Duck treats

[Rememberthedeer]

I'm trying to think of a bunch of healthy snacks for my pekin duck. I know he likes worms, green beans, slugs, and fish insides, but I'm looking for other stuff.
Can I give him pumpkin seeds? We have plenty of that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm trying to think of a bunch of healthy snacks for my pekin duck. I know he likes worms, green beans, slugs, and fish insides, but I'm looking for other stuff.
Can I give him pumpkin seeds? We have plenty of that.

Mine will eat the whole pumpkin from inside out, I just cut it into 4th so everyone can chew on it at once since I have quite a few flock members. They all eat on it. You might have to break up the seeds though their pretty big, Not sure who ate the seeds here. It's a good natural wormer too.

 

[Rememberthedeer]

Thanks, I didn't know what to do with our pumpkins and wanted to make sure it was safe for my duck before I gave it to him. Thanks again, you were helpful. =)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks, I didn't know what to do with our pumpkins and wanted to make sure it was safe for my duck before I gave it to him. Thanks again, you were helpful. =)

since you only have the one duck right now it will take him a while to eat it but even if it gets mushy it won't matter.

 

[Rememberthedeer]

Ok, I was wondering if I should remove it after a day or two.

 

[Rememberthedeer]

So.... Ducks don't have teeth so do I need to chop up the pumpkin first? He hasn't seemed to touch it and I don't know if it's because it's too big for him to eat, or if he just doesn't know what it is yet.

 

[Amiga]

Ducks need grit so they can "chew" in their tummies (I know there are more technical terms, but I think you know what I mean). If your little one is outdoors he is most likely getting plenty of grit from dabbling around on the ground, picking up bits of soil and gravel.

If the pumpkin is in fairly large chunks so he would have to rip pieces of it off, that ought to be okay.

But if the pumpkin is in sizes that might be swallowable, but large enough to get stuck, that could be a problem.

Since they don't chew with their mouths, they swallow things whole, so they can choke if what they are swallowing is too large and certain kinds of shapes and textures could get stuck part of the way down. We don't want to lose a duck to suffocation.

So for some items I do cut the pieces small enough so that they will go down without getting stuck. Other things start out too large to swallow and they rip pieces off that are small enough to eat safely.

He just may not realize it's food yet.

Did you slice it in half? That might get him started. Just watch him for a while with it.

By the way, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks suggests keeping a foot-long length of half-inch rubber tubing or something similar to use in case of choking.

I think they said even a non-sharpened wooden pencil with a clean eraser, using the eraser side down could work.

 

[Rememberthedeer]

Ok, thanks for all the advice and info. I really appreciate it. =)