ducky taistbuds changing?

[KrazyKZ08]

my female pekin is 5 months old so shes getting to the age where she will start laying eggs soon. she used to love the food i give her everyday, and lettuce was her favorite treat but lately she wont touch the lettuce OR her food!! she also keeps trying to steal the cat food.

i know she is going to need more protein so I have been giving her a hard-boiled egg every night with the shell, but she doesnt try to gobble it all down in one sitting like she used to lol. I also give her more treats like tomatoes, and cucombers to make sure she's eating SOMETHING....I also tried feeding her the oyster shells but even if i mix them in with a little cat food she eats around them..... i'm worried if there might be something i'm doing wrong or maybe she's unhappy? I'm very worried, because food used to be her favorite thing!!

about 4 days ago I took in another duck (he's a 3 month old male welsh harlequin) and they get along great! even though i kept them seperate until i knew they would get along. i was also wondering if maybe this had something to do with it.

i hope i didnt cause any damage!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I don't think you caused any damage. She needed a buddy, it just takes time to adjust. and you are right their tastes change too. They need a well balanced diet so make sure they always have their main duck feed available, besides all the treats you give.

 

[KrazyKZ08]

thank you! she's good now though. i got her some different food for laying ducks and to get her used to it i put cabbage and cucumber in a food processor and mixed it all together to coat all the pieces and she LOVED it. I left her old food with her but even when i would mix things into it she just wouldnt touch it. she is at the age where i should change it though so maybe it was her way of telling me to get on that. I also heard that I can't feed my male the same food because too much cacium can hurt his kidneys.. STILL LEARNING

lol

 

[shelleyd2008]

If I change my ducks' feed I feed them after dark so they can't see it. You'd be amazed how much they'll avoid eating something 'red' (leftover calf manna that the chickens wouldn't eat) or 'green' (rabbit pellets that got rained on) when they are used to eating something 'brown' (starter/grower and/or layer crumbles or pellets), but they'll gobble it right up when they can't see it

 

[GrannyCarol]

Sometimes, if you only have one or two ducks, the food starts to go bad before we can tell and they won't eat it. It is a bit odd for her to quit eating her treats, but she may have been stressed/excited over her new friend for a few days too.

 

[KrazyKZ08]

that may be what happened! i got a really big bag to last a long time, but i didnt think it could go bad because it was dry. i'm pretty sure it did because i was almost out of it by the time she decided not to eat it anymore. the funny thing is that she LOVES red food lol. especially watermelon and cat food. i'm glad she's finally eating again though! she keeps standing on my feet when i'm doing dishes because she thinks i'm cutting food for her

 

[mandelyn]

Dry foods go stale... like chips or crackers for us. When you buy feeds in bulk you need airtight storage for it.. not just the bag it came in folded down unless you go through it quickly. My dogs won't even eat their food once it goes stale. I bought a pile of garbage cans with secure lids to store everything in.

You can also use an old deep freezer, it has the vinyl seal around the lid.

You'll want to refresh the food daily. Ducks are also suspicious for some reason... like they think we're trying to poison them with a new food. I'll use a soy free, dye free cat food as a treat because it has fish oils and Niacin in it, the ingredients read like it's duck friendly... and it floats on the water when you throw it in the pool. The peas sink... so they get to "catch" something on the surface then go after the peas on the bottom. They love actually finding something in the endless water sifting.

Ducks are like Divas... high maintenance, picky, and demanding. At least mine are.

 

[newbyduckmom]

I have found my ducks to be very picky. New veggies/fruits they want nothing to do with. Took several days before they would eat the mesclun greens I grow for them, and the drakes still won't touch them.

Hadn't considered the dry food getting stale...Just like anything else....duh. Thanks for the information.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
This morning I opened up a can of corn and can of peas w/o salt drained and gave as treat along with their feed, the ducks ate some of it but the chickens scarfed it up. First time i have ever given them anything canned.

 

[KrazyKZ08]

lol my girl used to eat anything she could get a hold of. just like a real baby, if there was anything on the floor i missed when vacuuming or sweeping, she would find it, and i would have to chase her around like "don't eat that!!!" i collect jars and i kept her food in them, but they werent exactly air tight, just old applesauce jars. i used to get the big glass jars of applesauce from publics to clean and reuse but they started selling the cheap plastic ones....the garbage can idea sounds better, so i'll try that! especially since the smallest bag of food i could find was 50 pounds!!