Not to ruffle feathers, but why chick food?

[CHchickie86]

Just curious, how much are you using per week, at 100+lbs/week shippings adds up quickly....I am 6 miles from a feed store....but no duck rations.

Clint

Holy guacamole! 100+lbs per week! How many birds do you have? I only have 4 so far. 2 chicks and 2 ducks. So far in 5 weeks we have gone through about 40lbs.

I have 9 chickens and 4 ducks, all 6 weeks old. A 50 lb bag of Flock Raiser lasts me almost 4 weeks, so you must have a lot of birds!!

 

[Amanda39]

I don't have any birds yet! But my duck just internally pipped last night. When all my eggs hatch, I will have 1 duck and 5 geese. However, if I had as many ducks as you Clint, I'd drive 40 miles at least to get my feed!! There is no way I would pay for shipping for 100 pounds a week!

So, then here's my question, why do these feed supply stores not sell duckling crumble? Obviously there is a need for it! I think I'll ask the place closest to me why they don't supply it and if he can get some in.

 

[Going Quackers]

Definitely a supply vs demand issues, ducks were not(this is changing) as popular as chickens, and often people owned more chickens so would rather not buy dedicated too even if they brought ducks in.. this is also why shops didn't carry the duck starters.. not so many owned ducks and if they did "they ate what the chickens did"

Here? shipping feed? doesn't happen, most feed in my area comes in a 55lb bag or larger... most milled feeds you can get in 90lb bags. I am fortunate i can get duckling starters if i choose too.. often i have raised my ducks on multipurpose feeds instead, my last batch of Pekin though i did use a duck starter.. but their are only a couple of brands that offer that ...

In general my ducks are fed a pullet grower that is a recipe from my closest mill, whole corn and free range, they do well on this feed and it's reasonable priced and fed to ALL my birds.. which is a fair bit lol