Just switched my five week old ducklings to alfalfa pellets to hopefully stop the progression of angel wing. Wondering if I need to add supplements?

[SerafinaPekkala]

I've noticed what looks to be angel wing developing in my two 5 week old drakes (the female seems to be developing normally). I have read online that switching them to a diet of alfalfa can help correct the problem. I bought a bag a rabbit pellets and for the past day have been giving them the pellets instead of their regular feed. I soaked the pellets in water to make sure there weren't any issues with choking and added nutritional yeast to make sure they are getting enough niacin, but I'm wondering if there are any other supplements I should add? Does this seem ok otherwise or should I look for something else?

Here is the nutrition info of the pellets (not sure why there are two ingredient lists on the bag, but I included the ingredients from chewy.com as well):

I've been taking them outside to swim and forage (weather permitting) since they were around two weeks old. Now that they are a bit older and it's been warmer, that means they have the run of my yard and access to a kiddie pool for several hours most days.

Before this they were on a 20% protein starter feed and I started adding oats when they were 2 weeks old. A week or two ago I switched to 18% protein Beaver Brand (PNW local brand) all flock feed. I'm a bit worried their messy duck eating meant they dropped a lot of the larger oats and ended up eating more crumble than they should (although I didn't really notice an excess of strewn about oats).

One other thing is that the recommended ratio of oats to starter feed I have seen is 20-25% oats. But using Metzer's protein calculator this seems like it would still be too much protein. Seems like you would need to add more oats than feed to hit the recommended 14%-16%. Then re-reading Storey's I saw that he was adding oats to 16% feed. Yikes.

Moving forward, options for grower feed seem limited. I was wondering if there was any difference between maintenance feed and grower feed, or if I would be okay feeding maintenance feed?

 

[SerafinaPekkala]

Here are some videos of them from earlier today. Pretty confident the two boys (on either side in the first video and in the pool in the second) have angel wing

 

[Miss Lydia]

You need to go ahead and wrap those wings it will correct itself. I have always used an all flock feed for all my poultry and never had a case of angel wing. So
I never had to decrease their protein amount. I haven't a clue why it happens in some and not others. But if you'll wrap it will correct itself in less than a week.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/angel-wing-treatment.1252014/

 

[fatty and friends]

they need duck specific feed or it will effect their health.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@fatty and friends not everyone can get duck specific feed, or if you have a mixed flock and everyone eats together can be fed solely on duck feed. I can't get it and I have a mixed flock so I feed poultry feed for all poultry and add Nutritional yeast to make sure the water fowl are covered in their Niacin .
It's nice to be able to buy duck specific feed but honestly I've had ducks since 2004 and mine have never suffered from not eating duck feed. I have 14 and 10 year old ducks now.