FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[triplepurpose]

I see nothing but good things happening if you feed FF to the ducks, it will not harm them!

Many folks on here are feeding it to ducks and geese and reporting the same benefits for them as they have had for their chickens. I'm currently feeding it to a little Khaki Campbell duckling and will be feeding it to more of the same soon. I've noticed the duckling will not eat it much if it's too soupy or wet and prefers it crumbly but damp. He also rushes right over to the water after each bite, even though the feed is damp.

I guess my concern came from knowing how chickens and hogs can eat all kinds of things that are too funky for other animals, so I wasn't sure how a duck's system by comparison would handle such microbially "lively" feed.

But, sounds reasonable enough! I guess I'll have to give it a try soon. I've got two clutches of ducklings now, from two different ducks, only 3 weeks apart, so we're going to be approaching quite a feed "curve" here for the next couple of months till slaughter... Sound like FF could save us a lot of money...

Cheers!

 

[Beekissed]

I guess my concern came from knowing how chickens and hogs can eat all kinds of things that are too funky for other animals, so I wasn't sure how a duck's system by comparison would handle such microbially "lively" feed.

But, sounds reasonable enough! I guess I'll have to give it a try soon. I've got two clutches of ducklings now, from two different ducks, only 3 weeks apart, so we're going to be approaching quite a feed "curve" here for the next couple of months till slaughter... Sound like FF could save us a lot of money...

Cheers!

Will also give the meat such a mild and good flavor that you'll be surprised. I also found the quality of fat had changed on my chickens...the fat they store from this feed is so golden and smooth and the flavor is worth the saving and using it in all dishes like one would use duck fat to flavor certain things. I've never in all my life tasted chicken, broth or fat as good as what I get to enjoy now....sure wish I had known about this a long, long time ago.

I don't know what breed you are raising but we've had ducks in the past of various breeds that were as tough as nails when it comes to diet changes and choices...and stayed fat on the simplest of feeds~forage and whole corn.

I think ducks may do better on whole grain feeds than they do on processed feeds, judging how this young duckling I currently have is eating....not what I'm used to in ducks. He seems to need to wash down the crushed grains~even moist feed~with a drink of water each time he takes a bite. I don't recall our ducks in the past needing to do that when they just ate the whole corn and then foraged for more natural foods. Since I'm ordering more ducks, I may keep a separate bucket in which I ferment some whole grains just for them...will have to work that out in my mind a little.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Will also give the meat such a mild and good flavor that you'll be surprised.  I also found the quality of fat had changed on my chickens...the fat they store from this feed is so golden and smooth and the flavor is worth the saving and using it in all dishes like one would use duck fat to flavor certain things.  I've never in all my life tasted chicken, broth or fat as good as what I get to enjoy now....sure wish I had known about this a long, long time ago. 

I don't know what breed you are raising but we've had ducks in the past of various breeds that were as tough as nails when it comes to diet changes and choices...and stayed fat on the simplest of feeds~forage and whole corn. 

I think ducks may do better on whole grain feeds than they do on processed feeds, judging how this young duckling I currently have is eating....not what I'm used to in ducks.  He seems to need to wash down the crushed grains~even moist feed~with a drink of water each time he takes a bite.  I don't recall our ducks in the past needing to do that when they just ate the whole corn and then foraged for more natural foods.  Since I'm ordering more ducks, I may keep a separate bucket in which I ferment some whole grains just for them...will have to work that out in my mind a little. 

Yeah ... we gave our ducklings dry crumbles and they had no trouble choking to death on those if they didn't get to the water fast enough. Once we kept a deep tub of water by the tub of feed, all was well. I wasn't fermenting feed for them then, but I gather slightly moist mash is better for them than dry.

I'm not sure about whole grains for ducks. I read "seeds" aren't good for ducks because ducks don't grind feed as well as chickens. But what do they mean by "seeds?" and I'm no genius but it seems to me not digesting stuff fully seems way better than chocking to death!

I haven't fully quacked the secret duck code.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm truly not a duck expert but I would think grain qualifies as seed.
IMO seed includes anything that can grow into a plant.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah ... we gave our ducklings dry crumbles and they had no trouble choking to death on those if they didn't get to the water fast enough. Once we kept a deep tub of water by the tub of feed, all was well. I wasn't fermenting feed for them then, but I gather slightly moist mash is better for them than dry.

I'm not sure about whole grains for ducks. I read "seeds" aren't good for ducks because ducks don't grind feed as well as chickens. But what do they mean by "seeds?" and I'm no genius but it seems to me not digesting stuff fully seems way better than chocking to death!

I haven't fully quacked the secret duck code.

Love it! I know wild ducks glean in wheat, corn, millet and soy fields and are hunted over these very fields....I'm thinking they are eating quite a bit of seeds~grains~there without having a bit of trouble grinding them later. Their gizzards are even bigger and stronger than chickens if that can be possible. We never gave ours anything but whole corn and they were healthy, fat and sassy...of course, that was before corn was GMO, so that might make a difference.

 

[jerrey]

bee what kind of floor do you have in your chicken house
jerrey mae

 

[Bethel3330]

    Love it!  I know wild ducks glean in wheat, corn, millet and soy fields and are hunted over these very fields....I'm thinking they are eating quite a bit of seeds~grains~there without having a bit of trouble grinding them later.  Their gizzards are even bigger and stronger than chickens if that can be possible.  We never gave ours anything but whole corn and they were healthy, fat and sassy...of course, that was before corn was GMO, so that might make a difference. 

What part of WV are you in, @Beekissed? We have a dealer for Hiland Naturals non-gmo feeds in Putnam County.

 

[Beekissed]

bee what kind of floor do you have in your chicken house
jerrey mae

Just dirt...and that's covered with deep litter of leaves, pine needles, twigs, pine shavings, hay, and anything else I can throw in there of a carbonaceous nature that decomposes!

What part of WV are you in, @Beekissed ? We have a dealer for Hiland Naturals non-gmo feeds in Putnam County.

I'm in the mid-western portion of the state. I don't usually buy prebagged feeds if I can help it...try to get it fresh from the mill. Have a local mill in this part of the state that puts out fresh feeds?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Love it! I know wild ducks glean in wheat, corn, millet and soy fields and are hunted over these very fields....I'm thinking they are eating quite a bit of seeds~grains~there without having a bit of trouble grinding them later. Their gizzards are even bigger and stronger than chickens if that can be possible. We never gave ours anything but whole corn and they were healthy, fat and sassy...of course, that was before corn was GMO, so that might make a difference.

Yeah ... the information I've found on the Internet for Ducks is pretty suck-tastic. But I haven't broken down and bought Holderread's Story's Guide to Raising Ducks ... and Holderread is pretty much the man when it comes to ducks, so maybe I should.

The bulk of the info I've read on "seeds" and ducks has been alarming and incomplete. Of course cereal grains are seeds, but somehow I doubt that is what the warnings refer to.

Here is a quote on seeds I found from a page here at BYC ...
.....................
Seeds- ***
Some seeds can be given to ducks, like Millet or Sunflower seeds, as a limited rare special treat. While seeds can be used like grit, seeds do not digest well. Too many seeds can impact the crop and fill with material that can not be digested or passed. Then there's less room for good foods and digestive problems can occur. Remember that some seeds, like apple or cherry seeds, are toxic to ducks.
........................

You can find that at this thread ...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/242460/the-ultimate-list-of-duck-treats-and-supplements

Just today, I've put this question about ducks & seeds to my feed guru ... I'll report back if I get anything useful to report.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah ... the information I've found on the Internet for Ducks is pretty suck-tastic. But I haven't broken down and bought Holderread's Story's Guide to Raising Ducks ... and Holderread is pretty much the man when it comes to ducks, so maybe I should.

The bulk of the info I've read on "seeds" and ducks has been alarming and incomplete. Of course cereal grains are seeds, but somehow I doubt that is what the warnings refer to.

Here is a quote on seeds I found from a page here at BYC ...
.....................
Seeds- ***
Some seeds can be given to ducks, like Millet or Sunflower seeds, as a limited rare special treat. While seeds can be used like grit, seeds do not digest well. Too many seeds can impact the crop and fill with material that can not be digested or passed. Then there's less room for good foods and digestive problems can occur. Remember that some seeds, like apple or cherry seeds, are toxic to ducks.
........................

You can find that at this thread ...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/242460/the-ultimate-list-of-duck-treats-and-supplements

Just today, I've put this question about ducks & seeds to my feed guru ... I'll report back if I get anything useful to report.

That should be helpful! Whenever I look for what goes for a specie of animal, I always look at their wild diet and then try to adapt what I feed to that as much as possible....here are a few links that describe a little about the diets of some types of wild ducks....sadly enough I Googled for a very long time to just get these few...you are right, the info out there is mighty slim. My thinking is this...if the wild ducks can eat it, so can mine, no matter the breed.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hunting/2007/09/duck-diets

In the above article it describes some of the many seed grains and grass seeds the various breeds feed on for a large part of their diets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard#Feeding


After reading a fair ton on ducks just now I'm wishing I had a body of water for the ones I have coming, even if it's just a slough filled with seepage, because a lot of what they are going to need for breeding and reproducing is located in the water and around water. I'm doubting I could ever replicate the diet a wild duck is able to find but I'll likely try a few things to attract the things they like to eat. We'll see how it all goes....if I can't provide them a quality life, I'll likely get out of ducks.