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A female mallard duck incubates her eggs. Egg incubation is the process by which an egg, of oviparous (egg-laying) animals, develops an embryo within the egg, after the egg's formation and ovipositional release. Egg incubation is done under favorable environmental conditions, possibly by brooding and hatching the egg.
The White Muscovy and the Pekin are the two most common purebred, commercially farmed ducks. Hybrids of the two are hardier and calmer, in addition to exhibiting natural hybrid vigor. [2] The incubation period of the hybrid eggs is between the mallard and Muscovy, with an average of 32 days. About half of the eggs hatch into mulard ducks.
Cairina moschata domestica head detail. All Muscovy ducks have long claws on their feet and a wide, flat tail. In the domestic drake (male), length is about 86 cm (34 in) and weight is 4.6–6.8 kg (10–15 lb), while the domestic hen (female) is much smaller, at 64 cm (25 in) in length and 2.7–3.6 kg (6.0–7.9 lb) in weight.
The Muscovy is commonly reared for meat. [4]: 78 Mulards from the crossing of a Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) and a wild-type mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)In commercial production, it is often crossed with a mallard-derived domestic duck such as the Rouen or Pekin to produce the hybrid known as a mulard.
The females of many breeds of domestic duck are unreliable at sitting their eggs and raising their young. Exceptions include the Rouen duck and especially the Muscovy duck. It has been a custom on farms for centuries to put duck eggs under broody hens for hatching; nowadays this role is often played by an incubator.
Vent sexing in Wenchang, Hainan, China (2014). Vent sexing, also known simply as venting, involves squeezing the feces out of the chick, which opens up the chick's anal vent (called a cloaca) slightly, allowing the chicken sexer to see if the chick has a small "bump", which would indicate that the chick is a male.
American Pekin flock. The Pekin or White Pekin is an American breed of domestic duck, raised primarily for meat. [6] [7] It derives from birds brought to the United States from China in the nineteenth century, [8] and is now bred in many parts of the world. [6]
A modern egg incubator. An incubator is a device simulating avian incubation by keeping eggs warm at a particular temperature range and in the correct humidity with a turning mechanism to hatch them. The common names of the incubator in other terms include breeding / hatching machines or hatchers, setters, and egg breeding / equipment. [1]