Foraging question

[Saxyjazz]

I have a 1 week old Pekin duckling. I don't know yet if it is a boy or a girl. For now we have named him Webster, that way we can be happily surprised to get duck eggs if we do I studied up quite a bit before we got him, so I know basic care and feeding. He is getting tons of affection so he is not lonely. We have a flock of chickens so he will have friends if he needs them. I took him out in our backyard today while we were eating lunch and I was a little worried about his forage choices. He was eating dirt and dead leaves, I kept trying to encourage eating grass and dandelions, but he just kept getting mouthfuls of dirt. Eventually I just picked him up. I know ducks usually eat a lot of pond gunk, and that is normal. I have kept him on organic feed, so him just chowing down on dirt makes me worry that he isn't learning proper food choice instincts, or that the dirt will hurt his digestive system somehow. Anyone know anything about this?

 

[Going Quackers]

He's not eating the dirt, he's going through to find.. grit, bugs, organisms and so forth.. completely normal.

Some of my duck raised babies from a few years ago... see happy campers, foraging about in muddy water.. with a clean pool right in behind lol



Also, the leaf eating, normal too, mine found some recently and went to town going through them, ducks have no hands so use their mouths to explore.

You should also know what sex your baby is by about 5-6wks.. the voice is the first indicator females quack and drakes have a raspy undertone ...

 

[Finny]

Yup Going Quackers is right, that is completely normal. The pic of the ducklings in the mud puddle with the clean water behind them cracked me up! My ducks do the same thing. They prefer drinking and playing in the mud puddles than their clean water. Silly ducks!