Feeding oatmeal to ducks?



I just saw this for keeping the grass safe- genius!
I saved that to show to dh, were going to use poultry fencing the plastic kind anchor it down with those things you use to keep ground cloth in place then sow grass and wheat and put down straw to hopefully keep the chickens from eating all the seed till it has a chance to come up, I have a lot of this fencing I have used in several places to keep the flock from munching on my flowers and veggies before we put up the extra fencing so I have a lot of it and it will be an experiment. No way can I turn them out to fend for themselves way too many preds here. They use to free range over quiet a bit more of our property but most of it is wooded and although I never lost a duck or goose to predation I have lost some chickens, So we'll just do the best we can, So far I've had ducks over 9 yrs, geese going on 7 and chickens over 4 and lost none to health disease other than a couple game hens to astities[water belly] [sp]and I thank the good Lord for it all. the good health. I can get whole oats here at our feed store and Purina and Southern states feed very limited choices. I have always fed Sun Fresh form Purina thinking it was maybe a degree higher than the other feed I have offered. who knows. I'll check out the link you have given though thanks. The only flat spot on our whole property is were our house sits and our duck-geese-chicken houses are right next to our house. We love the mountains but not a real good place to do much with. I don't like Craigslist so I'll have to think of another way to feel the waters as far as buying bulk. But a good idea. What part of the country are you in?
 
The plastic on the ground alone wont keep the seed protected and will allow them to scratch the grass up still. Wood frames with hardware cloth stretched across and a center frame support like pictured above allows the grass or other seed to grow up through, but protects the roots from scratching by the chickens.

Those frames wont support a large duck like a muscovy or a goose, it makes the hardware cloth sag from their weight. lol
 
Story guide is authored by Dave Holderread here in Oregon, and he has been successfully raising ducks in Oregon for 50 years. Chickens information seems to be more universal; whereas, information on ducks I find to be contradictory. The real duck experts are the English, as roast duck and duck eggs are popular staples in that country. I ordered the suggested book "Duck Production Science & Practice", but Nutrition and management of ducks is an older book and out of print.
 
Story guide is authored by Dave Holderread here in Oregon, and he has been successfully raising ducks  in Oregon for 50 years.  Chickens information seems to be more universal; whereas, information on ducks I find to be contradictory.   The real duck experts are the  English, as roast duck and duck eggs are popular staples in that country.  I ordered the suggested book  "Duck Production Science & Practice", but Nutrition and management of ducks is an older book and out of print.


I believe I was able to read that one on Google books. That was quite some time ago, not recently!
 
What part of the country are you in?
I'm lucky enough to be in the perfect place for ducks year-round- the coast of northern California. We get lots of rainy days and mild winters and it never gets too hot in summer.

CelticOaksFarm made a good point about the duck's weight. I'm used to our miniatures that are only 3 pounds and didn't consider that ducks would squish the hardware cloth. I hope you're able to work something out with all that fencing you have!
 
I'm lucky enough to be in the perfect place for ducks year-round- the coast of northern California. We get lots of rainy days and mild winters and it never gets too hot in summer.

CelticOaksFarm made a good point about the duck's weight. I'm used to our miniatures that are only 3 pounds and didn't consider that ducks would squish the hardware cloth. I hope you're able to work something out with all that fencing you have!
Thanks Peeko me too, and sounds like a lovely place your in.
 
I Use Mazuri Food called waterfowl maintenence, It improved their feathers 100% the food is made for waterfowl
 

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