duck food recommendations & advice needed

[Luv Ducks]

Last summer a college student wanted to buy some of my ducks for a food study for his schooling. He had also bought ducks from Pennsylvania. They were all Mallards. He fed them Mazuri Water fowl duck food and none of them would eat it. I bought my ducks back at the end of the summer when he was finished with his food study with them. He gave me the rest of the bag that the college had furnished him for my other ducks. None of them would touch it. I don't know why but none of mine liked it for some strange reason. He told me how much the 50 pound bag had cost and that it was supposed to be the best but my Ducks liked Purina better. How particular they can be at times, lol.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

My guys absolutely love the Mazuri. I have so many now I'm cutting it with Purina duck pellets. After they pick out all the Mazuri, they gobble down the duck pellets.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

I don't put mine in water so that's not it. Ducks don't like their food changed. If changing you have to gradually do it like for a dog. I'm guessing your student took them off crumbles and straight to the Mazuri pellets. They wouldn't like the change. I do half starter and half pellets at first. They pick all the starter out but eventually after a week they begin to try the pellets and I can stop with the starter. It helps to have a few who already eat the new food. They are very resistant to any change but if they see some other duck do it, they know its safe. Silly little creatures but so cute.

 

[addctd2plnts]

My ducks’ favorite food is DuMor Duck Feed. You can get it for like $7.99 per 10 lbs bag at Tracor Supply. I like that it’s not too expensive, & I don’t need to haul those bloody 50 lb bags. If you need it to be even more cost effective, you can go with the Purina Flock Raiser for like $26.95/50 lb bag. My domestic flock of between 40-50 ducks will all eat that, but it isn’t preferred. Matsuri is probably far and away the highest quality from what I have heard, but mine only like to eat that when in the water. They are kind of “odd ducks” (haha - pun intended). Lol! Also, it’s twice as expensive as the Purina Flock raiser so I guess it also depends on your budget, how many ducks you are needing to feed, etc.

With regard to fruit and veggie scraps - no citrus either. I love that they consume all of our strawberry tops, salad scraps, etc. There is really little to no waste. Hope this info helps.

If you're paying $8/10 pounds, that's $40 for 50 lbs. Mazuri is $47 for 50 lb bag. I don't know how much your ducks waste but when I tried Dumor, mine threw half of it on the ground. I've also got around 50 ducks. With the Mazuri, they literally don't leave a single piece of it. I don't like the waste because it draws mice/rats/ raccoons/possums.

 

[ruthhope]

we have a local feed store real close to us but they don’t sell duck food only chicken and horse stuff. if i can’t find any duck feed online i might just get some chicken feed and brewers yeast

I was unable to get duck food a couple of months ago and so bought a sack of flock raiser. The ducks liked it. I always add extra brewers' yeast even when I can get duck food, as pekin's have high need for niacin, and I just added more when they were on flock raiser. Mine are now back on duck feed.

However, my son has laying ducks -- mainly Pekins but his muscovy started laying a month ago. As we eat the eggs, he feeds his ducks organic duck food. That has not been available this year at our Tractor Supply, and so he is feeding his ducks organic layer feed -- formulated for chickens. His ducks too are now on added brewer's yeast.

I get brewer's yeast from Amazon in 5lb bags that we burn through remarkably quickly:

https://smile.amazon.com/Brewers-Ye...eac3a&pd_rd_wg=Brzit&pd_rd_i=B00JJV3DA0&psc=1

Without brewer's yeast, one of my son's pekin females gets mental issues: she stays in the coop shouting as if she can't get out. She will follow the other ducks to the door, and then turn back and start shouting [she's a very noisy little duck at the best of times]. The other ducks will come back into the coop and then expect her to follow them out -- but she doesn't go. The others eventually get fed up and get on with their ducky business. This behavior resolves quickly when she is getting added niacin, but came back when my son dropped off giving brewer's yeast. So now his ducks are on permanent added brewer's yeast whether on duck food or chicken food

 

[Yardmom]

Purina flock raiser (I get it at TSC) has a reasonable amount of niacin in it. It can be fed to both chickens and ducks. I feed it along with free ranging. Even my Pekins were fine without extra niacin added as ducklings (adults don't usually need as much as ducklings)

 

[ruthhope]

Purina flock raiser (I get it at TSC) has a reasonable amount of niacin in it. It can be fed to both chickens and ducks. I feed it along with free ranging. Even my Pekins were fine without extra niacin added as ducklings (adults don't usually need as much as ducklings)

That was my son's belief about his pekins until his pekin laying duck started with confusion.

Without brewer's yeast, one of my son's pekin females gets mental issues: she stays in the coop shouting as if she can't get out. She will follow the other ducks to the door, and then turn back and start shouting [she's a very noisy little duck at the best of times]. The other ducks will come back into the coop and then expect her to follow them out -- but she doesn't go. The others eventually get fed up and get on with their ducky business. This behavior resolves quickly when she is getting added niacin, but came back when my son dropped off giving brewer's yeast. So now his ducks are on permanent added brewer's yeast whether on duck food or chicken food

 

[sowNreap]

Tractor Supply carries Nutrena Naturewise All Flock which has about 125ppm of Niacin. This is compared to Purina Duck feed at 65ppm and Mazuri Waterfowl Maintenance at 162ppm.

It can be ordered online & shipped or some stores carry it in stock.

 

[ruthhope]

we have a local feed store real close to us but they don’t sell duck food only chicken and horse stuff. if i can’t find any duck feed online i might just get some chicken feed and brewers yeast

I just found out that my local TSC doesn't stock Mazuri but I was able to order on line 3 days ago and have it shipped, free of charge, to the store.

I use TSC Purina Duck Pellets. If your local TSC doesn't stock it -- again you should be able to order on line and have it shipped to the store.

Buying from Amazon suppliers or Mazuri directly, is expensive because of the cost of shipping.

 

[Weeg]

I feed Scratch and Peck feeds. I'm a big fan for many reasons.

1) Its corn and soy free. Those are two of the largest sprayed corps in the US, so I worry about that. I've also read opposing opinions on soy, so figured I'd just stay away from it so I didn't have to worry about it.

2) Its Organic and Non-Gmo. I like this because of what I mentioned above. Legumes like soy are sprayed with RoundUp to dry them out before using. RoundUp is hihg in Glyphosate which causes cancer.

3) It comes in a paper bag. I hate throwing away those plastic feed sacks. You go through it so fast you end up throwing so much away. I know theres ways to reuse them, but its much easier to get feed in a paper bag.

Edit: Noticed that this is an older thread, but going to leave this here for anyone who comes searching.