Am I feeding them too much or too little?!

[USMCwifey]

I have 6 pekins who are about 6 weeks old. I still have them on the started feed and they free range for about 4 hours a day and munch on greens. Every morning and before bedtime I fill their 7lb feeder up about 3/4 of the way and they seem to scarf it all down and still want MORE! So I it's about 2lbs of feed per duck a day. During the day they will come up to the back door and quack and quack for more food. Am I not feeding them enough or are they just being little piggy ducks?

 

[Eroc1_1]

Interesting, I have no answer, I only know what we do. The 8 ducks that we have get fed at night and only occasionally during the day. I usually give them around 6-7 cups of feed and they usually have some left over in the morning. Of course they forage about 8-10 hours a day. All that to say, I don't know.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I keep food out for my ducklings all day. I have Pekin, Cascades, Saxony, Cayuga, Muscovy and a mix breed.
When they empty the 2 1/2 gallon tub I fill it up again and they are in a pen with tall grass. Now once they are older and get closer to laying age I will check them to make sure they are not too fat but they are active enough and young enough at about 8-9 weeks to need as much in the way of vitamins, minerals and other good stuff in grower. They get lots of extras from the grass and bugs.

They coop up at night now without food or water but when they were in the brooder room I had a light on all night and food and water for them all night and day.

 

[USMCwifey]

Quote:
So than am I doing everything ok? I just don't wanna be starving my little duckers.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i haven't had an occasion where i felt my ducks were eating too much. i always keep a tub of Flockraiser out for them. They get moistened Mazuri Waterfowl maintenance twice daily with peas, then a head or two of romaine or some other type of healthy lettuce in the afternoon. They are full grown.

i would think especially with young ducks you would want to feed them as much as they want, free choice. They're growing and need lots of nutrition. My ducks ate a lot when they were younger. Now they seem to like to forage more than chowing down on the dry food - although the peas are always a big hit.

 

[gofasterstripe]

At 6 weeks old you might want to take them off the starter feed and get them onto Grower/Finisher with lower protein. Im like Nadine..They have feed & water all day but once its bed time... its bed time with no food & water.
My ducks are laying so are on layer pellets. They have 2 bowls out here to share between 10 Runners and 2 bowls for 13 Pekins. Each bowl get a horse scoop of feed. In the summer I find that lasts all day but sometimes they have it finished so get another scoop so they can have a meal before bed time. In the winter im feeding them 4+ scoops a day each flock. I read somewhere that you feed them about 1 cup of feed a day per bird, I dont know what that is weight wise. I must be feeding enough bacause they all look healthy and are laying nice big eggs.

 

[aineheartsyou]

i start my ducks on flock raiser(20% protein) for the first 2 weeks. once they are 2 weeks i mix in scratch grains to make it 16% protein. while they are being brooded in the house they have access to food 24/7. when i start putting them outside to free range during the day they have access to as much feed as they like out there with them and no food or water at night. now that they are outside full time they are locked up at night with no food or water but have access to as much food as they like during the day when they free range. HTH

 

[USMCwifey]

Sounds like I might need to switch my food than and just make sure they stay happy! They look happy and healthy so I must be doing most things right, lol. Thanks everyone!

 

[mominoz]

Daved Holderreads book says 0-2 weeks free choice. .2-7 weeksfreechoice 15 min. 3X a day.7-20 weeks.20-.40lbs. per bird(less for smaller breeds) per day.
I stopped leaving food out all the time, because the local birds were inviting all their friends. Then the squirrels found the feed. Not to mention mice and or rats coming to chow down. I

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

I feed mine like once a week they forge all day. then again mine are 11 weeks old and mine eat anything they can get their little feathers on lol mine do want food but they dont need it but mine also have 1 1\\2 acres to find food on so they eat pretty good.