DUCK BREEDING GUIDE

Raising duck is a profitable business. You only need little effort to start in order to produce meats and eggs. Ducks does not need heavy effort to maintain. They only need any kind of shelter and minimal care.

They can eat anything around like the palatable young leaves of plants including weeds, insects, snails, corn and small organisms in the mud. No need for them to be vaccinated as they are tolerant to animal diseases and parasites except in extreme cases but not all. Continues production of meat and eggs you can have throughout the year.

A little shade made of bamboo poles and bamboo slats and nipa are enough to shelter them from heavy rain and intense heat of the sun. You can let them roam around the house if you are willing to be molested by their eating habits even your ornamental plants can be damage by their hard bill.

But the most ideal place for them to stay is to make a bigger pond. Make distant enclosure for easy movement. Don’t let the pond dry up. You should have source of water to fill up. They are fond of swimming and eating whatever they can find in the water. Backyard growing of ducks is another alternative if you don’t have nearest river or stream around.

Select right breed that can produce more eggs during the year. Khaki Campbell is the best. They are resistant to disease.

He has good larger size of eggs. They never set eggs or raise or brood the chicks. It is for egg production only. It subsists on any kinds of grains and food remains.

Put drinking trough or bigger metal container to accommodate enough water. It should be clean free from any impurities.

The measurement of your enclosure will depend on your choice. If you want to raise bigger number of ducklings or young then size will vary to avoid congestion due to little space they can move.

Keep the surrounding area of the enclosure clean from many kinds of weeds to give ducks a homely environment.

The matured ducks will weigh 1.9 kilograms. The drake can weigh 2 kilograms. They are good source of meat. One female alone can produce a total of 320 eggs in a year.

In early stage of caring the young, proper attention is needed especially in feeding them. Have enough stocks of grind grains as feeds as they can’t swallow a bigger one. A powdered vitamin supplements for animals to be mix in water will be given to the ducklings according to schedule for fast growth and development until they are capable of mending their own food choices.

During the flowering stage, the animal shade should be made of bamboo slats easy to clean their droppings.

Give occasional supplement of grind vegetables or leaves of young grass to keep their voracious eating habits.

In extreme cases when there is sign of intolerable flu-like disease, prevent it by giving necessary antibiotics to get rid of infection. It should be done immediately. Separate diseased ducklings from unaffected one to stop the spread.

GROUPER RAISING GUIDE

Grouper farming is profitable if you know how to raise them. It is a meticulous project to be able to raise them properly. The fish are found in marine water living freely in their watery environment.

It is an expensive kind of fish in the market few people can afford to buy. There were only limited catch a fisherman had in his fishing days causing the price of the fish so high due to limited supply.

To remedy the shortage of supply, fishpond owners resorted to grouper farming. They constructed fishpond based on the desired size. The pond has higher dikes for the fish to be secured. The owner maintained the water level of the pond to 4 feet. The bottom of the pond was layered with sand not mud controlling the presence of organic matter that may affect the growth of the fish. They raised fingerlings in the pond that measured 3 to 6 inches. In a hectare, it can accommodate more or less 5,500 stocks. If the fingerlings are less than 3 inches in size, the pond can be stock 11,000 fish in a single farming.

In raising grouper, it has stages to observe. If the stocks are still small, they are raised in the nursery pond. Then when they become bigger, they are stock in rearing pond. The bigger one is separated in another pond away from the small size to avoid cannibalism.

They are feed with fish meal or commercial live fingerlings of other fish raised by breeder for feeding purposes.

It was recommended that the feeding rate with life fingerlings is 10 tin containers weighing 50 kilos enough to handle grouper fingerlings in a hectare pond. They are feed every 2 weeks aside from feeding with commercial fish meal or other food alternatives.

The feeding schedule is later in the afternoon at dusk or early in the morning at dawn before the early morning light where they are most active.

Most fishponds were placed near the sea. The pond is little higher to the sea in low tide. The purpose is to change the quality of water during high tide. With enough gate entrance, the water valve controls the outbound water to the sea during low tide and during the inbound water to the pond in high tide. Fouled water may affect the growth of the fish or in higher mortality rate if there is no enough oxygen in the water. But if proper care is carried out with better feeding techniques and clean water atmosphere in the pond, it gives higher survival rate.

After rearing period of six months, the fish can attain the average weight of 1 kilo.

The fishpond owners or caretakers are very observant to the condition of the raised fingerlings. They checked it daily that they are not diseased that will cause the reduction in their population. Bacterial infection to the fish is common in pond especially if care and maintenance is poor not in accordance to strict supervision and control.

If proper maintenance is done properly, better feeding techniques, quality of water and disease prevention, fish can be harvested to the size competitive in the wet market.

In harvesting the adult fish, the caretaker of the pond has to catch them using net or by drawing the water out of the pond retaining only a little to be able to harvest them. Selection process depends on the size most profitable to sell. Those that are substandard in size will remain in the pond waiting for the next batch of harvesting.

GRASS CARP CULTURE

It is profitable raising grass carp if you know the proper production of the fish. You can raised them in fresh water pond and feed them with grass. You dependence to commercial fish feeds will be reduced.

The pond also needs fertilization to allow the minute plants to grow abundantly. You can alternate the feeds by using rice bran and copra meal. The pharyngeal teeth of grass carp have the ability for cutting and grinding the grass into smaller bits.

The debris of the left-over foods in the pond enable organisms to grow like bacteria, algae, protozoa and other smallest organisms normally found in the pond. These are also the favorite foods for the fingerlings.

Maintain the cleanliness of the pond to avoid any materials that can affect the growth of the fish.

The food of the fry are small-minute plankton, an aquatic animals live in dark and stagnant water. As it grows bigger, they are feeding the sprouts and leaves of the plants.  As the fish reached the size of 10 centimeters in length, they eat only vegetation found in the ponds.

The ponds should have enough size to accommodate 12,000 fingerlings. It should have deep of 1.5 meters. In order to increase the supply of foods for the fingerlings (fry) the ponds should be applied with compost, rice bran, animal manure and inorganic fertilizer to induce the growth of water grass every 15 days.

The 12,000 fingerlings in the pond need 20 kilos of tender grass every day. It should have enough water grasses or land grasses to be able to sustain their appetite.

Raising grass carp should be given intensive care at the start of their growth until they reach the ideal size to have competitive price in the market. It is important to have adequate supply of fish foods necessary for continues feeding.

Raising carp is profitable if you have the patient and resourcefulness to raise the kind of fish that is favorites in most households for one of the palatable food on the table.

POULTRY RAISING GUIDE

Transfer healthy pullets to the laying area. Light breed is ready to start laying when they are about five months old. Heavy pullets started laying eggs few weeks later. The increase in egg-laying capacity depend in good management and the kind of breed used. It should came from a good strain that has the history of increased laying capacity.

Make a routine work to clean the laying house thoroughly. It should be done 2 weeks before transferring the pullets. The feeders and water troughs are in working condition. Laying hens wanted a clean, well-ventilated and dry, quiet laying house.

Examine every pullet. Use only those healthy ones. Any poorly developed pullets with stunted growth should be culled. Healthy birds are always active and vigorous and healthy, well-developed body with yellow pigmented beaks and shanks.

A laying birds produces eggs over a year. If the profitability of a group of laying birds decreased, then you have to select which of them be taken out in laying area. You have to develop a group of pullets as your alternative replacement so that you are assured that you have a combined supply of table eggs.

It is your responsibility to have a continues flow of water and feeds. They keep on eating during the day. Give your hens plenty of high protein foods including vitamins and minerals. The laying mash should be ready at all times. There are still other kinds of feed that you need in the entire life of your poultry production. You also need all-mash, pellets and crumbles as your alternate feeds.

In feeding, you have to avoid wasting feeds. Do not fill the feeder more than what is needed in order that when you do the next serving it is always fresh and in good appetizing condition. Your feeder should have guard or lip to control the feed to be scratch or beak. Always make sure that the feeder is level with the back of the birds. Construct your layer house defensively with screen wires around to prevent entry of flying birds and rodents to eat feeds outside. Putting windbreaks is important to keep the feed blown away by the winds.

The amount of feed that you refill every day should be in accordance to their needs and their desire to eat. During cold days, laying birds consume less food in a day or if the temperature is hot. In feeding, give your laying flock an energy boosting formulation where they consume only less food during the day. That means a saving for the cost of feeds. A young pullets eat more feeds for their continued growth. Hens will productively lay eggs if the quantity and quality of the feeds are always available to them.

Observe their feeding habits. If a laying hen reduces his normal eating requirements and no good appetite then something is wrong that you have to check and observe. There is a possibility that these laying birds has health problem that should be segregated immediately especially if he showed weakness and less energetic and sickly.

Any remaining stale feeds in the feeder should be remove and replace it with a fresh one especially if it is no longer palatable. Feeding be done twice a day (morning and afternoon). Make water is available to the layers at all times. They need to drink more especially during high temperature. This is also to keep a normal production rate of eggs. Water troughs should always have a continues flow of clean water. Any left-over should be taken out to avoid the growth of molds which is toxic to the birds. Water is used in giving additional nutrients to the laying hen and also for dispensing medication for their protection.

Proper lighting is needed in the poultry house. The recommended height of the bulb from the floor is 2.8 meters. Do culling of unproductive layer every now and then. They should be removed in the laying house and placed separately. Remove those with shrunken combs and wattles, pale and dry body, have dull eyes, thin and low of energy and have poor appetite. Egg collection should be done 3 times a day or as often as possible especially during hot days. Do the sorting according to the standard size. Any dirty eggs should be check and clean for any flaws before bringing to the storage room.

Keep the eggs in a cool room with temperature of 150'C or lower with humidity of 70' degrees. The egg collection troughs always clean to avoid dirtying or have stain embedded to the eggs.

For the project to succeed, it lies on how you done prevention and control of parasites and many diseases. It can only be realized if you as poultry raisers can achieve the proper management. What is important is effective sanitation measures. To ensure your laying pullets protected from diseases, it should be vaccinated. Do a correct feeding, good housing facilities, comfortable locations. Remove all manures and litters. Wash the area, walls, ceiling, floor, equipment, etc. with water and detergents to remove dirt and dust,then use disinfectants . Cleanliness inside and outside the laying area, proper care and other safety measures is needed to prevent infection to spread out to the laying flocks. If it cannot be controlled, then your project is doomed to failure.

In having a poultry production, it is a must to have your own veterinarian who are knowledgeable when it comes to control. His function is more on prevention. Any warning signs of a disease can be prevented and necessary measures is carried out.

MUDFISH BREEDING GUIDE

A mudfish (Channa striata) can be found in swamps, mangrove, rivers, rice fields and lakes. It spawns throughout the year growing from 10 to 37 cm in length. The fish matures sexually when it reaches 24 centimeters. It is a native fish used for food. It has a supra-pharyngeal organs capable for air-breathing.

It can be breed locally. A concrete tank with the measurement of 4x2x2 meters is the ideal size of the tank. The breeding fish should at least 30 centimeters weighing 400 grams or greater (both male and female). A female has a wide girth. Prior to spawning, feed it with small fish or earthworms for the period of 2 weeks before spawning period at the water depth of .03 meters. During spawning it should be increase into .06 meters.

Most often the fish spawn in the early morning. She will spawn at the side or near the surface of the tank. The male and female fish will slowly swim around its other where the male coils around the female for the release of eggs which are to be fertilized. A male breeder can release more or less 5,500 eggs immediately. If the male breeder is large enough then he can make more at one single release of eggs.

The eggs has oil globules in order to float the eggs to the surface of the water. Hatching be done within 3 days. The fry can swim within 5 days. The fry can be feed on zooplankton, rotifiers and copepods, earthworms, maggots or other live feeds. the recommended market size of fingerlings is up to 250 grams. Continues feeding be done by using fine rice bran and ground trash.

Mudfish should be given enough feeds daily to avoid become a predator by feeding on its own kind. To avoid cannibalistic attitude, sorting should be done by sizes regularly. Those with smaller size, should be segregated and put in a separate tank. Same sizes should be grown together.

The disease of mudfish is caused by fungal infection. It can be controlled by maintaining good water quality in the tank. Any diseased fingerlings should be taken out from them.

After reaching the recommended market size,it will be sold live to wet market. Mudfish can survive without water for the maximum of one day. It only need their body to keep moist. Others put the fish in an aquarium big enough to accommodate them to keep them fresh and alive for buyers.

This fish can be cook, roasted, dried and salted. It is a delicacy if cooked with coconut.