confused, what feed do you give ducklings/ducks????

[liz allen]

I have just acquired two 2/4 week old Alyesbury ducklings, and i have conflicting advice on feeding them. I have some duck grower feed on order as the chick crumb and grower i feed my chicks is medicated and have been told they can not eat this.
Is it ok to feed them grower then duck grower and then move on to layer pellets for chickens when older? I'm in the UK and flock raiser is not available in my area and can not find a supplier on the net either, do i need this? where can i get some from?
Also have read on forums here i need to give the ducklings/ducks niacin? if so what are the levels of dosage?
Getting increasingly confused !!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[Speceider]

I am unsure of the meds used in the UK. If it's amprolium, it's fine to feed them. Ducks need more niacin than chickens. You can add brewer's yeast or flushable niacin to increase the niacin content.

Clint

 

[jdywntr]

There are several manufacturers of multi poultry feed. I feed my chickens and ducks Nutrena (Naturewise) All Flock. Its a pellet but very small compared to Purnia Layena. It has no extra calcium or medication. I would check the sites of the manufacturers that you have available in the UK to see what your options are. If you can find an unmedicated crumble or starter you should be okay. I have read of people that keep them on starter for a long time. I have also read that many give medicated feed to their ducklings without adverse reactions ( I did not do this). Good luck. Regardless, I think that they will be fine until the duck grower gets to you. Make sure you give them niacin in their water until then.

 

[Amiga]

Storey's Guide recommends 100 to 150 mg per gallon of water if there is evidence of niacin deficiency, up to age ten weeks or so.

From anything I've read or seen, different ducks react differently, so there are going to be a variety of recommendations.

A sprinkling of brewer's yeast will help with niacin if you're using chick starter. I used waterfowl/turkey starter and my runners did fine.

Also, bugs and such have niacin in them. So I'd be giving them just a few sprinkles of chick sized grit as they grow, so they can digest "grown up" food.

We have used Nutrena grower, and Blue Seal grower/maintenance feed with oyster shell free choice. Right now we're on Countryside Organics non-soy organic layer mash, with a little dry cat kibble and oyster shell tossed in. With all the foraging they're doing right now, we have a little calcium deficiency, so I'm adding some calcium gluconate to the water I use to moisten the mash.

Hope some of this is a help.

 

[dianaross77]

I have laying hens, younger pullets, and ducklings so I feed flock raiser.

 

[Amiga]

You'll get some different opinions on protein, but I followed Storey's Guide, and gave the ducklings more protein, cutting down as they got older. Since the only starter feed I could get was turkey/waterfowl at 27% (if memory serves), I put 1:5 chopped rolled oats (not instant) in their feed, cutting back after two weeks as I slowly switched to grower pellets.

You may want to sprinkle some brewer's yeast on the ducklings' food. Are you feeding them separately from the rest?

 

[Gypsy07]

I'm in the UK, and I've got 'Waterfowl Starter' on order right now for the ducklings I'm hoping to hatch out at the weekend. I did some reading about it and it seems that it's okay to feed ducklings UNmedicated chick starter if you can't find the right stuff. You can get this in 5kg bags for £6.99 in most PetsAtHome stores. Oh, and for comparison, most brands of waterfowl starter are 18.5% protein.

 

[liz allen]

Thanks everyone, duck grower has arrived and they are been feed on their own at the moment, have had to improvise for a couple of days, boiled eggs, salad, corn and all sorts , just hope they are not spoilt now and will eat the pellets.
But to be fair i think they'd eat anything , they actually ate my daughters home work lol. try getting a teacher to believe that!!
Are all ducks greedy? or is it the breed or am i just lucky?