How much lettuce can ducklings have?

[Quackanory]

Our ducklings adore lettuce but we're worried about how much we can give them?

 

[Rod-T]

I don't know. But I would think as much as you want to give them

 

[Quackanory]

That's great, thank you but they would probably eat it all day!! We've only given them fairly small amounts so far but my daughter is already worrying it's too much. They go wild for it though, it's too cute!

 

[Amiga]

Here is the treat sticky.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/242460/the-ultimate-list-of-duck-treats-and-supplements

Ducklings need to have had some grit before eating things other than their crumbles, to reduce risk of digestive impaction.

After several days with chick grit - a tiny amount - sprinkled on their food every day, I chopped lettuce up really fine and put it in their water. About a tablespoon per duckling. That's conservative, but I think it's best to not overdo the amount they are given.

I have read of ducklings that were given so many treats they urped them back up.

Something I did that I would change is I only gave lettuce and peas as treats. Now, my adult ducks are not interested in anything that's not green - either peas or lettuce. I think I would have introduced them to other kinds of treats earlier. And maybe it would not have made any difference.

 

[Quackanory]

Thank you we did look at the treats sticky which is great but we weren't sure of amounts. They're having around 2 to 3 tablespoons a day at the moment, they haven't been sick so hopefully it's not too much. I didn't think they needed chicken grit while they were still on the crumbles though, I'll get some tomorrow & leave off the lettuce for now.

 

[cayugaducklady]

I feed chopped greens free choice in a large bowl-- as much as they'd eat in a day. Cabbage, lettuce, arugula,beet tops, kale etc. It helped that I was in a CSA that year and we had a bumper crop of greens in our share. Plus the farmers would give me/let me buy wilted or what they considered unsellable greens (which were still 1000 tiems better than our local supermarket!) at reduced price.

Darker colored greens can cause some absurdly tinted poops.

Lettuce can give them looser stinkier poops so there may be that to deal with .

 

[Quackanory]

Hi cayugaducklady, that sounds like a great idea, I'll have to get over to my local market around closing time and see if I can pick up some bargain veggies

Does giving a free choice bowl of greens apply to ducklings too?

We're just giving small amounts of lettuce & kale at the moment but they go crazy for it! Amiga above said that too many treats could make them urp up?

 

[cayugaducklady]

I am not experienced duck keeper so i defer to more experienced keepers. I've raised two batches of ducklings and both batches had free choice greens in a dabbling bowl.

I initially guessed how much they'd eat in time span and then added or reduced based on what they were wasting or not eating.

I started by mincing very fine and then leaving in bigger and bigger pieces until they could shred lettuce leaves themselves (around 3-4 weeks old). Then i only minced the thicker parts of stems like napa cabbage stems or the more fibrous parts of bok choy.

 

[Ashleymiller]

I gave my little ducks small pieces in their water bowls. They loved it and it was like a game and tuckered them out lol. They are the sweetie cutest little things!

 

[chickens really]

I gave my little ducks small pieces in their water bowls. They loved it and it was like a game and tuckered them out lol. They are the sweetie cutest little things!

Nice...This is an old thread but provide a bit of grit too..