Ducks not eating

[Quack head]

Picked up three 3 1/2 month old Appleyard ducks on Thursday (7/11). They have been free range ducks and put in a small cage at night. The farm had chickens, turkeys and geese along with the ducks and community feeders were around the property.

I placed the ducks in their 8 x 8 house, wire three sides, w/water to splash in and a bowl of feed (grower from TS for ducks/chickens) they haven't touch the food. I added some water to the food same result. I put some meal worms in the splash water and in the bedding and they ate at them up.

Should I be worried? Is it just stress on the ducks to get use to the new place? After a week or so I plan on free ranging them.



Help

 

[Duckworth]

Can you find out from the seller what feed they were on? Many of us use Flock Raiser or All Flock for our ducks and a farm with a mixed flock may have been doing the same.

Are you ducks free ranging at all now? They may be used to getting a lot of their nourishment from eating plants and bugs that may be absent from your setup. Some of my ducks came from a farm where they free ranged, but it’s not possible where I am, so I pull weeds from my yard and garden and toss them in. The ducks see me pulling weeds and gather to watch from their pen. They get very excited when I start walking toward their door and go nuts when I took the weeds in. They also provide a lot of fly control by eating any that fly or land too low.

I wouldn’t necessarily want to get my ducks hooked on “snacks” like mealworms for their main feed, but mine love the weeds. They also devour their Flock Raiser. Consider tossing in weeds until you feel you can free range them and see whether that helps.

 

[OliveGreen]

Lovely looking ducks!

I brought home a new duck a couple of months ago and she wasn’t interested in food for almost a week. I thought it might be that she wasn’t used to the brand of food I had (or just didn’t like it) so I went and bought the same thing the breeder was giving her - no luck with that either!

I think it was just nerves and the new environment - she started digging in with the others after a week no problems.

Maybe your 3 will start eating once they feel a bit more settled in their new home?

 

[Quack head]

Can you find out from the seller what feed they were on? Many of us use Flock Raiser or All Flock for our ducks and a farm with a mixed flock may have been doing the same.

Are you ducks free ranging at all now? They may be used to getting a lot of their nourishment from eating plants and bugs that may be absent from your setup. Some of my ducks came from a farm where they free ranged, but it’s not possible where I am, so I pull weeds from my yard and garden and toss them in. The ducks see me pulling weeds and gather to watch from their pen. They get very excited when I start walking toward their door and go nuts when I took the weeds in. They also provide a lot of fly control by eating any that fly or land too low.

I wouldn’t necessarily want to get my ducks hooked on “snacks” like mealworms for their main feed, but mine love the weeds. They also devour their Flock Raiser. Consider tossing in weeds until you feel you can free range them and see whether that helps.

Thanks for your response, the mealworms is just a treat to get them use to me. The person I purchased them from said to give them Scratch (sp?), I was advised against that from Tractor Supply and they suggested what I purchased. I am hoping they will accept the feed soon. I also put some whole corn in today to see if they will eat that. I have going to free range them in a week, I want them to get use to and come back to the pen at night.

 

[chickens really]

Try a bowl of wet soupy feed along with the dry feed. It might encourage them to eat ..

 

[Quack head]

Lovely looking ducks!

I brought home a new duck a couple of months ago and she wasn’t interested in food for almost a week. I thought it might be that she wasn’t used to the brand of food I had (or just didn’t like it) so I went and bought the same thing the breeder was giving her - no luck with that either!

I think it was just nerves and the new environment - she started digging in with the others after a week no problems.

Maybe your 3 will start eating once they feel a bit more settled in their new home?

Thank You, I am hoping stress is the problem with them.

 

[Duckworth]

Thank You, I am hoping stress is the problem with them.

I suspect you are right about that. It’s only been a couple of days. When I first looked at the date you got them, I thought it had been a week, but I misread it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Picked up three 3 1/2 month old Appleyard ducks on Thursday (7/11). They have been free range ducks and put in a small cage at night. The farm had chickens, turkeys and geese along with the ducks and community feeders were around the property.

I placed the ducks in their 8 x 8 house, wire three sides, w/water to splash in and a bowl of feed (grower from TS for ducks/chickens) they haven't touch the food. I added some water to the food same result. I put some meal worms in the splash water and in the bedding and they ate at them up.

Should I be worried? Is it just stress on the ducks to get use to the new place? After a week or so I plan on free ranging them.



Help

They are gorgeous!