Home-made duck feed recipe?

[mypoorducky]

I have several books on feeding animals written before commercial feed was invented
, The animals were well cared for and healthy, likewise, before the seventies our dogs and cats rarely saw a tin of dog food. Feeding without big feed merchants is possible and good. I fed chickens like that for a number of years many years ago, my parents (farmers up to the forties) were amused I was looking for the "right" feed. Many commercial feeds have all kinds of stuff you wouldn't eat in them!

Please feel free to share, you seem to have the answers I am looking for.

 

[deidreg]

@mypoorducky I did some googling and found a couple sites that may be helpful.

Feeding ducks best practice

What to feed ducks

 

[mypoorducky]

@mypoorducky I did some googling and found a couple sites that may be helpful.

Feeding ducks best practice

What to feed ducks

Thank you very much. I notice I already have some of these, so I'll start feeding them such.

 

[Banana01]

Do they have a natural pond or access to water? Water is very important and nearby to their food dish is too. I notice when my ducks eat corn or other dry food, they always mix a mouthful with ample water. Cracked corn mixed with formulated chicken feed is also suatainable, with free ranging grass.

I honestly hate feeding corn, but it is a staple in poorer countries like where i live. I also give rice every other day, and they have the dog food supplement every few days. They spend three or four hours in the grass everyday too. They also have a natural pond with algae in it, and some other wild plants to eat, but not a whole lot more.

On a budget, a 50' bag of dried corn can be a feed supplement, cracked corn is better they seem to like the smaller pieces.

 

[mypoorducky]

Do they have a natural pond or access to water? Water is very important and nearby to their food dish is too. I notice when my ducks eat corn or other dry food, they always mix a mouthful with ample water. Cracked corn mixed with formulated chicken feed is also suatainable, with free ranging grass.

I honestly hate feeding corn, but it is a staple in poorer countries like where i live. I also give rice every other day, and they have the dog food supplement every few days. They spend three or four hours in the grass everyday too. They also have a natural pond with algae in it, and some other wild plants to eat, but not a whole lot more.

On a budget, a 50' bag of dried corn can be a feed supplement, cracked corn is better they seem to like the smaller pieces.

Yep. I give them a large bowl of water, but we don't fill it completely since they get very messy and sometimes spill it all over themselves, which is not a good thing in the coming cold season. When they're out and about, they prefer to drink out a tiny pond that fills up when the hose is running, which is strange since their bowl of water is usually right there. Still, it should be deep enough for their preening. I'll try and see if we can get some corn around here. They don't seem to like rice that much, but at least it's something they can eat. I've seen dog food around, but getting a hold of it might be a little awkward since we don't have a dog. Thank you!

 

[Banana01]

Yep. I give them a large bowl of water, but we don't fill it completely since they get very messy and sometimes spill it all over themselves, which is not a good thing in the coming cold season. When they're out and about, they prefer to drink out a tiny pond that fills up when the hose is running, which is strange since their bowl of water is usually right there. Still, it should be deep enough for their preening. I'll try and see if we can get some corn around here. They don't seem to like rice that much, but at least it's something they can eat. I've seen dog food around, but getting a hold of it might be a little awkward since we don't have a dog. Thank you!

Oatmeal is another maybe inexpensive item to give once in a while. Today i fed some rice mixed with oatmeal to my chickens and ducks. They eat things more easily mixed with rice. Im out of ideas, but even a bag of birdseed might work too. Try to find some type of feed in bulk.

 

[raingarden]

Buying a sack of corn is your least expensive option but only slightly less expensive than a sack of formulated ration. Sourcing food out of the kitchen is the most expensive way to feed them. Dried rice might be the least expensive option using food stamps.

 

[tj_chicken]

Feel free to share. OP needs help.

One book that springs to mind which is still in print is Self Sufficiency by John Seymour (I haven't seen the later editions though). I wasn't interested in ducks so unfortunately I can't give detail about them, and it was a while back, but there was achievable home made rations for all livestock). The other books I have are pre world war 1 feeding caged and other birds, and the other is pre world war 1 horse rations for military working horses, no commercial feed mentioned in them. Interesting to note that laminitis, a common condition in horse today, was very rare then.
Sadly, I am working away so can't look at the books. I do remember that most feeds involved oats (I used rolled oats) and cracked grains (though maize was thought pointless by my local farmer as it has poor food content, "it's just a filler for extra money"), so, cracked (or human versions without additives) wheat, barley, oats, I would make it into a porridge ration daily. Get them access to plenty of grass (divide the ground so the grass and creatures can recover), and access to protein ; scrambled eggs, or slugs, bugs, leave damp cardboard with a stone on top and lift it for them to find more creatures. Is there weed in a local pond or river?
Things don't need an exact controlled diet every day they need variety and choice, a lot of animals self moderate.
Will your neighbour let your ducks graze in their garden?
Don't be taken in by the "must do this/that" crowd
.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

The reason people give advice on this forum and on BYC in general regarding proper nutrition is that when ducks and/or chickens are not fed properly, we see posts asking about issues relating to nutritional deficiencies. Sometimes it's from feeding too many treats which dilutes proper nutrition. Over feeding, under feeding, or not feeding a proper diet can result in physical and even mental harm on an animal.
For instance, if a duck doesn't receive enough niacin in their diet (even with a commercial feed), it can result in physical disabilities of the legs.
https://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/03/are-my-ducklings-leg-problems-due-to.html

This article lists the nutrtional requirements that a duck needs - its listed by age and the nutrient level. As well, when you scroll down, there is a chart that gives an example ration (diet).
https://poultry.ces.ncsu.edu/backyard-flocks-eggs/other-fowl/feeding-ducks/

Being on a limited income does not prohibit anyone to take care of their animals. Growing up in a limited income household while on food stamps myself with dogs, cats, chickens, a miniature horse, and a couple of pigs, did not mean that we didn't feed our animals properly. The animals were still fed a species appropriate diet.

By doing an internet search for homemade duck feed, you can find various recipes (even some on byc), but just remember it needs to be a complete diet - not just a little rice and corn here and there.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=homemade duck feed

 

[GranderTheGander]

mypoorducky, those leaving you critical comments are doing so for a good reason. It's common sense not to have pets you can't feed, even if it's only temporary. Food is not optional at any time for living creatures. Love for pets cannot keep starving ones alive.

Okay, I took care of dumped domestic dusks and geese in a city park for years and years. Most times proper waterfowl feed was not an option due to costs. There were A LOT of birds, none dumped by me, mind you. They could forge for food in a large pond and on limited land, but we have four seasons here and that greatly limited what they could find during the cold months. They often got bread from those visiting the park, but bread has precious little protein and that's what is most important.

Here's what I mostly fed them--whole corn, bird seed, cat or dog food, mixed bird seed, scratch, cracked corn, oats and thrift store bread. (Also, for a while, a grocery store was giving me the lettuces from the salad bar they threw out every night.)

Whole corn provides much needed body heat in cold weather. Cracked corn often does not have protein in each piece, because only a small part of a corn kernel has the protein--the center part on the bottom of the kernel.

Cheap bird seed is often the best because it usually has a lot of milo and corn.

Scratch, which at one time was being sold in the grocery store, had cracked corn and wheat. The geese loved wheat! It apparently depends, though, where you live what will be in the scratch. Someone in another state once told me their scratch was filled with millet! Millet is like gold here, not something found in scratch. Ducks and geese love millet.

Feed store oats were whole or crimped. Crimped tended to float in water, while whole tended to sink. It wasn't a favorite of some birds, but hungry birds definitely ate it. I once read in an old waterfowl book that it was great for feathering.

Cat or dog food was a much appreciated source of high protein. It's actually too high for waterfowl, but that would be a concern mostly with captive ducks, not with free-ranging ones. For example, too much protein when fed to some growing birds can cause health problems such as angel or dropped wings. This is particularly true with Muscovy ducks. At least one of your photos looked like Muscovy ducklings, too. But, I personally would choose cat or dog food, particularly cat food, for birds that have little else to eat.

Bread has carbohydrates and wheat is best, but feeding only bread gets you malnourished young birds, often crippled or starved to death. Lettuces have some protein, too, but not enough to use as an only feed.

That's something you seriously have to keep in mind--if your domestic duck or ducklings don't get enough food, they will starve to death. That is a sad and bad way to go and totally preventable. Also, when your ducklings can fly, if they are capable of doing so, they will fly away, if they have the strength, if they are not getting enough food where they are. They don't have to be migratory birds to fly to nearby locations, such as ponds and rivers . . . or somewhere, anywhere where ducks are being fed by someone.