Okay. I know there has been a lot of talk from time to time here about the causes of angel wing, but never having experienced it, I never posted. I always read them with great interest though.
And having read them and the convincing arguments that angel wing is caused by carbs, not protein, I decided that this year I would stop worrying so much about cutting down the protein levels for my flock. And now I am regretting that decision and wishing that I had stuck with the Holderread advice, because for the first time in three years of raising ducklings, I have two cases of angel wing.
Details:
I feed a mix of game bird starter & chick starter, per Holderread recommendations.
The birds have access to plenty of grass and weeds from approximately one week of age and up.
At 3-4 weeks, I have in the past begun gradually substituting small amounts of feed for oats, until they were eating roughly 3/4 feed and 1/4 oats. Always had exceedingly healthy birds.
With this batch, I kept them on the high protein feed thinking that they would compensate for the protein intake with all the forage they have access to. Healthy birds, some of whom developed angel wing.
There may be other factors involved, but my birds are NOT on a high carb diet. They have NEVER been fed bread or any other junk food--only high quality feed and forage.
Obviously, two birds do not constitute a scientific study. But personally, I will be going back to cutting their protein starting around 3-4 weeks. I have raised six batches of ducks & geese, each batch between six and 16 birds, and this is the ONLY time I've ever seen anything like angel wing, or even the dropped wings many people mistake for angel wing.
Like I said, I'm sure other things can cause angel wing, and I suppose it's possible that something else is causing this problem for me this time, but nevertheless... my personal experience has convinced me to cut that protein.
And having read them and the convincing arguments that angel wing is caused by carbs, not protein, I decided that this year I would stop worrying so much about cutting down the protein levels for my flock. And now I am regretting that decision and wishing that I had stuck with the Holderread advice, because for the first time in three years of raising ducklings, I have two cases of angel wing.
Details:
I feed a mix of game bird starter & chick starter, per Holderread recommendations.
The birds have access to plenty of grass and weeds from approximately one week of age and up.
At 3-4 weeks, I have in the past begun gradually substituting small amounts of feed for oats, until they were eating roughly 3/4 feed and 1/4 oats. Always had exceedingly healthy birds.
With this batch, I kept them on the high protein feed thinking that they would compensate for the protein intake with all the forage they have access to. Healthy birds, some of whom developed angel wing.
There may be other factors involved, but my birds are NOT on a high carb diet. They have NEVER been fed bread or any other junk food--only high quality feed and forage.
Obviously, two birds do not constitute a scientific study. But personally, I will be going back to cutting their protein starting around 3-4 weeks. I have raised six batches of ducks & geese, each batch between six and 16 birds, and this is the ONLY time I've ever seen anything like angel wing, or even the dropped wings many people mistake for angel wing.
Like I said, I'm sure other things can cause angel wing, and I suppose it's possible that something else is causing this problem for me this time, but nevertheless... my personal experience has convinced me to cut that protein.
