When should the "grits" come in?

[Bow8746]

My ducklings are approximately 2 weeks old when should I feed them "grit" or grit based food?

 

[madamiec]

Ducks don't need grit like chickens do. If you feed a commercial feed then don't worry about grit.

 

[Kaessa]

If you're giving them treats (kale, peas, etc), they need grit. Just put a little bowl of chick grit by their food, they'll eat what they need.

 

[Bow8746]

Okay. Thank you.

 

[needlessjunk]

They need grit if they eat anything other than commercial crumble/pellets. So if they get greens, scratch, grass or any treats they need grit.

 

[Bow8746]

What happens if their eating the grit like its no tomorrow!

 

[needlessjunk]

What happens if their eating the grit like its no tomorrow!

They need it. Mine woils chow down when they were ducklings and then backed off after a while. Ducks don't have teeth so they need the grit to "chew" their food.

 

[Amiga]

What happens if their eating the grit like its no tomorrow!

Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks recommends sprinkling a teaspoon of grit on their food once a day. There is a story in the book about a duckling that starved because it filled up on grit.

To be on the safe side, I sprinkled like the book recommended. Some ducklings just over do it, eating too much grit, or eating shavings, or . . . . .

 

[PekinDiaries]

I tend to do about 1tbsp of grit to every 20 tbsp of chick starter.