Farming ducks

Commercial meat ducks may be reared in indoor or outdoor systems. When the birds reach the desired weight at around 42 to 56 days old they are sent for slaughter.

Rearing systems

Indoor

The majority of commercial meat ducks reared in the UK are reared in indoor systems. Typically, several thousand birds are raised together within a building. Straw is usually provided to cover the floor.

Ducks are given specially formulated diets and are provided with access to water for drinking. However, farmed ducks may not be given access to an open water source for bathing, or if they do have an open water source, this may not be suitable.

Some ducks, particularly Barbary ducks, may have the ends of their bills trimmed to try to reduce the risk of any damage to other birds caused by pecking. However, the most commonly used breed of meat duck in the UK - the Pekin - is not beak trimmed.

Free-range

Birds are provided with housing similar to that described for indoor production, with the addition of access to an outdoor range area during the day.

End of rearing

Once birds reach the desired weight for slaughter of around 3.1 to 3.5 kilogrammes, usually at around 42 to 56 days of age, they are caught, placed in transport crates and transported to an abattoir for slaughter.

Numbers of farmed ducks

Around 14.3 million ducks (primarily a Pekin cross breed) were reared for meat in the UK in 2012¹.
¹FAOSTATS. (2014) Production: Livestock primary [online]. Rome. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Statistics Division. [Accessed 13.10.14]

Breeds

The most commonly used breed of duck in commercial meat production in the UK is the domestic/common duck, in particular the Pekin.

Find out about some of the key welfare issues for meat ducks.

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A group of children collecting dirty water — Tanzania
Nearly half of the population have no choice but to drink dirty water from unsafe sources.

22.3^M

people in Tanzania don't have access to safe water. This is nearly half of the population.

41.9^M

Nearly 42 million people don't have access to adequate sanitation in Tanzania.

10,000

Over 10,000 children die every year from diarrhoea due to unsafe water and poor sanitation in Tanzania.

Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa, home to over 45 million people. Due to the hot, dry climate, safe water is scarce and growing enough food is often difficult for the mostly rural population.

The crisis

Almost half of the people in Tanzania do not have access to safe water. Typically, women and children spend over two hours a day collecting water, and up to seven hours in remote areas.
Access to toilets is even lower – at just a 12% of the population. This is particularly problematic to health in densely populated, unplanned settlements.
These issues have a big impact on health, with over 10,000 children under five dying each year from preventable diarrhoeal diseases. There are wider impacts too – on education, livelihoods and wellbeing.

Our approach

We have been working in Tanzania for three decades, providing communities with life-changing safe water and toilets. During this time, we have engaged with decision-makers to influence policy and encourage investment.
As in all the countries where we work, we use simple, low-cost technologies that will be more sustainable long-term. These include a new type of pump designed to tackle the problem of emptying latrines in slums.
We have also used innovative mapping technology to record the location and condition of water points across the country. This will provide valuable data for use in both our service delivery and advocacy work.

Our impact

Our global impact >

In Tanzania last year we reached:

148,000 people with safe water
271,000 people with improved sanitation.

Recent publications

Mtumba guidelines
Fact sheet on sanitation financing: Tanzania

Country details

Capital: Dodoma

Population: 45 million

Area: 945,203 km2

Other Main Cities: Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza, Tabora

A sustainable water source

With the new water source, everyone has more time. I can now look after the household.

Ernesta Dosa

Age 37, Barabara Ya Mwinyi, Tanzania

Ernesta lives in Barabara Ya Mwinyi, an area of Tanzania where people had to rely on hand-dug open wells for water. Together with a local partner, we helped the community to drill a borehole fitted with an electric pump to supply six tapstands in the area.

Ernesta helped to excavate the trench and carry concrete for the storage tanks. She also learned how to keep the environment clean and boil water before use – important lessons that she is passing on to her children.

The community pays a small amount for each bucket of water they collect, and the money is used to pay the tapstand attendants' wages and maintain the water point. The community has also set up a water committee to ensure the supply is sustainable long-term.