ratio than other commercial poultry. On average, for Peking ducks the rule of thumb is about 1:4. This underlines the importance of controlling water consumption and explains the high demands and challenges in maintaining litter quality. An adult Peking duck uses about 0.9-1.1 litre of water per day.

shown to increase egg production substantially and improved fertility. Feed restriction and bodyweight control programmes vary with company and strain. They typically start between 4-6 weeks of age and aim to follow a predetermined growth profile using a feeding regime that the males and females are gradually introduced to (Figure 1). Besides preventing the ducks from growing too big too soon, great emphasis is placed on maintaining a high degree of flock uniformity. This requires that all ducks have the opportunity to eat simultaneously. Feed and water space must therefore be sufficient to achieve this goal. Recommended feed space allocations during rearing are 5 cm/duck on circular-type feed pans and 10 cm per duck on linear troughs while one bell-type drinker per 100-200 ducks is usually sufficient to meet the water demands, depending on the stage and intensity of feed restriction. It is also very critical and important to ensure a gradual release from feed restriction. Return to ad-libitum feeding should not occur too quickly prior to egg production, as the optimal body condition for sexual maturity needs to be maintained. Furthermore, it helps controlling the initial egg size and diminishes the occurrence of a potential prolapse and mortality problem. Precise weekly bodyweight measurements of male and female ducks at a rate of 3-4% of the birds in the flock are necessary to track the bodyweight development and to be able to take fact-based corrective action in feed allocation if necessary.

lighting programmes during rearing. Male breeder ducks do not need any special lighting regime that deviates from the female programme to achieve full sexual maturity and semen production before the females commence egg production. In modern-day controlledfed Peking ducks, in principle, the onset of sexual maturity and reproductive activity is predominantly controlled through changes in feed allocation and much less through light duration as is the case in other breeding poultry. However, a significant production factor is light intensity. An increase in light intensity from rearing to laying promotes sexual maturation and enhances egg production up to peak of lay. The building must be uniformly illuminated. Over-stimulation with a too aggressive lighting programme at the time of transfer into the laying house can also contribute to prolapse and mortality.

Ducks

sexual maturation and early egg production

Breeder males and females are usually transferred to the laying house at 18-20 weeks of age. It is very important to check the female ducks for signs of sexual maturity (called noddings) which is a distinct forward and downward movement of the neck to the left and right side when the female is walking through the house. Depending on the applied lighting and feeding programme, no more than 20% of the females should be nodding at 17 weeks of age and no more than 40-50% at 22 weeks of age. Together with the spread of the pelvic bones, these two parameters are good and reliable indicators of advancement in sexual maturation. Egg production should commence at 23 weeks of age. At 25-26 weeks of age, about 10% of the females should be in production. Peak egg production over 90% is reached around 32 weeks of age. If the transfer of the Peking ducks from the rearing to the layer farm takes place too late then females may begin laying on the floor. Since the ducks establish a laying pattern at the onset of lay it is very difficult to change this undesirable habit and motivate these hens to accept the regular nests upon transfer to the laying house. Sex ratios under natural mating systems typically provide one male for every five females. Males and females

Lighting

Feed restriction and bodyweight control

Modern-day Peking duck strains have been bred to produce offspring with much greater growth rates and carcass yield improvements than their 19th century ancestors. As a result, feed intake should be managed and limited during rearing. Juvenile feed restriction has

In Peking duck breeder production under northern climates, there is a strong effect of season on egg laying performance for birds managed under natural day length. Even if the ducks are raised under natural day light and subsequently placed under constant artificial light during lay, seasonal differences in performance will still persist. Research in the 1990s has shown that these seasonal effects can be overcome and excellent laying results can be achieved by providing feed restricted laying and breeding Peking ducks with 17 hours constant photoperiod per day during both rearing and laying. There are no indications that Peking ducks benefit from either step-up (other than laying sooner) or step-down
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Table 1 - Reproductive performance of Orvia ckM Peking duck breeder females through 42 weeks of lay
Parameter Performance Result Age at first egg (wks) 23 Age at peak of lay (wks) 32 Avg. duration of lay (wks) 42 Total no. of eggs/female 230 Total no. of laid eggs/hen-housed female 220 Total no. of settable eggs/hen-housed female 210 Average egg weight (g) 86 Average fertility (% candled at 12 days) 94-96 Hatchability of fertile eggs (%) 85-87 No. of ducklings per female housed 165-175

Table 2 - Dietary specifications for Orvia Peking duck breeders

Parameter Met. Energy (Kcal/kg) Crude Protein (%) Amino Acids (Total) Lysine (%) Methionine (%) TSAA (%) Calcium (%) Tot. Phosphor (min %) Avail. Phosphor (%) Sodium (%) Linoleic Acid (%) Starter 1-3 weeks 2800 18.50 1.00 0.50 0.86 0.98 0.60 0.38 0.15 1.44 Grower 4-8 weeks 2750 16.50 0.80 0.40 0.72 0.93 0.56 0.35 0.15 1.14 Developer 9-20 weeks 2700 14.40 0.70 0.33 0.65 1.02 0.58 0.33 0.15 1.11 Layer 21-end 2650 18.50 0.94 0.44 0.78 3.38 0.65 0.40 0.17 1.60

Ducks

are fed ad-libitum throughout the egg production period. Sex separate feeding during lay is not practised.

Typical breeder performance

Reproductive performance of modern-day Peking ducks is remarkably high (Table 1) for a meat-type poultry species when compared to broiler and turkey breeders. During a typical 42-week laying cycle, average hen-housed egg production exceeds 210 settable eggs per hen. Average fertility (based on candling at 12 days) amounts to 94-96%. Average hatchability of all eggs set range between 85-87%. Peking duck eggs are much bigger than broiler breeder eggs (avg. 86g; range: 78-95g) and they can easily produce approx. 165-175 ducklings per female. Prolapse of the oviduct can sometimes cause mortality. This can often be associated with a too rapid/early change from restricted feeding to ad-libitum feed allocation in the laying house resulting in undesired additional weight gain and a tendency to have increased early egg size. Adaptations to the feeding programme usually solve this problem. Parent stock liveabilities during rearing are approx. 96% for males and females and about 90-94 and 96-98%, respectively, for females and males during lay.

Nutritional specifications

Examples of dietary specifications for breeder Peking duck starter, grower, developer and layer feeds are shown in Table 2. There is no sex separate feeding applied during rearing. Males and females receive the same layer feed from the time of transfer to the layer barn (18-20 weeks of age) till the end of the egg production cycle. Durations of feeding phases are identical. Males and females are control-fed after an initial brooding phase and receive ad-libitum feeding during the laying period. Typically, the bodyweight dimorphism as defined in height and size between male and female Peking duck parent stock is rather small. Therefore, under natural mating conditions in littered floor systems, sex separate feeding is technically very difficult to accomplish due to the lack or very minute differences in physical attributes between males

and females. There is no published research on breeder Peking duck nutrition that indicates benefits from feeding males and females differently, nor is there published data on positive impacts on reproductive performance by feeding more than one layer feed from 20-65 weeks of age. New research in this area would be much appreciated particularly in light of the fact that the Peking duck has a reproductive capacity closely resembling that of a commercial layer. Layers benefit from adapting rations with increased age to improve health, longevity and cost of production. Physiologically, there is also no need to feed a male Peking duck a high calcium high protein diet ad-libitum throughout the entire breeding cycle. Peking ducks, like all other ducks, are very vulnerable when exposed to mycotoxins. Specifically aflatoxins are very detrimental. Contamination rates of less than 30 ppb interfere with normal protein metabolism and the deleterious effects are elevated when low protein diets are employed. Therefore, regular quality control on feed ingredients and a prophylactic supplementation with an aflatoxins binder may be necessary when there is evidence of a contamination problem. Close attention should also be paid to premixes and calcium/phosphorus sources as these are known to occasionally carry heavy metal contaminations (cadmium, lead and arsenic). Characteristic of all ducks is there ability to utilise and digest fibre better than chickens and turkeys. Consequently, metabolisable energy values for specific ingredients can be significantly greater (5-15%) in ducks than those of corresponding numbers for chickens. While this can lower feed cost, it also necessitates the determination of a correctly adjusted energy to protein ratio.

drop in feathers (not a moult) that can be noticed on the floor at the end of the rearing period/transfer time at about 20 weeks of age. Experienced producers associate this initial feather drop as a sign of approaching sexual maturity and receptiveness of the female to mate. The same pattern of feather loss is again observed at about 23 weeks of age. This second feather drop is associated with the onset of egg production, which will follow shortly. The feather coverage of Peking ducks is extremely thick, complete and intact even in the abdominal and chest area after many weeks in the barn as compared to broiler and turkey breeders. Feather rows appear to run much closer to each other and more densely (underlying down feathers) and, thus, cover the entire body surface very well, even under damp litter conditions. It is therefore much less likely for Peking ducks (breeders and meat-type) to develop signs of breast buttons and/or breast blemishes. Throughout the relatively long laying cycle (40-45 weeks), female Peking ducks maintain an excellent feather coverage and generally a good overall individual feather quality. Even the effects of the frequent natural matings are hardly recognisable at the end of the production cycle on the necks of the females.

common health and disease challenges

Moulting, feather quality and feather coverage

In light-controlled houses, Peking ducks do not undergo a juvenile moult or feather replacement other than down feather replacement after the initial brooding of the ducklings. However, depending on the applied lighting programme, there is a typical but small
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The most common vaccinations in Peking duck parent stock include vaccinations against hepatitis by injection usually at 10 and 20 weeks of age, and vaccinations against Pasteurellosis by injection at 14 and 20 weeks of age. Additionally, flocks may be vaccinated against Salmonella, particularly S. Enteritidis and S. Typhymurium at 14 and 20 weeks of age. In recent years, a form of Pneumo virus has affected duck breeders. Males and females suffer from it. Pneumo virus infection can be associated with some very significant drops in egg production. Often the flocks recover poorly and do not achieve previous levels of performance. Turkeys are often affected as well. In areas where ducks and turkeys are raised side by side, this can be a significant problem.

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