Do my ducks need more food?

[Isabelle Johnson]

I have 2, 9 month old mallard ducks and I’m not sure how much food they should be eating. I don’t want to starve them but also don’t want to over feed them. Currently I feed them each about 2 cups of food a day. (1 1/2 cups in the morning and 1/2 a cup in the evening) They act like they are starving when I give them food and they eat it with in a couple hours. They are outside wandering from about sun up until sun down.

I’m not sure if I’m not feeding them enough or if I should spread out the food a little more

 

[fatty and friends]

ducks should have unlimited duck pellets out 24/7, then you can also give veggies/bugs as a healthy daily treats

note - limit treats to 10% or less of diet, for example this was today’s snack for my ducks (split between 5 ducks)

 

[Everose]

Fermenting feed will also make some nutrients more available (that's what I've read) and when you are low on even one kind of nutrients or vitamins it'll make you feel super hungry, e.g. when you are depleted of planet based vitamins your body will try to communicate this to you but we humans assume we're just hungry so we go through mcdonald's and fill ourselves with empty calories.
Giving a variety of treats (like fatty and friends said no more than 10%) will provide them with an abundance of nutrients that they may be missing in their pellet diet. I always had a full feeder in my duck run but they were still VERY active (and never overweight) and foraged all day long.
Hope this helps

 

[DucksOhio]

ducks should have unlimited duck pellets out 24/7, then you can also give veggies/bugs as a healthy daily treats

note - limit treats to 10% or less of diet, for example this was today’s snack for my ducks (split between 5 ducks)

That looks great, I’d eat that!

 

[ibarbidahl]

This may be the unpopular opinion here but - I say you are fine. If it takes them a couple hours to consume what you give them and you feed them again before putting them away in the evenings you can't go wrong as long as they are not on a barren lot. If they are free ranging (You said they are out all day) they are consuming a lot of calories that way. Noodling for bugs is natural and they will eat everything they find.
Monitor their weight rather than going by the way they act. That is the only way to know 100% for sure. If they are maintaining their weight and not losing they are getting enough.

Ducks are greedy. If they have a feeder that is full 24/7 and you walk outside with the exact same feed they will act the same way. They are happy to have a new presentation though they are not out of the original food.

 

[Pollo Blanco]

That looks great, I’d eat that!

Boy, no kidding!

Add a little sweetened rice vinegar and walnut oil