Are ducks ever NOT hungry?

[Jac Jac]

I only have 8 so I can only imagine what 19 must sound like. Ha!

My three female Quackers are a handful of noise by themselves - the two guys don't stand a chance - I can really imagine the joyful chorus of having more girls around. One of theses old days, when the time has fully come...

 

[Jac Jac]

Ok...so, once again..we have never gotten one egg..nope never one egg, despite having up to 51 ducks at one time! Chris says I’m the worst duck farmer ever! Lol. Anyways he said today that come spring when we get the first one it will be like gold. We will fry it in bacon grease and cut it like a pizza in tiny pieces to give to all our friends because that egg is worth thousands of dollars...lol...he said my dog gets two pieces for putting up with the ducks

Love it. As long as I gave them an extra boost of oyster shells the one duck was fine; with the shorter days and sporadic supplements... you guessed it, so its my "fault" it stopped laying. I don't mind the wait.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

So, it’s been awhile since I’ve added to this thread, and it’s been awhile since I’ve figured anything out about the hunger ratio with my ducks. But, now that we are down to 24 ducks, and feeding them All Flock...I am happy to say...they are really not hungry!! When I open the barn in the morning they b-line it straight out. There is still food left. I fill up a 3lb container of feed every night for them but, they don’t eat it all. I’m sure it’s partly because this week has been in the 40’s and they were able to forage a bit. But I’m happy that I know my duckies aren’t always starving!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I know your setup with the built-in troughs in your barn, but i can only recommend to take a plastic container, drill a couple of holes into the walls and plug in some 4" street-elbows and use that as your default feeder. I fill 50lbs of pellets into my feeder and i'm done for one week. The RubberMaid container can hold up to 100lbs, so i would be good for two weeks.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Oh, I barely use that anymore...we bought some feeders used and I use those, plus Chris did the upside down 5gallon bucket with pvc pipes. But, I never have to fill anything up, and they never eat it all....they are just content. I suppose I could fill it all at one time, but I constantly am cleaning out the barn so it’s easier with less feed in the feeders. I can’t use the wall thing because then my goats come in and eat the leftovers while I’m mucking out the duck barn! Bad goats! So, I need the portable feeders. The things we do!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Oh, I barely use that anymore...we bought some feeders used and I use those, plus Chris did the upside down 5gallon bucket with pvc pipes. But, I never have to fill anything up, and they never eat it all....they are just content. I suppose I could fill it all at one time, but I constantly am cleaning out the barn so it’s easier with less feed in the feeders. I can’t use the wall thing because then my goats come in and eat the leftovers while I’m mucking out the duck barn! Bad goats! So, I need the portable feeders. The things we do!

Pictures please! - I have no idea how to use a 5 Gallon bucket as a feeder for ducks.
Those elbow feeders have the advantage that the ducks won't spill so much of their food and other animals (goats!) would not be able to steal the food.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

I went on YouTube and I watched a tutorial..then told him...ours..is, ugly because we used old materials, but it works...lo...this is the picture and the info for what I watched. We made a little wooden tray for the bottom to hold the feed that falls out..took Chris one minute...we felt the lid was small? But maybe not..we always fiddle around but this tutorial is step by step

 

[Jac Jac]

My heavy eaters are the Pekins. Seriously nonstop eating.

You can say that again. Between my 2 male Pekins (Chip + Dale) and 3 Pekin hens, I never seem to be able to fill them. We've got several flocks of Cluckers, including 18 hangry Orps, and combined, they don't eat close to the Pekins.

 

[quackiemama]

You can say that again. Between my 2 male Pekins (Chip + Dale) and 3 Pekin hens, I never seem to be able to fill them. We've got several flocks of Cluckers, including 18 hangry Orps, and combined, they don't eat close to the Pekins.

It is ridiculous. They seriously run over everybody else to get to their food. I love it though!

 

[Jac Jac]

You should hear my 41!

WOW, must sound like heaven.