Pellet fish feed and whole corn?

[fastrnrik]

Couple of questions.... First- I am having our pond stocked with fish next week. The catfish eat a floating pelleted fish food. Since the ducks & geese share the pond I know they will eat some of it as well. Is it safe for them? Second- we have a wildlife feeder which is fairly close to our pond area. It dispenses whole corn for the local deer and wild turkeys. I'm not too worried about the ducks finding it, but the geese like to explore so they may come across it. Is whole corn safe for domestic ducks & geese? I know wild turkeys like it but that's comparing apples to oranges. ANyone have any experience with either one of these? Thank You.

 

[Amiga]

What I have read about corn for ducks is that some don't like to feed it at all, and others feed it sparingly, and some feed a significant portion.

I would be in the none-to-little category, as I feel that it is fine if you need some extra calories in their diet and are temporarily out of better options. It seems to me that corn is virtually just empty calories.

Then again, I am known to indulge in some candy, myself, from time to time.

What is in the fish food? It may be okay, maybe not. In any case, if it is not okay, do you think you would keep the ducks and geese out of the pond?

I reckon the ducks and geese will find the corn dispenser and eat as much as they want. I cannot predict how much that will be, though. I offered my ducks some dried corn once, and they just looked at it and walked away.

But recently one of our duck forum members lost a duck because it was overfed on dried cracked corn (or perhaps it was ground corn) while she was away.

 

[duckman4450]

You shouldnt see a problem on the corn, but you never said how old your ducks are. One of my ducklings absolutely LOVES cracked corn, the other not so much. Depending on how old, whole corn is okay for adults, but keep younger ducks away from whole and only allow them cracked because they could easily choke and die on a whole kernel. Corn shouldn't be a 24/7 available food as mentioned by Amiga

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

corn is used only in moderation and only in the coldest part of winter to help geese keep weight on and produce heat. Otherwise its just packing on fat on them that they dont need. They most often put on fat reserves around the reproductive areas and that leads to poor fertility.

 

[fastrnrik]

Thank you for the replies. I wasn't asking about corn in general, but "whole" kernel corn like is used in wildlife feeders. I know they can eat cracked corn with no problems (other than getting fat), but didn't know if eating whole corn caused them any issues. All of our ducks and geese are full grown adults. The ducks stay in & around the pond all day so I don't worry too much about them, but the geese like to explore so they could possibly find the area with the wildlife feeder. Also, the feeder is an electric kind on a timer that runs & dispenses corn a few seconds two times a day, so there's not a huge amount of corn laying around, especially after the deer hit it. As for the fish feed, I will research it some more. I'm sure it's a common thing to have ducks & fish share a pond LOL. Thanks again for the input.

 

[Imp]

I have a slightly different take on the fish food.

I had channel cats in my pond. I never realized they would get so big. I rarely saw them come up to the top of the pond to eat the floating food(except at night), so I fed them sinking pellets, figuring they'd eat it off the bottom. Sinking pellets are very very expensive.
One day I noticed that the nutrition was similar for the sinking pellets and Layena. Figuring catfish are kind of a bottom feeder anyways, I started feeding them the layena. They did fine for several years till the raccoons dragged them all out of the pond and had catfish dinner. They went from being 1 inch petstore fish to about 2 foot long.

Imp- have fun

 

[Oregon Blues]

Fish food should not hurt your ducks and geese, but your ducks will probably eat any fish that are small enough for them to swallow.

 

[fastrnrik]

Thanks for the info. I thought they probably would eat the smaller fingerlings. We're getting 300 catfish, 7 to 10 inches long. Hopefully the larger size will help discourage duck snacking.

 

[duckman4450]

Thank you for the replies. I wasn't asking about corn in general, but "whole" kernel corn like is used in wildlife feeders. I know they can eat cracked corn with no problems (other than getting fat), but didn't know if eating whole corn caused them any issues. All of our ducks and geese are full grown adults. The ducks stay in & around the pond all day so I don't worry too much about them, but the geese like to explore so they could possibly find the area with the wildlife feeder. Also, the feeder is an electric kind on a timer that runs & dispenses corn a few seconds two times a day, so there's not a huge amount of corn laying around, especially after the deer hit it. As for the fish feed, I will research it some more. I'm sure it's a common thing to have ducks & fish share a pond LOL. Thanks again for the input.

Since they are adults there shouldn't really be a problem, though it isnt a necessity and really doesn't do anything for them nutritionally. Just make sure there is a water source near the feeder because even being full grown they could easy choke on too many kernels if they don't have water available. If there isn't, I'd suggest not leaving them unsupervised by the corn