Is 20% protein feed to much?

[Tweeza]

I'm in the process of switching my chicken hens to a 20% protein feed. My daughter is concerned that this will be to much protein for her ducks. They are khaki campbells that are 11 wks and are on the Dumor 15% grower finisher at this time. What do you all think?

 

[Wifezilla]

I feed game bird feed. 24% protein. Since my ducks free range and get plenty of greens, I don't worry about the high protein percentage.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

I would keep the ducks on the 15% and just switch the hens.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Wifezilla do you know if the protein in the gamebird feeder is from soy, or something else somehow?

 

[Tweeza]

Quote:
That is what I was thinking. They hardly eat any of the feed. They're out and foraging all day. As I sit her contemplating all this, it just occurred to me that the ducks seem to be in a molt of some sort already and might need a little extra protein. Any thoughts on that?

Mrs. Turbo :

I would keep the ducks on the 15% and just switch the hens.

Mrs. Turbo, was just wondering what your thoughts were on this and why you'd leave them on the 15%?​

 

[Wifezilla]

The protein is from wheat and soy. I want to go soy free, but I am having trouble getting soy-free feed.

I don't know about the molting question.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Quote:
That is what I was thinking. They hardly eat any of the feed. They're out and foraging all day. As I sit her contemplating all this, it just occurred to me that the ducks seem to be in a molt of some sort already and might need a little extra protein. Any thoughts on that?

Mrs. Turbo :

I would keep the ducks on the 15% and just switch the hens.

Mrs. Turbo, was just wondering what your thoughts were on this and why you'd leave them on the 15%?​

I can just go by our experience raising ducks. Although the ducks "free range" they still get the commercial protein and you don't really know what your ducks are eating and not eating other than the feed you give them.

The first year we raised our ducks we did not cut back the protein and we had so many come up with angel wing. The following year we did a little research and dropped the protein to 15% at about 3 weeks of age (using most of the same breeders as the year before). Now out of the 150-250 ducklingswe raise only few ofthem end up with angel wing.

It can also be genetic but we cull for angel wing and do not use them in our breeding program so from our experience the high protein does cause angel wing.

We also buy kelp and add it to the ducklings food. It contains niacin and other vitamins...helps prevent leg problems.

 

[Wifezilla]

from our experience the high protein does cause angel wing.

You can't say that because you do not know if it is the amount of protein, the type of protein, or the other macronutrients in the feed causing the problem.

In the wild, what do ducklings eat during their fastest growth period? Hint: It isn't corn, soy or wheat.​

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Wifezilla......you and I go back and forth on this topic all the time. We raise hundreds of ducks a year and have quite a bit of experience doing so. You have what 6 ducks? not to be mean or anything but everone is entitled to their opinions and you seem to bash mine everytime I post about protein levels and angel wing.

"from our experience the high protein does cause angel wing"
notice I said from our experience......

also notice you said "wild ducks" ......you can not compare the protein wild ducks eat versus what domestic ducks eat whether or not they free range..

not sure if this will appease you or not but some of our duckling groups we cut the protein with cracked corn. this was the only difference from the previous year so everything was the same except for the added cracked corn. So yes I can safely "from our experience the high protein does cause angel wing"

We now feed the duck grower instead of cutting with cracked corn. The corn turns white feathers yellow and the ducks grower seems to really benefit the ducks conditioning for shows.

 

[CityChicker]

I can't say one way or another *definitively* what causes Angel wing as a large scale study has not been done (to the best of my knowledge). The closest thing to a large scale study that we have, IMO, is the experience of large commercial breeders. They seem to unanimously say that high protein (and overfeeding) is the culprit, so I tend to trust what they say the most. It is hard to argue with people that have raised tens of thousands of ducks/geese.

The other thing about ducks/geese you see in parks that have Angel wing is that you don't know what they are really eating, what they ate before they got there, and what age they were dumped there. I imagine that VERY few of the domestic birds you see in parks were hatched there. The vast majority were probably dumped there by people that didn't know what they were doing when they bought the bird. If a person is the type to release a domestic bird into that environment, God only knows what they fed it prior. Now that I think about it, some may have even been dumped *because* of the wing problem. The point is that from a scientific perspective, this is a very uncontrolled environment.

All things considered, I think a large scale commercial breeder that feeds a fairly consistent diet is probably the closest thing we have to a controlled study. The other thing is that Angel wing is not the only negative potential consequence of a high protein diet. It can cause a host of other problems as well.