ducklings only eat when hand fed

[Herb81003]

I always have a duck feeder full of food and I rarely see my ducklings eat from it so I try to hand feed them and when I do hand feed them they always go crazy over it and even fight for it. But they dont go for the food in the duck feeder, is this normal? 2 week old muscovy ducklings btw.

 

[ruthhope]

What sort of duck feeder do you have? For 2 week old ducklings, I use an open bowl for food. IS your duck feeder somehow intimidating to them?

 

[Herb81003]

What sort of duck feeder do you have? For 2 week old ducklings, I use an open bowl for food. IS your duck feeder somehow intimidating to them?

I use a plastic water bottle cut in half

 

[citymeetscountry]

I use a plastic water bottle cut in half

Is it possible the water bottle is scraping/hurting them? I use a rectangular chick feeder when they’re that young and then eventually move up to a lunchmeat style container and eventually a bigger feeder.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I use a heavy small bowl that will not tip over for my ducklings when I only have a couple of them. It is shallow enough for them to be able to reach the food easily. I have never had any that would not eat out of it and I have raised several of them in my house over the years.