Observations with grass?

[nao57]

So this morning I fed the ducklings the chic starter in the morning, and in the early afternoon same thing.

4 hours later, I fed them grass and they would try to nibble on it...but mostly my hand and then lose interest.

I wondered if I'm doing something wrong?

Should they have more interest in grass? Or maybe I'd just fed them enough of the chic starter already that they weren't desperate for it? But I'd also wondered if they don't show much interest in grass until later when they are older? Does age affect this? The ducklings are just shy of 6 weeks old.

I'm trying to get them to eat out of my hands. Sometimes it works, sometimes they are scared a bit, and it can take a few minutes. It sometimes looks like the smaller ducks, look to the drakes to decide if something is safe to approach. (Assumed; I'm not entirely sure how many drakes I have. But its clear that some are larger and some are smaller, sort of guessing that the larger ones, at least one is a drake.)(They seem to go nuts over swiss chard, which my dad wants to get rid of, but is a very prolific garden plant if you are interested in it.)

Any tips?

Is there a best way to get them interested in grass?

I'm not depriving them of other things, but given the food shortage looming and economic troubles, I want to study how well a small duck herd could be supported by what they can get by forage and from the yard.

Thanks.

 

[sourland]

In my experience ducks eat minimal amounts of grass. Geese on the other hand prefer grass to concentrated feed.

 

[Isaac 0]

X2!

I rarely see my ducks eating grass, most damage to the lawn is either done by mud digging or excessive amounts of waste in a small area, Geese and chickens on the other hand will eat a lawn right up.