So Ducklings can't eat medicated chick starter?

[kelseygirl707]

So I was thinking of getting a couple of ducklings from TSC when My chicks hatch, and putting them in the brooder with the chicks, my mother in law has been asking me to raise a couple of ducklings for the lake on her property, but I was just reading that ducklings cannot eat medicated chick starter, so I guess I'll have to wait until my chicks are out of the brooder to add ducklings right? Also I wasn't sure if ducklings and Chicks get along? LOL. Oh, and a second brooder is out of the question, Hubby won't go for that. If I have to wait, I think I'll just get some eggs and hatch my own duckies....

 

[kelseygirl707]

Any Advice?

 

[gritsar]

I don't have ducks, but I would dearly love to so I've been doing some studying on it.
Like you I have read that they shouldn't have medicated chick starter. Since unmedicated starter is not available around here, I plan on using gamebird starter, which isn't medicated.
I don't think you want to raise ducklings in the same brooder with chicks for another reason. Ducks love to play with their water and can get the brooder area pretty wet. A wet chick could become a chilled sick chick real easy.

 

[RavenStorm]

Correct, ducks cannot have medicated chick starter. There are two possible reasons for this: some people say that just the fact that ducklings eat way more than chicks do that they over-medicate themselves and die from that while others state that the medication is just out-right deadly to them in any quantity.

Some people feel that putting ducklings and chicks in a brooder together, and just raising them together in general, is fine but I don't recommend it. Ducks make things very wet and messy, and water is not friendly to chicks. Plus if they are not raised together from day one it might cause fighting and they can both really hurt each other even at young ages.

 

[Laskaland]

I would not recommend putting ducks and chicks together in a brooder anyway. Ducks make a huge mess with the water and baby chicks cannot deal with getting wet.
Now, I have fed my ducks medicated starter with no ill effects, but I have heard that it's not recommended....
Also the ducks grow much faster and larger than the chicks and the chicks could easily get trampled... Just my experience.
Good Luck!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

That is correct. It is not good for ducklings to eat medicated chick starter. You really don't want to raise ducklings with chicks anyway. Ducks like it wet, which is not healthy for baby chicks.

 

[kelseygirl707]

OK Thanks for all your help..... Humm, I wonder if hubby would really notice a second brooder.... LOL... Plus, I know he likes ducklings more than Chicks, so could he really stay mad at me????

 

[Pine Grove]

If the medicated feed contains Amprolium as the coccidiostat, It is completely safe for baby ducks..The Arsenical Compounds that were once used as coccidiostats in feed were deadly to waterfowl....

 

[Laura78]

Yup ducklings are extreamly messy! IF you put ducklings in with chicks, wait till the chicks are at least 3-4 wks old and then make sure they are kept out of the mess the ducklings make. To keep my ducklings out of their mess I took 2 2x4s and stapled some rabbit wire to it and made it so the ducklings can't get cut on the sharp edges. Makes my clean up easier.

 

[columbiacritter]

I first planned to raise mine together bu the nasty soggy mess the ducklings made almost instantly made me divide the brooder. Also the ducklings grow at almost twice the rate of the chicks so they tended to mash the chicks.

It's really not good to raise them in the same brooder.