How much to feed Muscovy's

[Nyowpotopop]

Ruffled, right now I am trying to see cost efficiency before I get the ducks. I'm trying to stop buying animals that just spend my money every day. XP
And there HAS to be SOME sort of standard... Like rabbits get something like 1oz of pellets for every few lbs of rabbit (adjusted for kindling and nursing), my dogs get 1.5 cups of food each twice a day... Even my fish has a set feeding amount. Even if it's just "Most people with 5 ducks go through between X and Y many lbs of seed a month".

 

[jumawidregina90]

Hi there! I'm all new here but have been stalking these forums for months. I'm trying to start doing an urban farm type thing and I'm trying to get some info on Muscovy Ducks but I can't seem to figure out basic care for them feeding wise.

I know that optimally chicks should have %20-24 protein and adults should have %16-18... I know that they need extra niacin and unmedicated food. I know that they can eat layer pellets but don't need the extra calcium and that I can just offer free-choice flaked oyster shell instead. (Correct me if I'm wrong on any of that!)

But nowhere am I finding how MUCH food total the ducks should eat as adults. Most pet-food packages say "Feed X many cup/lbs/grams per X many lbs of animal". And nowhere am I finding this info for muscovy ducks!
If I'm looking at keeping 5 Muscovy ducks (4F 1M) in a 1/8th acre pen how many lbs of feed will I need to feed them every day/week/mo during winter months when the only thing on the ground is snow? And what about in spring/summer when they're laying but there's grass again?
I just wanna know how much I am supposed to feed these birds to keep them alive and fairly well... So I can budget out if it's worth it for us to get these birds. We'd be breeding them mostly for meat but a little bit for eggs too.

Please let me know!

 

[jumawidregina90]

they eat a lot in the first 16 weeks, once they are grown i think i average about a cup of wheat/layer grain mix per bird at night, mine free range on grass all day, i also feed them bread and vegie scraps as well in the morning.

in regards to the protein amount i've found that my birds do better on a mix of wheat and layer mix, wheat is 10% protein so it actually works out less protein but i think its the amount of energy/calories in the wheat that fills them out better.

are you a raising muscovy duck