Ducks and Bunnies free ranging together-

[kaumlauf]

I have a gorgeous flock of ducks, a few chickens and a lot of bunnies free-ranging in a grassy 1 acre lot. In general, everyone but the dominant male drake and buck alpha male rabbit get along (those two actually fight). The issue is feeding. How much do ducks need in a day? Will 4 ounces pellets per duck be enough ? Less? More? The rabbits are hogs. I've figured out how to keep the rabbits from the duck's food- I put the duck pellets in a kitty litter sized plastic tray/ bin, then add water to cover the feed. This discourages the rabbits, but the ducks get into it easily. If I didn't add the water, the rabbits would run over and gobble everything down, leaving none for the ducks. Only a couple ducks are assertive enough to peck the rabbits out of the way- but many rabbits tolerate the punishment. The question is, how much feed should I expect a duck to consume in a day? They do get bugs, worms, etc. Many thanks?

 

[sourland]

I generally prefer to feed birds ad lib, but in situations where that is impossible I feed twice a day as much as they will consume at each feeding. It appears that you have muscovies? If so monitor the interaction between the drake and buck. As a kid I had a Muscovy drake and RIR rooster that would fight daily. The rooster would always initiate the fights. One day when I was not around the drake killed the rooster and then started to attack the rest of the chickens. It was almost as if he had gone berserk. I eventually had to cull him.

 

[kaumlauf]

Thank for your story. I have a similar situation. We have only one Scovy- a female. The rest are Blue Swedes that are more or less less black and white. We also have a Harlequin drake...this H is very aggressive towards our big buck rabbit. The drake has been savagely bitten by the buck, pulling skin off the neck, and bleeding, but managed to survive. They still skirmish. The RIR sadly killed one of my favorite hens by mounting her, and breaking her neck. Now, the other hens come running and attack him when he mounts up.Never a dull moment.