I need help with homemade feed

[Deborahith]

Our ducks adapted well to the chicken feed mixture we made them. We now have 8 more ducks that never gave us any trouble eating the grain mixture. Our two original ducks are healthy adults. The female lays an egg a day even this late in the year. Both of our original ducks are Mallards and so I didn't expect to get eggs for this long, but they seem to be thriving. We free range all of our birds and we have a river that runs through our property so the birds are not limited to the food that we give them. I do grind up their egg shells and give that back to them free choice because for a while in the summer we had a few of the birds lay eggs with very thin eggshells, but that problem has been resolved now that they get the ground eggshells. (They didn't seem to like oyster shells very much) In the last few weeks we have been experimenting with making and feeding them Oat Fodder. We are hoping that will be easier eventually when we get that figured out. But for now they are still getting their fodder and foraging supplemented by the grain. I have adapted the mixture to have a higher percentage of peas or lentils and I occasionally throw in other grains for variety. They seem to like it having more peas in it, but they may not care about the variety. It's hard to tell. As they have grown older I have adjusted the grinder settings to produce a courser product. When they were just hatched it was nearly a powder, but now the pieces are much larger. In the summer my father-in-law stays with us and he will feed them commercial feed when he is here because they like the taste and he likes to feed them, but I avoid the stuff completely.

I hope you are able to find what works for you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Our ducks adapted well to the chicken feed mixture we made them. We now have 8 more ducks that never gave us any trouble eating the grain mixture. Our two original ducks are healthy adults. The female lays an egg a day even this late in the year. Both of our original ducks are Mallards and so I didn't expect to get eggs for this long, but they seem to be thriving. We free range all of our birds and we have a river that runs through our property so the birds are not limited to the food that we give them. I do grind up their egg shells and give that back to them free choice because for a while in the summer we had a few of the birds lay eggs with very thin eggshells, but that problem has been resolved now that they get the ground eggshells. (They didn't seem to like oyster shells very much) In the last few weeks we have been experimenting with making and feeding them Oat Fodder. We are hoping that will be easier eventually when we get that figured out. But for now they are still getting their fodder and foraging supplemented by the grain. I have adapted the mixture to have a higher percentage of peas or lentils and I occasionally throw in other grains for variety. They seem to like it having more peas in it, but they may not care about the variety. It's hard to tell. As they have grown older I have adjusted the grinder settings to produce a courser product. When they were just hatched it was nearly a powder, but now the pieces are much larger. In the summer my father-in-law stays with us and he will feed them commercial feed when he is here because they like the taste and he likes to feed them, but I avoid the stuff completely.

I hope you are able to find what works for you.

Are you using dried split peas and lentils?

 

[Deborahith]

Yes, I buy all of the grains dry so that I can grind them smaller. The birds of course love them cooked/wet but I only feed them that way if we have leftovers from a dinner that we are unlikely to finish, so it is a rare treat. Now they also get fresh moist oats and peas from the fodder system we have started but not enough stop giving them grains at this time of the year when their free range choices are more limited and we don't yet have a perfect root mat growing with our fodder system.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes, I buy all of the grains dry so that I can grind them smaller. The birds of course love them cooked/wet but I only feed them that way if we have leftovers from a dinner that we are unlikely to finish, so it is a rare treat. Now they also get fresh moist oats and peas from the fodder system we have started but not enough stop giving them grains at this time of the year when their free range choices are more limited and we don't yet have a perfect root mat growing with our fodder system.

I wish I had to room for fodder, I tried it on a small scale but my house is just too small. And no basement. Wondering about the dried peas because I feed Fermented feed to my flock and thankfully don't have to worry about the grains although I buy non GMO, I mix dried split peas into their ff and that's the first thing eaten. they love the peas. I haven't tried the lentils yet but was thinking about trying them on some. I free range also but like you say once winter sets in not much picking off the land. Thanks for sharing because even if we don't have a gluten intolerance we can learn for your info.

 

[Deborahith]

I use both peas and lentils, but of the two they prefer the peas.