Feeding

[Yatzee212]

Hi everyone I have an almost 1yr old Female duck, we give her pellets to eat and since she does lay eggs I put egg shells in her food and she also eats certain fruits and veggies but some days she stills hungry even after eating of course she’s not able to tell us exactly what she wants but is there anything else I can give her to fill her up?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

More pellets.
Are you restricting her to a set amount of poultry feed each day?
What are the pellets? Are they duck feed, layer feed, all flock or something else?
I would make sure you put the eggshells in a separate container, not mixed with the food. Mixing gives her no choice but to possibly consume too much calcium.

 

[ruthhope]

You do not mention what sort of duck, but any laying female will need extra rations to non-laying females. We have a female pekin that has not taken a break from laying since she first started in September last year. She is always hungry. We measure out 1 cup of feed each per duck morning and again in the evening. Overall that suffices but I think the one laying pekin eats more than the two females [one small crested pekin and one very small muscovy] that took a break from laying.

We use organic layer feed but as we currently cannot get organic duck layer feed, the ladies are on chicken layer feed and get extra niacin every day on their mealworm treats.

If you are using all flock pellets/crumbles, your females will need extra niacin as well as calcium on the side. But it is the feed -- pellets/crumbles that have to be given in enough quantity to fill you duck!

 

[fatty and friends]

ducks should have pellets available 24/7, also you need more than one duck

 

[Yatzee212]

ducks should have pellets available 24/7, also you need more than one duck

She does have access to food 24/7 sue also tells us when she needs or wants more, I swear it’s a little mini human! She’s very picky! Once she sets her food she no longer wants it either! We had 2 ducks but the female would always injure our male so we had to separate them because she legit wanted to kill her brother. And she’s been doing good ever since. If we bring them close together or even any animal or even ppl she doesn’t recognize now she wants to attack and starts shaking and gets very stressed out now, but overall alone she is very happy and healthy

 

[Yatzee212]

More pellets.
Are you restricting her to a set amount of poultry feed each day?
What are the pellets? Are they duck feed, layer feed, all flock or something else?
I would make sure you put the eggshells in a separate container, not mixed with the food. Mixing gives her no choice but to possibly consume too much calcium.

Not restricting her, she starts to make a lot of noises and gets mad if we even try, I’ve tried to separate the egg shells from the pellets but she won’t eat them like that so I just mix in a little bit in the pellets, without the eggshells she has a lot of issues with laying eggs or can’t lay eggs at all

 

[Yatzee212]

You do not mention what sort of duck, but any laying female will need extra rations to non-laying females. We have a female pekin that has not taken a break from laying since she first started in September last year. She is always hungry. We measure out 1 cup of feed each per duck morning and again in the evening. Overall that suffices but I think the one laying pekin eats more than the two females [one small crested pekin and one very small muscovy] that took a break from laying.

We use organic layer feed but as we currently cannot get organic duck layer feed, the ladies are on chicken layer feed and get extra niacin every day on their mealworm treats.

If you are using all flock pellets/crumbles, your females will need extra niacin as well as calcium on the side. But it is the feed -- pellets/crumbles that have to be given in enough quantity to fill you duck!

She is a female Pekin we switch off between feeding her Purina duck feed pellets or the Dumor duck feed pellets Just depends which one the have at the store. She has her own bowl of water and bowl of food along with another bowl of lettuce otherwise she won’t eat her pellets it’s crazy because she acts like a mini human by telling us what she wants, she knows how to say yes and no as well so that’s also how we know that she’s still hungry but has food and doesn’t eat it.(might sound a little crazy)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If she won't eat the eggshells by themselves, perhaps she doesn't need or want them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

She is a female Pekin we switch off between feeding her Purina duck feed pellets or the Dumor duck feed pellets Just depends which one the have at the store. She has her own bowl of water and bowl of food along with another bowl of lettuce otherwise she won’t eat her pellets it’s crazy because she acts like a mini human by telling us what she wants, she knows how to say yes and no as well so that’s also how we know that she’s still hungry but has food and doesn’t eat it.(might sound a little crazy)

What is the calcium percentage of the pellets?

 

[ruthhope]

She is a female Pekin we switch off between feeding her Purina duck feed pellets or the Dumor duck feed pellets Just depends which one the have at the store. She has her own bowl of water and bowl of food along with another bowl of lettuce otherwise she won’t eat her pellets it’s crazy because she acts like a mini human by telling us what she wants, she knows how to say yes and no as well so that’s also how we know that she’s still hungry but has food and doesn’t eat it.(might sound a little crazy)

My male pekin and muscovies are fine on Purina duck feed pellets or the Dumor duck feed pellets. However, they alone are not adequate for a laying female. Could you swap her to layer pellets as these have calcium in the formulation? Duck layer pellets should be enough although I would give additional niacin [we use brewers yeast on mealworms for our laying pekins]. Chicken layer pellets do not have enough niacin and you must add Vit B complex or brewers yeast to their food.

As I wrote earlier, we have one pekin who has laid all winter and is always hungry. Although the general rule is 1 cup full of feed twice a day, she likely eats 1.5 cupsful. She has access to food all day and night, and is free ranging during the day, But she goes back into the coop for food during the day as well as forages during the day. Perhaps you just measure out a cup and a half in the morning and a cup and a half in the evening and see how she gets on.