Feeding Ducks and Chickens - All Flock/Flockraiser Pellets or Crumbles?

[DuckDuckSook]

Hello friends!

So I have a flock of 3 chickens and 4 ducks. (My ducks are about 11 weeks old.) I'm feeding Purina Flock Raiser crumbles. All the birds love the crumble food, especially the ducks. However, the chickens scratch it out of the bowls very easily and a lot is going to waste. I've tried putting a feeder into a rubber bowl to minimize this, but then the ducks don't seem to eat as much. I'd prefer to switch over to pellets, but I don't know if all the birds will eat those. What have you found that works? Should I be using different feeders? Do ducks eventually warm up to pellets? Thanks so much!

 

[Isadora]

That's my main complaint about crumble food: waste. I would definitely try switching to pellets. If the ducks aren't as keen on them, you can try integrating them with the crumbles at first so the ducks learn that they are also food and just add more and more until it's all pellets.

 

[fatty and friends]

my ducks eat pellets, i switched from crumble because i was worried about choking and they got used to it within a week

 

[Knighstar679]

My ducks get switched to pellets about 5-6 weeks. I had first done crumbles but was finding a lot on the ground. It took them a few days to warm up to the pellets but once they did they ate them just the same

 

[KaleIAm]

That's my main complaint about crumble food: waste. I would definitely try switching to pellets. If the ducks aren't as keen on them, you can try integrating them with the crumbles at first so the ducks learn that they are also food and just add more and more until it's all pellets.

x2
I also worry about crumble food getting on the ground and getting damp/old and getting eaten days later. I like pellets much better. I mix food together until my ducks accept it to get them to switch.

 

[neo71665]

A healthy bird will not starve if you give it feed. They might not like the form but they will eat it.

 

[DuckDuckSook]

Thanks everyone. I've started slowly introducing the pellets and I think it will go well that way. I just can't afford to have so much of the crumble wasted. I saw huge piles of it on the ground this week that the birds aren't eating and I just wanted to scream. Pellets it is!