Free ranging ducks questions?

[nao57]

So I wanted to to ask about free ranging.

I wish I could science this out more and get lots of feedback on it. Early attempts at this were faulty because I didn't understand that ducks don't like grass that much and aren't chickens.

So I want to renew effort on this.

Specifically what I'm interested in, is how much of a duck's daily food intake percentage wise can be maxed out for free range foraging?

25%? 50%? 75%? More?

People seem to think you could have almost everything from free range with chickens but that doing so would lower the egg production signifigantly right?

So what about ducks?

Supposedly they say chickens need 4 ounces of food, and ducks at least 5 ounces...so if you were trying to really science that out, how much of that 5 ounces can be free ranged? And if you could even get a percentage of the daily food consistently, even if its not 100% that would still be worth it, particularly if you have a bigger herd, and if times are tough where you might have a lock down or something not letting you go to the store.

And these recent videos suggest that some people are trying to do this, but they don't actually talk about what % of their food is free range and what % they still do at night when locking up their ducks.

So I hope I can get some discussion on this. (And I get that most people wouldn't do total free range openly because of predators, but it seems like something to at least think about for if times get hard.)

Here are the links of some videos that got me thinking about this again recently, and that make it look like some people are trying to do this somewhat;

But again they don't specify if they are actually doing 100% foraged food, or what %. And they don't go into other details, which I wish they did. And there's a whole slew of youtube videos that have the video titled 'free range duck farming' etc, but that then don't even talk about the title which is super annoying.

 

[416bigbore]

I posted a few links below that might help you. Sorry, but I find your post a little difficult to understand.

You want to know, "Specifically what I'm interested in, is how much of a duck's daily food intake percentage wise can be maxed out for free range foraging? 25%? 50%? 75%? More? "

IMO, Free range foraging is not a guaranteed source for a healthy balanced diet for your flock. Free range foraging is a bonus source for food depending on what ducks and chickens MIGHT find to eat. You still need to have a main source of feed available for them, when they come home to the coop at night from a bad day of foraging.

You don't post what's available as a possible food source to free range forage from? Have you every heard of overgrazing? This too is a factor unless you have unlimited resources for your flock to free range forage from.

We have limited space for our small flock of 16 to free range forage from, so I have to keep moving them around the yard to keep them in fresh grass and mud. I still broadcast bird seed and other whole grains for them to forage. It keeps them busy and gives me a chance to have morning coffee while I observe them looking for any health issues that might need to be addressed.

I hope this helps, good luck.

https://thecapecoop.com/free-ranging-right-flock/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/do-i-need-to-feed-free-ranging-ducks.1164717/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgrazing

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I appreciate the desire to find the science behind everything, but to create a definitive percentage you would have to create different scenarios taking into account several control factors:

-The ratio of ducks to land available.

- What is the available vegetation?

- Is the land lush with vegetation, somewhat lush or mostly bare?

- What is the size of the ducks? Ranging 10 Pekins is a lot different than ranging 10 calls.

- What time or year is it? Spring when everything's green or winter where most of the vegetation has minimal nutrients?

- Do you want your ducks just to be healthy enough to survive or do you want them to thrive?

- How many hours in a day will they be free ranging?

- What is the quality of feed that is to be supplemented?

- How high of a priority is egg production? Stress will greatly reduce egg production and if the ducks can't always find food free ranging not only will they lack the proper nutrients they will become stressed.

If you wanted an absolute exact number you would also need to:

- Weigh your ducks regularly to take into account how much they are truly foraging.

- Test yearly soil and vegetation samples for nutrient density.

- Take vitamin/mineral blood samples.

In short, no one will ever be able to give you an exact percentage because every situation is different with different conditions that will change your numbers drastically. For example, if you have two different properties with the exact same acreage they still will have different: species of vegetation, nutrient levels in soil as well as vegetation, bug populations, forage densities and the list goes on.

Since you are doing your own research I will add in my conditions for free ranging:

- I currently have 12 ducks my largest being rouens and my smallest a Mallard.

- My ducks are free ranging from 8 am. until 7 pm.

- They have 24/7 access to oyster shells and a Non-GMO 16% Maintenance feed that is formulated to accomodate duck nutrient requirements. I ferment their feed 2 cup portions at a time for 3 days and top with kelp. I give 1 jar in the mornings and 1 jar in the evenings which equates to 4 cups of fermented feed total per day.

- I have 5 fenced acres with half being wooded with thick vegetation (tons of bugs) and the other having very lush grass. The ducks are rotated on 1 acre portions to maintain optimal soil and vegetation quality while minimizing over grazing.

- I live in Maryland towards the ocean so weather is not usually cold and if anything hot. During the winter the average temp is around 40 and during the peak of summer it sits at 90-100. In short there is usually always vegetation and bugs available.

- When soil and vegetation tests were taken the nutrient levels were very optimal for our area.

- Each duck is weighed 2-3x a year and is in the desired weight range for their sex and breed.

 

[mandymcg05]

This is so interesting... I have never thought about 75% of this stuff. I just thought If I had them a steady source of food, they would either find what their missing out in the yard OR they would get enough from the feed. hmm And weighing them!!

 

[333113]

Keep in mind that a good amount of foraging is bugs.

 

[Pollo Blanco]

My ducks are 12 weeks old and I have been experimenting a bit with feeding.
The six of them forage one acre of rural 'lawn' that has a nice mix of weeds and other vegetation.
So, last week I stopped feeding them any commercial food; all they ate was forage. I noticed that the first thing that they forage is bugs. Then after a while they switch to vegetation. Next, they start to spend more time dunking their heads in the water bucket and start doing more grooming. Once they hit the grooming phase, I transfer them to a pen with a small pool. Half of the 'lawn' in the pen is now grass only; completely weed free. They still will forage for bugs and insects at times, but also groom and sleep often while in the pen.
If I offer commercial food in the pen, they choke it down like they're starving for a few minutes, and then go back to grooming and sleeping.
My conclusion is that they can sustain on forage alone, but based on the fact that they will eat more if it's available tells me that they might lay more eggs than if they were just doing forage alone.
I will learn more when they start laying.
The commercial food is Nutrina all flock pellets @ 20% protein.

 

[corriemartin]

My ducks are 12 weeks old and I have been experimenting a bit with feeding.
The six of them forage one acre of rural 'lawn' that has a nice mix of weeds and other vegetation.
So, last week I stopped feeding them any commercial food; all they ate was forage. I noticed that the first thing that they forage is bugs. Then after a while they switch to vegetation. Next, they start to spend more time dunking their heads in the water bucket and start doing more grooming. Once they hit the grooming phase, I transfer them to a pen with a small pool. Half of the 'lawn' in the pen is now grass only; completely weed free. They still will forage for bugs and insects at times, but also groom and sleep often while in the pen.
If I offer commercial food in the pen, they choke it down like they're starving for a few minutes, and then go back to grooming and sleeping.
My conclusion is that they can sustain on forage alone, but based on the fact that they will eat more if it's available tells me that they might lay more eggs than if they were just doing forage alone.
I will learn more when they start laying.
The commercial food is Nutrina all flock pellets @ 20% protein.

This is almost exactly what we're doing, though the time out foraging varies depending on when people are around to let them out. Some days it's all day, and some days it's only for a bit in the morning and a couple hours in the evening. Even when they have outside access all day long, they do most of their foraging in the morning and evening, and mostly nap, groom, splash, etc. in the middle of the day--either in or out. They're not eating hardly any commercial food at all, and gazillions of little crickets (as far as I can tell). I wonder how much I'm going to have to feed them in the winter. (By the way, I got my first egg yesterday.)

 

[Pollo Blanco]

Congrats on the egg!
My ducks have paired up and are starting to show some breeding behaviors.
Ya, winter food. Rain tends to help slug breeding around here.
Never thought that I would want more slugs and dandelions in my garden until I got the ducks.