Dumor Chick/Duck Start/Grower

[Qwerty91134]

Hello,
I was wondering if the Dumor chick/duck starter/grower was right for my white pekin ducks.

Thank you,
Owen

 

[Going Quackers]

Well, how old are your pekins? what does the tag say, it's usually the best source for feeding info. I am not familiar with the brand.

 

[Apyl]

Dumor does not have enough niacin for young ducks. Purina flock raiser is just fine and usually sold right next to Dumor, lately its been on sale at TSC for only $1 more than Dumor.

 

[learycow]

Owen,
Based on my experience and others who have bought ducklings from me, I would NOT recommend DUMOR brand anything.
I fed it to my ducklings last year and have 60% of them develop leg issues (as stated above, they do not put enough niacin in it which contributes to leg and foot health.)
I switched to Poulin brand as soon as I noticed the leg problems. Within a week, every single duckling was back to normal.

And based on what others have told me, they had the same problem. I had one woman buy 6 WH ducklings, 1 week old. She fed DUMOR for 2 weeks and 4 started to lay down a lot, act weak in the legs. I told her to switch immediately and she saw an improvement after 4 days on a new brand.

I hope this helps. Just be sure that whatever brand you use, make sure it is unmedicated.

 

[Zombified]

Adding to the above posts, there have also been findings of aflatoxin in corn. There's a thread here that talks about it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/711263/u-s-drought-fallout-might-it-affect-all-of-our-ducks

So, using a corn-free feed is probably a good idea(not mandatory, obviously; it's just a choice that I've decided to make). I've decided to switch to Scratch and Peck Naturally Free. We're buying our first bag from Azure Standard this week, because it's only $27 for 40lbs. They also sell starter and grower.

Another good idea is making your own feed, but we don't have space (yet) to store bulk items, so we aren't able to do this yet. Still, it is something I'd like to do when I can.

I want to add that my ducks were on Dumor, and both Erebus and Pyrrhos ended up with pretty severely injured legs, despite the fact that they were even supplimented with Niacin. Pyrrhos has a permanent limp. Erebus is walking normally now, but he is still pretty weak on his legs. The other three don't seem to have any issues.