Duck feeding advice?

[Spoof]

So I picked up 7 ducklings at around a week old three months ago, 6 Cayuga and one (supposedly) Khacki. I also have 4 LF Cochins and they range on 1/2 of an acre.

They get locked into the bottom of the chicken coop at night. The chickens had a free-feeder with flock raiser in it. At the end of the first month I noticed that instead of ranging like the chickens, the ducks would eat at the feeder and sleep with a break or two at the pool (and of course, poop a ton in the coop). I might see one or two catch an opportunistic bug and sometimes following the chickens, but not foraging.

So three weeks ago they are fully feathered and getting really fat and lazy(er) with little movement outside of pool, shade napping and coop. I figured I'd feed the chickens up high and see if the ducks would perhaps be encouraged to do some actual foraging. I started feeding them 2 lbs once a day, I'd just scatter it when I got home from work and watch them go to town. The Good: They quit pooping in the coop for the most part. The Bad: That weekend I watched them lay around in the spot I had been feeding from the time they were let out at 7AM until I fed at 4PM then sleep in the grass until I put them away at dusk. The act of feeding them is deafening. Didn't see any bug catching or ranging at any time during the weekend.

Two weeks ago I cut it back to 1lb. I'm finally seeing them range and they are figuring out they can eat the seed heads on the grass, cicadas, and thousands of other bugs we have here in the south. When they see me at any point the neighbors 1/4 mile away can hear them.

They must be getting plenty to eat, they've doubled in size, look great, and are now taller and almost as wide as my cochins. A couple of them are still pretty fat when you pick them up.


I'd really like to find a happy medium where I can have them on an automatic feeder and still have them do the bug duties. Will this be a possibility as they age?

I really want them to range, the bug load here is so high right now I'm kicking up a lot of crickets, cicadas, mosquitoes and who knows what just walking through the area to water.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[LR Gamefarm]

i suggest not using any type of feeder just taking a half full coffee cup and just tossing it on the ground once a day but if you can toss it on rocks or gravel chickens and ducks need small rocks or gravel to digest food

 

[Missy60]

This is Metzers recommendation for over weight ducks http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html
I feed my 3 ducks at bedtime with a 16 oz cup usually not all the way full. When I let them out in the morning they start foraging right away. They don't get fed any more until night time unless it a treat. They sometimes have food left over in there pen and will go back and get a few bites during the day. I try to not have any left though and I have cut back until it ended up being 3/4 of the 16 oz cup.

My ducks can be heard from all over sometimes to but I don't feed them they are very social animals. If I was going to cut back to 4 oz for that many ducks I would do it slowly. I feed my ducks in their pen which they eat as soon as going in and they go in the coop ttheir self after eating. I tried using the automatic feeder but my ducks are just to messy. Their water is on the other side of the cage and it would still always be wet and messy. I still feed them out of the bottom part of the automatic feeder.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

hang the chicken feeder up where the chickens can reach and the ducks can not. This will stop the raiding of the feeder. Then you can do a controlled feed to the ducks.

 

[Spoof]

Thanks everyone!

It looks like I'll be building the ducks their own containment area and blocking them from the chicken tractor. My feeder is built into the side and not meant to be moved.

I'm thinking an 8' x 8' x 24" moveable pen, think that is sufficient for them? Once I figure out which ones are male I'll rehome those, I assume I will eventually have 4-5 total ducks. I have two unfenced acres that could use some bug control... or would it be better to leave them on the 1/2 acre and put the chickens in their tractor out?

 

[Missy60]

I don't know anything about chickens at all, so I really can't give an option about them. I know ducks really don't like change so I'm wondering if you would have a problem with a moveable house. We made some changes to our pen door and I had a problem getting One of my ducks to go in for a few days, thankfully it was the one that we can pick up anytime. She would stop in front of the door then the other ducks would scatter around. We built an attachable coop and it was weeks before they would go in there. I'm sure you could work it out but I'm wondering how long and how much time it would take to train them.

 

[Spoof]

Quote: I haven't seen this uncertainty yet in them, they are completely different than the chickens. Bold, in-your-face with a don't care attitude and they literally mob any new item I put or drive into that area. Thankfully they still keep a couple foot distance from the mower. They'd happily follow me out of the fenced area for food and they aren't laying so nothing to interrupt. I guess I will give it a try and see what happens.

 

[Missy60]

Yeah it's moveable but you don't have to move it right...lol. Yeah I guess I wasn't thinking about the food thing, but my mallards don't really care about food. They eat it but they can't be bribed with food. My pekin can be bribed with mill worms, but something about that door she would just stand there and look at it and not budge. It didn't matter which side she was on either, but it only took her a couple days to get use to it.

 

[Spoof]

Here's the quacks of question; I walked out of the field under the oak trees and they followed without a care in the world ... and completely ignored all the crickets and such we were stirring up. Maybe they are lying about being hungry.

Don't suppose anyone can guess the sex at this age?

Has anyone found any types of duck that are better at foraging than others?

Thanks again!

 

[larkflying]

My Welsh Harlequins love to forage -- they seem to be busy busy busy out there eating slugs and bugs and things. I do notice a big difference when I feed them more though -- they are much more picky and take more naps. If I notice a lot of that, then I just feed them less the next day. Right now they are loving the grasshoppers - my 4 week old duckling caught one before her mom could and she was hilarious trying to swallow the thing.

Once the ducks have adjusted to the house, I don't think moving it will cause any upset. They are smarter than the chickens and will still know that it is their house. They aren't afraid of my chicken houses that I move around in the pasture with them. I want to do a similar set up this winter if I can figure out what works the best for them.