Chicken and duck questions

[Cody8329]

Hello all,

i had a couple questions if someone wouldn't mind helping me out.

1) can i use grass clipping from my yard inside my coop and run?

2) my ducks are about 8-9 weeks old and my chickens are about the same age. My question is here is when can i move them out to my run/coop. The coop does not have electricity so i obviously dont have a heat lamp. I live in Nebraska and right now the weather during the night is anywhere from 37-50 degrees.

3) i also go to our local store and get food for all them but none have actual duck food. They do have all meat bird food and all poultry food. Any suggestions here?

i appreciate it thank you!

 

[Severne]

You can put clipp in the run, if they eat them, but if the clips are just sitting around in your run or especialy your coop it will get mouldy and can cause pneumonia and other illness.

 

[Cody8329]

thank you! My plan is to do that for summer and clean it every week then during the winter use straw/hay

 

[Severne]

Im Pretty sure grass clippings get mouldy faster than that, it wouldn’t work for bedding, only as a snack.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So with grass clippings, I would only use them if they're fairly short, like an inch or two, as chickens can get impacted crops from eating too many long grass blades. What I do with mine is I allow the clippings to dry on the lawn and then rake them up, as the chickens are a little less inclined to eat them when dry. I don't use grass in large amounts though, it's just a small amount mixed into the rest of my deep litter. I have no issues with it getting moldy.

Your chickens should be feathered enough to move out without issue, provided you've already weaned them off of heat indoors/wherever the brooder is.

I'm not knowledgeable about keeping ducks, though I believe they have slightly different nutritional needs. If you have a food that is marked ok for all fowl that should be fine.