Feeding oatmeal to ducks?

[Peeko]

and is super pricey lol i've only seen the starter here, and it ran almost 30$ for 25lbs. I pay 16/17$ for my 55lb bag of duck grower.

They are just charging folks extra for the illusion of it being different.

It is still mostly made of processed field corn, soy, and isolated vitamins and minerals...just like the cheap stuff.

 

[hope4rainbow]

My chickens will shove each other to get oatmeal. It's their snack I know next to nothing about Ducks, though!

 

[Speceider]

They're not just an illusion...there's a lot of science in each of those diets.....that's why zoos and most serious large-scale breeders us it.

Clint

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Mazuri has everything formulated vitemin and mineral needs for waterfowl. It is well worth the price given how much you feed per bird per day compared the genertic all bird feeds. Then if you add in the vitemins and the niacin suppliments many end up spending more and doing more work.

We have fed Mazuri then as a test switched to Flock Raiser to see how the birds would do. I couldnt get them off the FR fast enough. Feather condition went down hill, they werent as active, just all around off from the Mazuri based diet. I dont like having sluggish and bad looking birds so went back to Mazuri.

I know many will pipe up and say their birds look fine/good/ect on FR. Yes, but unless you have something to compare it to then you know only how they perform on what you feed.

We also dont have the fertility issues, hatch rate issues ect that other breeders report year after year, and we gather and incubate all eggs and dont let the geese sit.

 

[Going Quackers]

Well how good or bad it is basically irrelevant since you cannot find it here, i only found the starter and not even where i live only online, that's the other problem with feeds, it is truly dependent on what is available to you, not everyone can get the same stuff, even more so if your from a different country. I will still (and likely always) stand behind you have to find what works for your flock, each person has variables which definitely includes feed availability.

 

[Peeko]

There's also a lot of science behind a Big Mac. Doesn't mean it's healthy or anyone should eat it.

 

[mikeru]

Maybe Mazuri would create an account in a local store, I special order it from a store and they order it from a supply distributor. The feathers develop much more.

 

[Moments]

My three Ancona ducks live off of Scratch & Peck organic/GMO-free feed, vegetable treats, and free range in the yard. I have managed to accumulate quite a bit of human rolled oats and wonder if this can be added to their regular feed. I will never eat this much myself, so thought it might work as an extender for their feed (which is getting more and more expensive).

Also, I have been getting the layer, higher-protein (20%) but now that I have added the drake for the two girls, wonder if I should change this. They have a side dish of oyster shell along with digging all over the yard. They are laying good strong eggs, but seem to be molting now. I adopted them out of terrible conditions just before they started laying. One of the girls has never had good feathers. I thought her feathers would have improved by now, but she still looks so ragged. They are all happy and vigorous.

I've been giving my ducks a 20% feed as the site I ordered it from said it's fine until laying age but after speaking to a veteran duck owner who has written books on ducks, has health related products etc I have started adding 25% rolled oats to their food (for the layers as well) per her recommendation as she said 20% is way too high and can cause weight issues, etc. My ducks weight is healthy (probably because they are out foraging most the day so are taking in less feed). I'll be searching out a different feed with lower protein.

 

[Pollo Blanco]

I've been giving my ducks a 20% feed as the site I ordered it from said it's fine until laying age but after speaking to a veteran duck owner who has written books on ducks, has health related products etc I have started adding 25% rolled oats to their food (for the layers as well) per her recommendation as she said 20% is way too high and can cause weight issues, etc. My ducks weight is healthy (probably because they are out foraging most the day so are taking in less feed). I'll be searching out a different feed with lower protein.

I think that Du Mor duck starter is 22%, but you want to switch to 16 to 18 when the flight feathers start coming in. Takes a couple of weeks.
Some feed stores sell steamed and pressed oats, which are suitable for ducks. If they're not steamed and pressed, then they're goat and hoofed animal feed.