Food Label Dummy - Help Please!

[antirice]

We've been prepping for our ducklings to arrive in a few weeks and need to decide on a feed. I know that ducklings need 20-22% for the first two weeks (for optimum growth, per Storey's Guide), and that the vitamins and minerals are important. I've not seen a full breakdown of various quantities required of which vitamins and whatnot though. rather than stress over it, I figured that most commercially available foods ought to be pretty close so long as I wasn't getting the absolute cheapest possible food out there. I wanted to get some organic non-GMO feed and found some at the local feed store.

The question for the group is: is this decent feed for ducklings?





Also, I'm assuming I'll still need to supplement with brewer's yeast for niacin per Storey's quantity and timing guildlines? and i see limestone on the ingredient list... do I still need to add grit to the food for digestion, or is that what the limestone is for?

Sorry for the rookie questions!
Thanks for the help!

- Chris

 

[eggbert420]

It will make a terd.

 

[antirice]

It will make a terd.

LOL, so it's alright then. Any input on the grit question?

Thanks
Chris

 

[eggbert420]

You don't need grit with starter.

 

[chickens really]

I would give the niacin and if the Ducklings are eating anything other than the starter they do need grit provided...Put the grit into a separate bowl for free choice consumption ..


Best of luck...

 

[antirice]

So I've been looking around for brewer's yeast and I am having a hard time sourcing it locally other than at a health food store. At those stores it's cost prohibitive. So now I'm looking at other feed options.

Storey's says that broiler chicken feed has sufficient niacin to give to ducks without supplementing. I have found a really wide variety of feeds that say they're sufficient for broilers, but most are still advertised as a general purpose feed as well.

So I'm kinda overwhelmed by the quantity off options out there and am struggling to make heads and tails of what will work and what won't.

Anyone have a non-GMO, organic feed that they like? Must have enough niacin for ducks so supplementing isn't necessary. I'll need feeds for day 1 through adulthood, so I know I'll need a few different ones over time.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Ducks4us]

Most ducklings still need supplemented even if the feed has some or even enough according to the book.
Its really alot easier just to add it that way they are getting enough.
All flock feed and 1 tablespoon brewers or nutritional yeast per cup.
Al Flock supposedly has enough but all the ducklings i have had still need supplemented to keep from getting weak legs.

 

[antirice]

Most ducklings still need supplemented even if the feed has some or even enough according to the book.
Its really alot easier just to add it that way they are getting enough.
All flock feed and 1 tablespoon brewers or nutritional yeast per cup.
Al Flock supposedly has enough but all the ducklings i have had still need supplemented to keep from getting weak legs.

Well dang. Google searches haven't yielded much in the way of affordable options. Storey's says 2-3 cups of brewer's yeast per 10lbs of feed.

Sounds like I'm gonna go through a lot. $18 for an 18oz jar is what I can find locally. Got an online source you like?

Thanks
Chris

 

[Ducks4us]

Well dang. Google searches haven't yielded much in the way of affordable options. Storey's says 2-3 cups of brewer's yeast per 10lbs of feed.

Sounds like I'm gonna go through a lot. $18 for an 18oz jar is what I can find locally. Got an online source you like?

Thanks
Chris

Yeah its definitely worth it tho to prevent leg problems.
I buy from my local health food store.
I buy nutritional yeast- its only like 6$ for a bag. Im not sure how much is in it. I will check when i get home.
But it lasted me 3 weeks . So i felt like it was pretty cheap

 

[eggbert420]

Ducks get niacin from eating greens naturally. I don't understand why so many people feed their ducks organic feed then fill them with crap that they would not naturally eat. I feed my ducks the same thing I feed my chickens, and they have never had legg or any other problems. Can someone give me a good reason to feed ducks anything they can't get from nature? From experience , not from somthing you read online and jumped on the bandwagon. If ducks needed more crap in their diet, don't you think the major feed companies would put it in their feed? They spend millions on research every year and all of a sudden farmer joe from the suburbs knows more them.