Pekin duck feeding

[pilotmuffin]

Hi all,
New member here but a longtime lurker.
I recently got into the duck game with a starter flock of pekins. I plan to incubate the eggs and raise chicks so I have a couple questions.
1. My local TSC has 30% gamebird/turkey starter. Is that too much protein for ducklings?
2. Has anyone done the math on how much feed it takes to raise a duck from egg to table?
I'm not looking to make this a business, just hoping to offset the costs of what I keep for myself by selling a few.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

1.) YES. I can link a few studies suggesting that protein intake for young/developing ducks over 24% is associated with higher incidence of angel wing. No guarantees of course, just that it tends to appear more frequently on the very high protein diets. [also high carb diets - Angel wing has no single identified cause, and likely contains some genetic component as well (more studies I can link)]

2.) I've raised a number of ducks on 24% protein feed and on 20% protein feed, none have developed Angel Wing, but as I also free range and mix flocks (see Sig, below), I can't offer feed weight guidance. I should also caution that my personal sample size is very small.

3.) I'd be stunned if you can break even. Pekin Ducks are infrequent layers, and take a long time to start - around seven months for my first batch. My own incubation experience has been miserable - under 50% success, and it takes a month (33% slower than chickens, where my hatch rate is also much higher). Hoping for better results this year, as only one of the ducks below is a drake. Hoping the hens start laying again soon.

4.) The hatchery quality birds I got (Hoovers, via TSC) are not large, fast growers, contra normal claims about the breed. I'm selectively culling towards larger birds, but its going to take years (see time frame, hatch rate, above).

You could try asking this in the Duck Forum, good chance someone there will know. I'm mostly chickens, raise ducks solely for my own consumption.