Do ducks need grit?

[MotherDuck3r]

My ducks do not free range. their run goes out into the pond so I know they eat mud from the bottom of the pond. Otherwise I feed them a mix of cracked corn and poultry crumbs. Do they need grit too? If so- why?

 

[b52fizzle]

Quote:
believe they do cant find my book this minute, but that is what grinds their food in the gizzard as in chickens. as long as there is sand or they can get to dirt they should be fine, usually you only need to add it when they are in cages or somewhere where no dirt or sand is. you could always offer it to them in separate feeder if they take they take if they dont they dont. there are grits available, a lot of people just use sandbox sand.

 

[chickenma]

They don't if the get in a pond the sand, mud will take care of it.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Ducks eating grains (seeds too) more coarse than finely ground feed and/or green feed very much need grit.

What I generally think of as sand is not big enough to be retained in the gizzard of any mature duck long enough to aid in the grinding process. "Mud" is certainly not a suitable substiture.

Gravel the size of a soup bean would be about right for any of the heavy ducks. Correspondingly smaller sizes for smaller ducks.