medicated chick feed fed to ducks

nop169

Songster
10 Years
Jul 27, 2009
183
2
109
As some of you know, I own a small feed store and Monday evening I had an older lady bring 11 mallards to my store - an adult pair & 9 almost full size ducklings. She wanted me to take them to our farm because they had begun dying on her - she had lost 4 I believe at that point. She thought it was too cold for them & that is why they were dying. When she called she said they were ducklings so I assumed she may be correct.... however when she arrived they were young adults - fully feathered but obviously feeling poorly as shown by their eyes & huddled positions. She also brought in a half bag of feed & set it down at the loading door. I did not look at the feed at first as I was getting water for the group & watching them trying to figure out what was going on. Within a hour one was dead. About 3 hours later as I closed up & loaded the ducks in the truck to carry home I picked up the bag of feed. It is not one of the brands I typically sell so I began reading the bag ingrediants. It was medicated chick feed (not the newer med APEX which is safer for use in ducks). Thats when I figured that this is the culprit. Our weather has been cold this week - down to the high teens at night & 34 or so during the day but not excesive for fully feathered ducks. Had to be the feed - due to they are eating more as it is so very cold & the higher input of the medicated feed is poisioning them. So got them home - set up a 10 x 10 kennel with doghouse & water/swimming pool. Ducks are still hunched up & about half have that "look" in their eyes..... supplied them with a auto feeder with just scratch & filled the pool. About all I can do at this point. Tuesday morning..... 5 ONLY 5 of the 10 are still alive. The parent pair & 3 of the subadults.
JUST WANTED TO EMPHASIZE to everyone to use care in feeding medicated chick feed to ducks especially young ducks & especially free feeding it this time of year. Ducks GOBBLE in good weather but GORGE in cold weather.... I am positive that this is why they are dying. I did not call the older lady & tell her - I don't have the heart to as she was so concerned & upset about it. I don't want her blaming herself. I do not know where she bought this feed or if anyone warned her about medicated feed use in ducks. These animals were absolutely beautiful - glossy feathered - obviously cared for but as the grass has died & cold weather set in, she had penned them & began feeding heavy with the starter feed.... thought she was doing the right thing & wound up killing over half of the ducks she had raised. As of this morning - the remaining 5 look good & the 3 remaining young adults are no longer hunched up - hopefully the medicated feed has traveled out of their body after 2 days... of course - if they live - it means we now have mallards to mix in the farm flock! Reckon the scovies wont mind - as long as it doesn't affect the amount of food THEY get!
 
I had heard it was the amprolium(sp) in the medicated starter that could possibly kill ducklings, but some say that is no longer true. Thanks for the info.
I NEVER feed chicken feed to my ducks-no matter how old they are.
 
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I'll always given my Pekins medicated broiler starter. I haven't noticed any negative side affects. My feed mixer/supplier says that he has been told that ducks could overdose on it as well. He also mentioned that he hasn't seen any cases of it happening personally.


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I had thought all medicated starter was bad for ducklings, thats what the feed store told me. When someone asked on another thread I had some people telling me to "get with it" because that was not the case.
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I never feed chick starter to ducklings, out feed store has duck and goose starter readily available so why take the risk?
 
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That is what my feed store told me, because they eat too much and get an overdose of the meds. Ducks are more sensitive to meds then chickens so I guess it would harm them more then chicks.
 
I am not a big fan of medicated feed for the darn chicks even. Am I the only one that uses unmedicated starter chick feed? All my chicks did well on it. I did not lose any... but then again, I only had 6... and they lived in a box in my den.
 
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My feed store doesnt carry unmedicated feed, but I was use the medicated one anyways. It helps prevent cocci
 
To respond to a few of your comments:
You are correct that feeding medicated feed IN MODERATION usually has no adverse effects on ducks - the problem is when they overeat & the medication dosage exceeds safe levels. We all know ducklings/ducks will gorge so we either limit amounts fed or use med free feed.
APEX* is a newer medication being used by most feed mills now for coccidia control & it is supposedly safe for use in ducks.
I normally will not use medicated feed on any of my poultry/livestock - but many companies do not offer a med free starter feed now. Although I can order game bird starter that is med free.
Personally I have never had an issue even when I used med. feed BUT I also insure my chicks/ducklings/goslings are feed greenery - whether grass in the outside brooder or rye grown in trays for the inside brooder & I limit the feed if it is medicated. IMO ducklings & goslings need greenery to grow properly & strong so I usually supply greenery & use game bird starter for my waterfowl.
With chicks I would rather use an unmedicated feed & dose with ACV, Yogurt & so on unless I have a major issue with sickly chicks - then I do use sulmet - but for a limited time rather than a daily feed additive.
In the case I wrote about - I am sure that it was the feed - as the lady had penned them recently & they were being fed only the med starter. I believe this due to the fact that the ducks look so good - as far as plummage, overall condition, weight & so on. If they had been dirty, underweight, no luster to their feathers, nasal discharge, bloody stools & so on - I may have contributed it to parasites, viral or lackluster care. Also the fact that 36 hours later the remaining ducks seem to be over it - eyes clear & posture normal.
In the 20 years I have owned ducks I have heard of this from other people but had never saw it happen firsthand. It was sad - droopy a day or two then dead.
 

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