Bantam duckling feed question

[micaheart]

I have some one month old bantam ducklings. I ran out of the flock raiser 20% proteinn crumble. Is it OK to give them my chicken layer pellet organic 16% feed until I get more flock raiser? And should I be switching them to a different food now that they are 1 month old? Thank you. I have had chickens for years, but this is my first time with ducks.

 

[CoopCrazy]

I have used chicken feed for my ducks a time or two and have never had a problem..

 

[missred871]

uh, my Pekins are 3 months old and they eat gamebird food. They have since I got them. Unless we ran out then they ate chicken feed. They also enjoy their scratch grain, they have a mud puddle that we pour it in, they LOVE it.... they are so darn spoiled

 

[CityChicker]

Feeding them chicken feed, in general, is not bad. Ducklings can be raised on chick starter. Feeding them layer is another situation all together. I have never done it, but if you read the Holderread duck book, they tell of a story of losing a large number of ducklings when their feed dealer accidentally added too much excess calcium. They recommend highly against feeding ducklings excess calcium, so I personally would avoid layer (for ducklings, adult ducks do fine on it) unless you are only using it for like a day.

As far as what to feed the bantam ducks, I would highly recommend limiting food intake by the time they are 2-3 weeks old and lowering the protein. Body size in bantam ducks can be greatly influenced by feed intake. By the time mine are 2 weeks old, I have them on about 75% Flock Raiser mixed with 25% oats and also allow them to forage or give them fresh greens. If you don't do something similar, their size will increase (especially over multiple generations). Numerous authors and duck raisers have made note of this. I have tested this with Mallards and I can double the size of a Mallard line in only two generations. If your goal is to keep the small size, this is good to know.

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

Would it be okay to give ducklings medicated chick starter?

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

Anyone?