Chick Feed is Bad?

[nes]

Oh man I've got lots to learn...

Reading through the recent posts, uh, chicken food is bad for ducks?
I have my 2(ish?) week old ducklings on chick starter because they are in with the other chicks.

Are they not supposed to be eating that or is that just for older ducks?

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Well, only if its medicated. That is a controversial point. A lot of people feed it with no problems. I personally wouldn't risk it. The manufacturers say NOT to feed it to ducks or geese if it contains the anti-cocci drum amprolium. This drug prevents the uptake of the B vitamin thiamine. Ducks need more thiamine than chickens do anyway, as well as more niacin. Your best bet is a special starter formula for ducks, if you can find it. Or, non-medicated food with added vitamins. But, odds are, it won't really cause a problem for you.

 

[nes]

Oh phew!

Yeah we have non-medicated feed & they get plenty of out-door time every day to forage & kitchen scraps, so we shouldn't have a problem

.

I think my only problem would be, even though the bags are not expensive, my chickies just don't eat that much. I'm not sure we're going to go through the bag we have with 3 ducks, 6 BPR & 2 Cochins.

Can turkeys eat chick feed as well??

Apparently I've gone completely nuts and we're picking some up this afternoon

.

 

[ducks_rcool329]

my rule of thumb, if the feed was safe to be fed to ducks, then the manufacturer would say that on the tag.

 

[Speceider]

Alot of that dates back to when the cocci meds were arsnic-based. Ducks have a lower tolerance for arsnic than chickens, and it caused problems. Amprolium is fine, but you should supplement. Ducks need 55mg of niacin per kilo diet (90% dry matter). Most feeds fully meet thiamin requirements, so even a reduction doesn't cause problems. The biggest concern with thiamin is that it is unstable in heat at neutral to basic pH's, which may be affected by storage.

Clint

 

[GardenerGal]

I've been feeding layer pellets to all my poultry (chickens, ducks, geese) of both sexes, without any troubles. My drakes are 9 or 10 years old and my gander is 11, and they have been eating it almost all their lives so far.

I use Blue Seal, which has probiotics (lactobacillus and that kind of thing, like in yoghurt cultures) which is good for all avian digestive tracts, and the protein level doesn't seem to be too high for males and non-laying hens. The calcium does not seem to cause any troubles either.

The thing is to supplement their diet. My ducks and geese have a good size pen where I spread composted hay now and then, which attracts earthworms that they devour. They get grass hay, weed clippings - dandelions aan all that - and veggie and fruit scraps. They even get a little birdseed (cracked corn, milo, black oil sunflower, etc.)mixed into the pellets. When they get variety, they don't depend on pellets alone and it all balances out. In my experience.