Balanced Diet VS Commercial Feeds and or Supplements ?

[loofa]

super good points - I've wondered about this myself. Being a first time duck friend, I've been stunned at how difficult the feeding thing is, and how much contrary information is out there. I feel like I'm wading through a dangerous field with this. I'm not sure why one of my ducks has shaky legs despite SO MUCH niacin, not exactly sure at what point to change them from starter to grower, then worrying because I've read that the starter and the grower have too much protein because they are really designed for raising ducks for meat in which the goal is big ducks fast, not healthy long lasting ducks, and then there's this whole thing about how before they start laying they need extra protein again - it's SO CONFUSING. Chickens were never this hard. The duck food information has my head spinning. But there are all these wild ducks around us that seem healthy and happy just eating whatever they are foraging.

 

[Ratchnick]

Wild and or Domestic fowl they need to eat. How many fowl have you seen in the wild with AW and or any Niacin deficiency? So why are we as duck owners/raisers seeing issues in the development of the Fowl? Nature obviously has it figure out and we don't . NOT ?

Two things come to mind, first we dont feed ducks what they eat in the wild. Most feed is vegitarian, ducks certainly are not. Even If you had the land and free ranged exclusively you would get terrible production. What we want from our ducks is different from how they naturaly evolved to be successful. That brings me to my second thought which is that mother nature is a rude @$*&%. Any duck that has any sort of physical deformity is quickly taken out of the gene pool. To be good at breeding ducks you have to be heartless because you end up killing babies. Duck genetics is very important, you can get khaki campels that will lay 150 eggs a year and other strains that will lay 350 a year.

 

[Folly's place]

As with most modern chicken breeds, most modern ducks are not the same as wild Mallards, either in size, or other production qualities. And raising ducks in the wild will result in many dead ducklings, especially, and do you want the few survivors migrating south in fall? many modern ducks can't fly well, or at all.
Mary

 

[loofa]

These are all excellent points. Still, we seem to be incredibly imperfect at this whole feeding ducks thing. The OP here raises really good questions - why is it so incredibly hard and complicated? I just want happy healthy ducks. I'm not trying to bulk them up and eat them, and I don't need them to lay a million eggs a year. They are pets. Why is this so much harder than every other animal I have ever raised?

 

[Folly's place]

Selecting the right breeds that fit your needs matters a lot! Pekings, for example, are going to get very large and not fly. Khaki Campbells will lay many eggs per year. Neither breed is going to be able to do less unless totally malnourished, so having the right diet is so important, especially for birds genetically programmed to outperform their wild ancestors.
Chickens; That wild jungle bird is small, and might lay 30 eggs each year at most. Her domestic descendants might be much larger, and produce 300 eggs per year! Their dietary needs aren't the same, and our backyards aren't the same either.
Mary

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Growth rate is why I ask this question. Natural bird foods over man made starter feeds and or supplements.

These are domestic birds. They need to be fed a proper diet. I wouldn't expect my dog to be able to hunt like a wolf.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have ducks 12 yrs old down to 3.5 weeks I’ve always kept food out for mine from time I let them out in the morning till they go in at night they don’t gorge and they do free range over a little over a half acre daily. My Muscovy eat much less than my Runners an Buffs and their metabolism is defiantly not as high as my Runners And my Buffs in that order. I feel since my Runners are the real egg layers here my Buffs are good at it too and that is not why I have them they are all pets the eggs are just a bonus. But back to feeding, this is how I do it with mine they need to be able to eat when they want they need the extra nutrients to keep their bones strong an to produce strong egg shells. Since I have chickens and geese also I don’t feed a water fowl feed I buy Non GMO layer and starter mix it half an half add nutritional yeast to this for the extra niacin the feed doesn’t have. I have never had angel wing or any leg problems thank goodness. I have been doing this mix for 3 yrs before that I fed Purina Flock Rasier since 2004 then my feed store stopped selling Purina. I think we go by how our flock
Is doing,not over weight, nice bright eyes, over all health is looking good,strong egg shells plenty of exercise. Then we know what we’re doing is best for ours.

 

[416bigbore]

Loofa makes an excellent point.

 

[416bigbore]

Circling back to the OP. How is everyone feeding their Ducks/ducklings? Commercial feed or home grow natural feed ? is one better then the other ?

 

[Duckmom27]

Circling back to the OP. How is everyone feeding their Ducks/ducklings? Commercial feed or home grow natural feed ? is one better then the other ?

I'm feeding commercial feed but long term I hope to grow feed for them after I've researched what quantities they need. I'm planning to grow quinoa, sorghum, rice, amaranth, corn and buckwheat for my family and hope to grow enough that I can feed extra to the ducks and get them either completely off commercial feed or at least eating less of it. But again I haven't researched yet what quantities/ratios I'd need to mix those things for it to be a good replacement feed for them and also I haven't researched yet if there are other crops I should grow also to add to that mix. I'm kind of just getting started on this journey.