Duck feed???

[poultrypumpkinz]

Got six adorable cayuga ducklings

they're 3 weeks old now, and I was wondering if it was okay for me to continue them on purina flockraiser

? When should I put them on Layer feed? 17weeks according to the purina feed chart, but I've had others tell me otherwise... Haven't raised cayugas before, do they require any special care beyond that of other ducks?

Sorry, only raised Pekins before...
They really like this freeze-dried shrimp stuff I originally got for my turtles, has about 60% crude protein, 5% crude fiber, and 6% crude fat, not sure if it's nutritious

, but I've been using it to bribe them into warming up to me, and it works like a charm

!
Also, these guys have free range of the little yard and I made a little pond just for them, and like other ducks, boy do they get dirty fast

! The water is mud soup within 10 minutes

! Any advice on how to keep the water cleaner? I'm afraid my filter tired out after a few days

... I've tried using duckweed but they just eat it all right after I set it in the water

.
If you got any more advice I'd really appreciate it

! Thanks!

Kelly

 

[MDC]

Layer isn't really ever *needed*, especially if the bird is not laying. It's unlikely your birds will lay many eggs this year so, personally, I wouldn't worry about it until next year. They might lay a few this fall; probably not in enough numbers to need additional calcium.

You can feed laying birds a regular ration and provide free choice oyster shell. They'll consume it as they need it. With layer, you're supplementing calcium whether they need it or not. As long as they have a balanced ration otherwise, oyster shell supplementation is perfectly acceptable. They need to be able to keep the calcium/phosphorus ratio in balance.

 

[MDC]

Sorry, didn't address the rest of your post.

Their needs will be similar to that of the Pekins. What kind of pond are you making for them? They will drill in mud every chance they get. If you have a dirt-bottomed pond, expect mud and drill holes. A kiddy pool that can be moved from place to place - thereby reducing the mess in a single place - is a good way to go. It can be cleaned daily & the water used to water plants/trees, etc. You can hook up a drain system for the pool, too, if you're so inclined. I actually use a stock tank plug in mine at times so that I can place the pool by a tree or what-have-you and just drain the pond directly on it. We're fairly dry so water doesn't stand around all that often, generally!

 

[poultrypumpkinz]

THANKS!

 

[Wifezilla]

For calcium, just leave a bowl of oyster shells. No need to buy layer feed. The shrimp treats sound fine as long as they also get regular feed and greens. I use worms from the compost pile to bribe my ducks