Question about duck feeding in the winter

[Sophie Mae]

Hi,
I have 2 pekin ducks and 4 Muscovy's . I feed them twice a day. My question is should they have 24 hours of access to food? Is there a certain type of feeder made just for ducks? They always have water, a little tykes pool with a pond heater, just want to make sure they have plenty of food since bugs are not available in the winter.

 

[sonew123]

I leave food access for them 24/7-they are in with my chickens so its sort of a must-snow on the ground too:-( Ive never fed my animals on schedules as I hate it when a meal time comes and I get attacked! haha so now they are so chilled when I arrive to collect eggs and such they could care less-unless they see a pot in my hand-they know warm treats are coming!

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

We leave food out for our ducks 24/7. I wouldn't want to be on a feeding schedule and then not be able to make it home someday and they miss a meal.

No problems with overeating in our flock with this method.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My ducks eat all they want from 7a.m. till right before dark then they go into their individual bedrooms inside their house,4 ducks in one a duck/ goose in one and 2 drakes into their seperate bedrooms. No food, since the drakes and gander cannot be left together in such a confined place. They do fine with this set up.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

My schedule with the birds is I feed them once a day at around noon. I try and get out there with hot water in the morning and when I go in to check on them at night they usually still have food in their pans but it is empty by noon. Everyone is looking healthy and happy so I think it is working so far.

My feeders are just a shallow pan, a chicken trough and then a dish that you would use for a veg tray. My water pans are calf buckets - 10 lined up in a row inside one area of the barn and then outside I have two dish pans, three black rubber pans like what I use for feed so that they can take a bath if they wish. It is pretty fun to see ten ducks/chickens surrounding a pan when I put treats in the water for them to eat. Reminds me of the hungry hippo game.

 

[sydney13]

I leave feed out for my duck and goose 24/7 because i find that the duck sometimes is up eating during the night.
if they have grass and bugs to eat then they should be fine for a 30 - 60 minutes with out feed but no more then that really.
i find that those metal chicken feeders are not wide enough for my ducks bill to get in. I use a metal pan to feed my duck goose and hens and its a lot easier for the goose and duck to eat from. layer feed it fine for ducks but flock raiser, grower feed or breeder feeds are healthier. their are waterfowl feed but those dont tend to be at the feed stores and can be pretty expensive to ship. I feed a mixture of black oil sunflower seeds, scratch grians, alfalfa meal, bone meal and supelments to my birds
here is my feeder

 

[Sophie Mae]

Thanks every one very much. I will set up a dish for more feed.