First timer Goose/Duck Mama!

[fangedknight]

Hi guys! So I'm pretty familiar with chickens (this is my very first season having babies and watching them grow). So far we have my 20 Wyandottes that should be around 6 weeks +/- that are in the big brooder while the coop is still under construction. Well this week I added a few more additions to our lovely flock. 2 Polish and 3 Bantam chicks. And finally 1 Rouen Duck (Female) and 1 Buff Saddleback Pom Gosling! (Male)

Right now they're in with the Polish and Bantam chicks in the "baby brooder" (It's really a cardboard box with the heat lamp over top because he big stock tank is currently housing the 20 big babies). I unfortunately at the moment have only Purina Start and Grow Medicated feed (I've read over some of the articles we have here and am officially a bit worried about keeping just that around). I'm going to see if I can find a Duck/Goose Starter feed for them however.

Is there a safe way to possibly combine the feeds? Or maybe some way to keep my chicks out of their feed? They have to share the same brooder for now since that's the best I've got at the moment.

Also if it's possible to keep them on the chick starter for at least a little while longer, are there some good supplements I can give them to help keep their niacin levels up (etc)?

I'm heading to TSC tonight to see if I can hunt down some feed for them. (I'll have pictures up of them when I can). Any and all advice would be appreciated! Thanks guys!

 

[Bluechick2u]

Hi guys! So I'm pretty familiar with chickens (this is my very first season having babies and watching them grow). So far we have my 20 Wyandottes that should be around 6 weeks +/- that are in the big brooder while the coop is still under construction. Well this week I added a few more additions to our lovely flock. 2 Polish and 3 Bantam chicks. And finally 1 Rouen Duck (Female) and 1 Buff Saddleback Pom Gosling! (Male)

Right now they're in with the Polish and Bantam chicks in the "baby brooder" (It's really a cardboard box with the heat lamp over top because he big stock tank is currently housing the 20 big babies). I unfortunately at the moment have only Purina Start and Grow Medicated feed (I've read over some of the articles we have here and am officially a bit worried about keeping just that around). I'm going to see if I can find a Duck/Goose Starter feed for them however.

Is there a safe way to possibly combine the feeds? Or maybe some way to keep my chicks out of their feed? They have to share the same brooder for now since that's the best I've got at the moment.

Also if it's possible to keep them on the chick starter for at least a little while longer, are there some good supplements I can give them to help keep their niacin levels up (etc)?

I'm heading to TSC tonight to see if I can hunt down some feed for them. (I'll have pictures up of them when I can). Any and all advice would be appreciated! Thanks guys!

I had poor luck with using chick food for baby ducks, would suggest trying flock raiser crumbles if you can't get game bird starter with 28 percent protein.

 

[fangedknight]

I had poor luck with using chick food for baby ducks, would suggest trying flock raiser crumbles if you can't get game bird starter with 28 percent protein.

Good news is, I was able to find unmedicated Dumor chick starter. It's a smaller bag so once they go through that I'll get flock raiser crumbles. (Why Purina can't just label them all "Duck/Goose Starter Grower" "Chick Starter Grower" "Broiler Finisher" "Layer Feed" "Multi-Flock feed adult" I have no clue.)

 

[Bluechick2u]

It took me over a year to find the gamebird starter, only 1 place in 100 miles actually carries it, and every other feed store I went to said they had no idea what to feed baby ducks or geese. Yikes what an unnecessary hassle, and I agree they need more clearly labeled feeds! I accidentally killed my first batch of ducks out of ignorance with medicated chick starter.

 

[fangedknight]

It took me over a year to find the gamebird starter, only 1 place in 100 miles actually carries it, and every other feed store I went to said they had no idea what to feed baby ducks or geese. Yikes what an unnecessary hassle, and I agree they need more clearly labeled feeds! I accidentally killed my first batch of ducks out of ignorance with medicated chick starter.

YIKES! I couldn't even imagine losing a whole batch of ducks like that! I would probably curl up under a rock and never come out. Yes, for tonight they have the regular start and grow stuff that I had in their brooder, in the morning I'm gonna change it over. Still working on finding containers for them to dunk their heads in. I think I might steal some Tupperware....

 

[Bluechick2u]

Check out the galvanized feeders to use for waterers, saw it on utube and it works great, with a paint tray and roller grate underneath to catch the mess. Tupperware will likely turn into the biggest poopy mess if used for water, I fermented my feed so the ducklings were better able to digest it, and worked great in a dish.

 

[fangedknight]

Check out the galvanized feeders to use for waterers, saw it on utube and it works great, with a paint tray and roller grate underneath to catch the mess. Tupperware will likely turn into the biggest poopy mess if used for water, I fermented my feed so the ducklings were better able to digest it, and worked great in a dish.

Okay, I'll look into that. I've heard about fermented feed before but that's about it. Klaus seems like he's having a bit of trouble going potty so I'm hoping tomorrow he'll be doing better. If I need to I'll get some save a chick for him and see if that helps. Charlie on the other hand, when she realized the Tupperware dish was full of water started rinsing her bill off nd jumped right in and started grooming. Thankfully she can stand up in it without any issues and so can the little chicks so i don't need to worry about anyone doing anything stupid. She's kinda just said "This is my bathtub, deal with it." Needless to say... I'll be changing the water in the morning lol.

 

[fangedknight]

Sooo I think Klaus is eating but I'm not sure since I haven't seen him eating yet. Not sure exactly what to do if he isn't.