Diving into open water sources in commercial duck production
There has been a global drive towards improved farm animal welfare and optimised system sustainability. An important conflicting point for the welfare of domestic ducks is the provision of open water sources, which allow ducks to perform the full repertoire of water-related behaviours that are essential for their health and welfare.
Domestic ducks exhibit preening and bathing behaviours to maintain their eye, nostril and feather condition and to ensure protection against bacterial and fungal infections, thermoregulation, pheromone and hormone production, and buoyancy in the water. Bathing behaviour involves immersing the head and wings in water, tossing and shaking the water over the body, followed by a series of head shaking, wing rubbing and preening movements.
Preening behaviour includes oiling and nibbling; during oiling, ducks squeeze their uropygial gland and spread the glycolipid secretion through their feathers. Nibbling involves the rapid movement of a duck’s bill in a chewing-like motion over their body. The lack of access to open water prevents the growth of preen glands and reduces the time ducks spend preening. On the other hand, when open water sources are available, ducks enjoy spending time simultaneously bathing due to the positive social experiences this entails.
Improved thermoregulatory behaviour
Ducks are unable to dissipate excess heat through sweating in hot weather due to the lack of sweat or sebaceous glands. This is why they are at a significant risk of exposure to heat stress in summer. However, they disperse heat via the respiratory tract or from unfeathered body surfaces into the environment. In addition, ducks increase their preening behaviour when exposed to excess heat.
Access to open water sources increases the ability of ducks to thermoregulate body temperature and avoid heat stress by immersing their feet in water. Furthermore, mitigating heat stress via thermoregulation improves meat quality.
Enhanced health and performance parameters
Access to open water sources improves a duck’s eye, nostril and feather cleanliness and condition. However, proper water management is required to reduce the potential risk of diseases. Furthermore, ducks with open water access have lower mortality rates, improved body weights, feed conversion ratio, immune response, and oxidative stress parameters, and less hock discoloration and fewer breast blisters.
Factors affecting water-related behaviours
Various factors including duck species, breed, strain, age, and the time needed to satisfy a behaviour affect the extent and frequency of water-related behaviours. Using artificial selection, domestic duck breeds and strains are constantly evolving to achieve improved performance. Research studies have shown that ducks in a commercial setting spend more time in a water source and they prefer using shallow pools to deep pools as they age. Furthermore, younger ducks prefer modified drinkers while older ducks prefer showers. Dry and wet preening behaviour is more frequent in older ducks exposed to heat stress.
In wild ducks, the duration of wet preening behaviour ranges from a few minutes to more than 2 hours. In addition, wild ducks spend 26% of their time preening, 2% swimming, and less than 1% bathing each day, while domestic ducks spend 15.8% of their time dry preening and 1.8% of time wet preening when they have access to open water sources. On the other hand, when given access to a bath or shower, they spend 22% of their time engaging in water-related activities. Other studies have shown that ducks with access to troughs spend 15%, while those with access to nipple baths spend 11.4%, and those with access to nipple only spend 6.6% of their time displaying water-related behaviours.
Providing access to open water sources
Both basic practical and preferential needs of domestic ducks play a key role in determining the proper type of water sources. Key factors such as water temperature and depth, total space per duck and water source location must be considered when providing water in a commercial duck production system.
Open water sources must have a suitable ambient temperature to avoid heat or cold stress. Water depth and dimension determine if the source is proper for partial or full body immersion. In addition, water depth affects water temperature, with shallow pools having higher temperatures corresponding with the ambient temperature compared to intermediate and deep pools.
It is recommended to provide a variety of depths to avoid limiting the ability of ducks to exhibit their full repertoire of bathing behaviours. Providing troughs and baths increases the proportion of a duck’s time spent preening and head-dipping when near the water source. In addition, research analyses indicate that providing at least 6 mm of water space allowance for each duck maximises preening behaviours. Moreover, the lack of open water access increases feather maintenance behaviour and exploratory and aggressive feather-pecking behaviours in ducks due to the higher levels of stress.
Complex
Ducks use open water sources to display water-related behaviours and thermoregulatory behaviours that are essential for health, performance and welfare. Providing such sources is essential in modern commercial duck production systems. However, the complexity of domestic ducks’ water-related behaviours, and various environmental factors, affect their use of water. In addition, water quality and hygiene management, biosecurity and system sustainability are further challenges that need to be addressed in commercial duck settings. Further research is therefore needed to provide ducks with a proper open water source that improves their health, performance and welfare without adverse consequences.
