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So-called duck breed the blue favorite is actually a broiler cross of ducks intended for growing for meat. Officially, it is believed that a cross was bred on the basis of a Peking duck with an admixture of Bashkir and black white-breasted, but the color of the favorite ducks is very similar to the color of the real breed of ducks "Swedish blue duck". Perhaps the second parent breed of this cross is the Swedish Blue.
The cross is completely "straight from the tin" and, in fact, is still experimental. More precisely, this is generally an intermediate result, which turned out to be very successful. In theory, the advertisement promises 7 kg of live weight for a drake.
In favor of the fact that one of the breeds involved in breeding the blue favorite was the Swedish blue, the splitting of colors in the offspring of the blue favorite ducks also speaks. In the second generation, the favorite breed ducklings can be not only blue, but also black, dark blue, light blue, fawn, brown, white and various variations of intermediate colors.
For comparison. The official standard for Swedish blue ducks is blue only, but Swedish ducks can also be black, silver and fawn. Which is suspiciously consistent with the blue favorite's color options.
After that, it is enough to remember that the breed of Bashkir ducks is in fact a purebred Peking one, in which the wild color gene suddenly began to appear, and all the color options for the blue favorite become understandable. No mysticism and telegony. Strict color genetics.
It should also be borne in mind that the blue color is a black color with a clarifier gene. Which, by the way, is not present in any of the official parent breeds. That is, when crossing two blue specimens, the appearance of at least 25% of black specimens is guaranteed.
Black ducks of the blue favorite breed are not recommended to be crossed with each other, since in this case it is impossible to get a blue color. No wonder. If a clarifier gene is present in the genotype, it will always appear in the phenotype. If the individual is black, then it does not have a clarifier gene.
At the same time, it is not very desirable to interbreed with each other and blue individuals, since the fertilization of eggs will be lower. More precisely, the clarifier gene in the homozygous state is lethal for the embryo. An embryo with such a set of genes will die as soon as it begins to develop. If you set a goal breeding ducks in color, then it is better to cross black with blue. In this case, with a high fertility of eggs, you can get 50% of blue ducklings and 50% of black ones.
When crossing two blue individuals, 50% of blue ducklings, 25% of black ducklings and 25% of dead eggs will turn out. This is with an ideal 100% fertilization. Since not all eggs are fertilized in birds, the number of ducklings will be even smaller.
Description of the blue favorite duck breed
The favorite breed of ducks is very large in size, significantly exceeding the size of the parent breeds. And this circumstance again speaks in favor of crossing among themselves genetically far-apart breeds of ducks. In principle, it can be Peking with a black white-breasted, but the latter does not have a clarifier gene.
The favorite is a large stocky duck with a dense build and an oblong body. Feet, adapted to support a significant weight for ducks, are short, powerful and wide apart.
The color of the paws and beak depends on the color of the individual, but the blue ducks of this breed usually have a beak almost blue.
The advertised weight of the favorite drake of 5 kg can be obtained only due to heterosis, by crossing Peking with white-breasted or Swedish. The Bashkirian is still too close to the Peking duck. However, more optimistic advertising promises a weight of 7 kg, that is, the weight of an Indo-Drake, which is hardly realistic.
The duck weighs up to 4 kg. There are also disagreements about her egg production. Somewhere you can find a figure of 150 eggs per year, somewhere 120, and somewhere and 100. Most likely, the number of eggs laid depends on the diet. When feeding brood duck livestock with compound feed for laying hens, the number of eggs will be maximum, since the vitamins and microelements added to this feed stimulate ovulation in birds.
It is better not to use a ration that is poorly balanced from self-made feeds, since the cross is industrial.
Since the Blagovar cross is splitting according to color, then besides the blue, there is also another branch of this cross: the red favorite. In addition to colors, these branches of crosses do not differ from each other. But, according to the reviews of poultry farmers who bought the incubation egg from the Blagovarskaya poultry farm, the eggs from which the ducklings overgrown with red feathers hatched in the incubators were marked "Kr". So it is quite possible that the red color is bred not as a splitting from the total mass of the favorite ducks of the breed, but as a completely independent branch.
The favorite duck has completely lost its incubation instinct, so its breeding in private yards is possible only through an incubation egg or by laying eggs under other layers.
However, in crosses, splitting occurs not only by colors, but also by productive characteristics, therefore, in order to guarantee the production of a large meat duck, the hatching egg will have to be bought from the direct manufacturer of this cross.
But since the desire of the people to get offspring in their backyard is ineradicable, then buyers of hatching eggs after hatching of ducklings always have a question: how to distinguish a duck from a drake.
Determining the gender of favorites
The blue duck favorite in color is practically indistinguishable from the drake even in adulthood. Unless the drake has a slightly darker head. But at the age of two months, the favorites, like other mallards, have the same color. Therefore, you will have to wait until the youngsters undergo a juvenile molt and acquire features that distinguish a drake from a duck, in particular, feathers curved in a crochet in the tail area. But in this case, profitability falls, since the favorite ducks already reach a weight of about 3 kg by two months.
In addition, if you slaughter the young later, then a lot of hemp from the feathers remains in the skin. This is the main reason for complaints about the breed. Most likely, the fact is that the owners, wanting to leave part of the livestock for divorce, waited for the ducks to molt.
There is another way to determine where the drake is and where is the duck. Various quacks are clearly audible in the video.
Ducks quack loudly and drakes whisper. It is enough to catch a young duck and listen to how loudly it will be indignant to determine its gender. So there is no need to wait for a juvenile molt.
They are no more quiet than any other mallard: after they have eaten.
Incubating duck eggs
So far, the blue favorite cross is not widespread, but the ducks have an unusual color and attract exotic lovers. It is much more convenient to transport a hatching egg over long distances than live ducks. In addition, since the favorite ducks do not consider it necessary to incubate ducklings, those owners who want to get offspring from them at home are forced to use incubation of eggs.
When receiving offspring from their own livestock, duck eggs are harvested within 5 - 7 days. Eggs are not washed, but they must be clean when placed in the incubator.Therefore, they try to collect eggs as often as possible so that the ducks do not have time to get them dirty. This breed is a big fan of burying eggs in litter.
After laying eggs in the incubator, the scheme for breeding ducklings is similar to that for any other breed of mallards.
After hatching, the ducklings are transferred to a brooder. Although the advertisement claims that the hatchability of the favorite ducklings is very high, the veracity of this statement raises reasonable doubts, primarily because of the color. Plus bird eggs do not withstand strong turbulence. If the hatching egg has come a long way to the buyer, there is a possibility that very few ducklings will hatch simply because the parcel was shaking a lot on the way.
The hatched ducklings are distinguished by good health and safety. If the eggs have not yet been contaminated by the manufacturer. However, any poultry eggs, and not just a favorite, must be bought from a trusted manufacturer.
Blue favorites owners reviews
Reviews range from "excellent ducks, very satisfied" to "completely inadequate." A couple of examples of such reviews.
Let's summarize
Such discrepancies are possible in three cases:
- the favorite is still only the breed group. In breed groups, individuals are often split into original breeds, therefore, in fact, Bashkir ducks with a blue color can be obtained;
- with improper feeding, an industrial cross, which is an industrial cross, may simply not get the declared weight, since it needs factory feed for broilers, and not homemade mash;
- dealers who themselves are poorly versed in breeds or who want to earn extra money, sold the wrong eggs.
To avoid such problems, it is better to purchase eggs for the incubator at the blue favorite cross-breeding factory. Moreover, this is the only place where these birds are bred in large quantities. You also need to observe the regime and diet of feeding. And, most likely, adult drakes will gain their 5 kg, and ducks 4 kg.
They bought the blue favorite ducklings, they wanted to grow them for meat. At 56 days, they killed two drakes (processed carcasses of 2 kg). The rest were decided to grow further until they molt. But then my husband's hand did not rise to chop them. In November (at 5 months), the ducks were brought up, we allocated them a greenhouse, but they are there only ate and laid eggs, spent the night in an aviary, in the snow.With the exception (-25-30), we spent the night in the aviary. They entered again at the end of February. And they continue to rush to this day. During this time, more than 100 ducklings have been bred in the incubator, and 100 more are on the way (a little less will hatch). 91 ducklings were sold (those who bought for the first time applied again, who took more ducklings, some with an egg (sent to relatives). Now we have the remaining 9 ducklings growing, they are 1 month old. We are happy, those who bought ducklings from us are also happy ( grow quickly, do not get sick, eat whatever they give). Yes, also, ducks lay eggs every day (from 11 ducks 10-11 eggs per day). The egg is very tasty and nutritious. Now one of the ducks is sitting on eggs, waiting for the hatch ducklings the other day.
Well, I don’t know, I left a couple of favorites and a couple of Ukrainian steppe dancers, walked with each other, the favorite has been sitting on eggs for 25 days, ovoscoped eggs for 7 and 21 days, everything is all right there, we are waiting for babies.