QUOTE(MrFarmer @ Aug 27 2012, 11:21 AM)
Hi ah_suknat,
Say, you in Sabah?
Did some study on duck rearing but did not venture into it as
1) Very heavy eater
2) Limited market (meat)
3) My Land not suitable (water)
Spoke with a couple of people who had done / doing duck (meat), Keningau area. All of them says that the ducks has huge appetite. Manage the food and you should make it feasible. Those that had stopped also say that the feed is too high.
I guess duck eat many things, but feeding them left over, you need to process it. Also you do not have much control (on the left over). Oils, Bones etc.
If you are in Peninsular, you can see a lots of large scale duck farm on the KL-Ipoh Old road, near Kampar, Gopeng on those ex-mining pools.
I spoke with my son, culinary arts students, he say cake / pastry house uses lots of duck eggs. You may also consider Century egg? (the black 1). Do make sure the source of water, you mentioned river, you'll need to make sure it ever dries up. Quality of the water?
Hi Mrfarmer,
Yes I am in Sabah, the farm is in Ranau to be exact.
1) yeah true they are big eater, head ache! that why I am trying to find ways in reducing the cost of feed.
2)I do not plan to sell it for the meat, but more for the eggs. I read an article said 90% of poultry industry actualy do not major in producing broiler, but major in eggs producing and only sell the meat as by product.
3) I thought water is a big plus for duck rearing? since ducks LOVE water.
that what I am trying to target as well, I will try to speak with hotels and bakeries to supply them fresh ducks eggs. but cost by cost, is it more profitable then selling salted egg & century egg? those have higher margin but the low demand off set it. I wonder where I can sell salted eggs and century eggs other than super markets.
its not really river per se, more like water ways supplied for the paddy field near by. water quality is ok, gets slight muddy during heavy rain, main concern is the water might gets poisoned during paddy season, so plain to have a seperate pipe to link the clean water source to the ponds.
Added on August 28, 2012, 2:42 pmQUOTE(Michael J. @ Aug 28 2012, 03:19 AM)
ah_suknat:
RM2.50 per duckling is very cheap; RM4 is the standard resale price.
You can use feeding troughs, but you will need to find a suitable one. Rain gutters are a good choice. As for feed, free range them. Ducks are natural foragers, and they will eat what they need. Think of them as the goats of the poultry world.
A less desirable, but economically sound way is to use bulkers in their feed. This include things like coconut crumbs, ground up vegetable refuse, self caught small fish, ground up fish guts/bones/skins/scales etc. Be sure to fine grind them though. Just make sure that if you do this, the food is free from bacteria (like salmonella) since you're targeting eggs. Don't want contaminants from the feces infecting the eggs. You can add other nutrients separately using vitamins.
Just for information sake, it takes about 2.4kg of feed to get 1kg of duck eggs (roughly 14 eggs) IF you're having Khaki Campbells or Indian Runner ducks, and you free range them. Other duck breeds would take up around 4.5kg of feed to produce the same. For Khaki Campbells that are battery farmed (confined), they will consume a lot more food to produce 1kg eggs, about 3.1kg of feed in fact.
I don't support factory farming, I'm afraid. So no, I do not associate myself with battery farms for poultry or livestock.
Hi, Michael J,
suddenly I have a thought on rearing catfish as their source of protein and calcium, but cost to cost, which is more profitable? reducing food cost by rearing cat fish to feed the ducks, or rearing cat fish to sell for money? my mom told me the market prce for cat fish is RM7 per kg. the plus side in rearing catfish is they grow up fast ( 3 month?) and rather cheap to buy the bibit, plus I dont have to worry about their food as they can get it from duck manure.(if I build pen on top of the ponds), the down side is they will hide in the mud and hard to catch

. if I were to sell it, is it easier to sell compare to tilapia? I sledom go to the wet market but I dont even remember the last time I ate a catfish
If my mom eventually manage to get left over food from schools and restaurants, are they safe to consume for the ducks later? what do I need to take into consideration?
1) how to make sure the left over food are free from backeria? should I mixed anti biotic with it?
2) if they eat porks, will it make the duck eggs not halal?
is it good to feed them powdered bones for their source of calcium?(gonna get them from KFC left over

)
you also mentioned duckweed and watermillfoils, how do I grow them? do they just grow itself? are they fesible in large scale?
I can see that you are very good at pofitability calculation and project feasibility for an agriculture project, may I ask you what are main concern I need to know in starting a duck eggs production in terms of costing, how much money do I need and where does the money goes? assuming I start from sratch.
If my ultimate goal is to rear up to 10k ducks, which is better? buy the ducklings or hatch them myself? I do not plan to sell ducklings.
if I cant source the ducklings locally, is it possible to have ducklings SHIP all the way from peninsular to Sabah?
what is meant by intensive, non intensive?
thank you very much!
This post has been edited by ah_suknat: Aug 28 2012, 11:46 PM