Feeding newly hatched ducks

[Sarayes]

I ordered some duck crumbs last week and due to Easter holidays and this country shutting down for an entire 5 days , they've just emailed me to say there’s a delay and it will be delivered on Saturday.

Today is day 28 for my eggs and they’ve internally pipped and I assume that means they will hatch before Saturday. I might be able to go and get some poultry crumbs from the pet shop, I don’t know if that’s suitable for ducklings? Would it be okay to just give them water and not feed them until the duck feed arrives on Saturday? Or would poultry crumbs be better than nothing?

 

[IvysAnimals]

I ordered some duck crumbs last week and due to Easter holidays and this country shutting down for an entire 5 days , they've just emailed me to say there’s a delay and it will be delivered on Saturday.

Today is day 28 for my eggs and they’ve internally pipped and I assume that means they will hatch before Saturday. I might be able to go and get some poultry crumbs from the pet shop, I don’t know if that’s suitable for ducklings? Would it be okay to just give them water and not feed them until the duck feed arrives on Saturday? Or would poultry crumbs be better than nothing?

Usually they can go 1-2 days without eating since they absorbed all of their nutrients in the egg so they won't need the food right after they hatch. They should be fine, however, I would suggest getting a tiny bag of duckling food for them if you can find it anywhere. They're slow hatcher's because of the shape of their beak, so they should be fine

 

[Miss Lydia]

Even if they have internally pipped it may be Saturday before any hatch, Ducklings are super slow at hatching so you are probably fine without feed till Sat. The reason hatcheries can ship poultry is that after hatch they can live 2-3 days on the yolk sac they absorbed. Be sure to let us know when you start seeing ducklings we always love to see baby pics.

 

[Sarayes]

Usually they can go 1-2 days without eating since they absorbed all of their nutrients in the egg so they won't need the food right after they hatch. They should be fine, however, I would suggest getting a tiny bag of duckling food for them if you can find it anywhere

Okay that’s great thank you. Unfortunately our local feed store just closed a couple weeks ago and the pet shop doesn’t sell anything for ducks specifically, that’s why I had to order. Normally they ship quickly, just Easter delayed everything.

 

[Sarayes]

Even if they have internally pipped it may be Saturday before any hatch, Ducklings are super slow at hatching so you are probably fine without feed till Sat. The reason hatcheries can ship poultry is that after hatch they can live 2-3 days on the yolk sac they absorbed. Be sure to let us know when you start seeing ducklings we always love to see baby pics.

Okay that’s great! As long as they’re not hatched and then starved. Thanks so much! Oh yes I’ll be posting plenty, I’ve been going through every thread with pics, I can’t wait to add my own

 

[Miss Lydia]

Also they can have chicken starter feed you just want to be sure to add a niacin supplement to it and Nutritional yeast is the best 1 tab over 1 cup of feed. Even duckling or waterfowl starter is still best to add a niacin supplement.
What breed are you hatching?

 

[Sarayes]

Also they can have chicken starter feed you just want to be sure to add a niacin supplement to it and Nutritional yeast is the best 1 tab over 1 cup of feed. Even duckling or waterfowl starter is still best to add a niacin supplement.
What breed are you hatching?

Yeah I saw that on the sticky thread, I didn’t realise you could add it to the starter too, I’ll look into that.

I have absolutely no idea what breed they are. If I was to make a very uneducated guess based on the egg size and colour I’d say khaki Campbell and either Aylesbury or Indian runner. I got the eggs from the farm shop, they were sold for eating but I thought I’d try incubating them. Only saw one video on their fb page showing the ducks but couldn’t tell from that (I know nothing about breeds, someone with better knowledge would probably know).

 

[nchls school]

I feed my newly hatched ducklings a mixture of wild game mash, minced hard boiled egg, and dry meal worm; just to get them started.

I am sure other mashes or poultry crumbs could be substituted for the game mash.