HELP! What to feed ducklings?

[treldib]

So about 2 weeks ago (on father's day to be exact) we drove for 4 hours up to Metzer Farms in Gonzales, CA and bought 2 ducklings, both females (a Black Swedish and a Golden 300 Hyrbid Layer). With them we got a 2 pound bag of starter feed that ran out last night. After finding out Metzer Farms doesn't sell Grower feed, I thought, "no problem I'll just go to the local feed store and get some feed". So today I went down to my local feed store and bought a 50 pound bag of the waterfowl grower feed. After opening it, guess what I found.....little black bugs crawling in and all over the food! Already pretty mad I called the feed store, only to find out that they won't take it back (what jerks!). Is there any way to get rid of the bugs? In the mean time we are feeding them lettuce and some crickets which they LOVE, but we need some real feed asap. Thanks for your help.





tl;dr Alright so I have 2 female ducklings, 2 weeks old now that are in need of Grower feed asap and I can't find any, need help on what I can feed them until I get some real feed and where to get it.

 

[girlychick]

ew...That's really mean of them not to take the food back! I suggest buying more feed, I don't think you can get rid of the bugs I mean there could be thousands! Have the feed store check the bag first before you buy it!

 

[LuckyDuck411]

I say if they won't give you your money back, drive back and dump it on the floor front of them so they can deal with those bugs and the mess! That's not right selling infested food to people and then not owning up to it!

As far as what to do in the mean time I'm too new to the duck world to offer up much advice.

 

[treldib]

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[mrslb333]

Un sweetened cereals, oat bran, porridge oats and things like that are a good stop gap till you can get more feed. The store doesn't really have a leg to stand on as it was bought same day as complaint so no chance of it getting infested while you had it. I would stay clear of lettuce as it doesn't really have any nutritional value and could upset their stomachs.
Hope you get it sorted ok

 

[treldib]

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Thanks

 

[ejctm]

Might seem a stupid question - but would the feed really be spoiled, and couldn't they just eat the bugs??

 

[treldib]

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Not sure what you mean...and the bugs were about the size of those round sprinkles on your ice cream and seemed almost like head lice *shudders*, too fast and jumpity for the ducks. Anyways I did follow out on LuckyDuck411's suggestion hehehe

also, I ordered some Waterfowl Grower feed from McMurray Hatchery...most likely a bit better quality lol

 

[LuckyDuck411]

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Not sure what you mean...and the bugs were about the size of those round sprinkles on your ice cream and seemed almost like head lice *shudders*, too fast and jumpity for the ducks. Anyways I did follow out on LuckyDuck411's suggestion hehehe

also, I ordered some Waterfowl Grower feed from McMurray Hatchery...most likely a bit better quality lol

AWESOME! I would have LOVED to seen the looks on their face when you showed back up!