Teenaged Ducklings Don't Like Their Food

[RainForestBird]

I have seven ducklings all around the same age, born in June and July of this year (2016). That makes 4 of them 7 weeks (Anconas) and 3 of them 12 weeks (Pair of Calls and a Muscovy). They Anconas are huge, almost as big as the Muscovy, which is almost as big as a goose and the Calls have been fully feathered since I got them at around 7 days old. I've been feeding them Mazuri Waterfowl starter almost entirely except for peas, kale and oatmeal once a week. I did run out of food recently and fed them Farmer's Friend Ultra Kibbles with Purina Flock Starter for a couple of days. No feed store in my area stocks Mazuri feed, so I have to order it online. Maybe they got spoiled on the Ultra Kibbles, but they have been leaving their food in the bowl since it was delivered yesterday. Before we ran out they were starting to leave it, so I was actually quite pleased when they ate the Ultra Kibbles with gusto. What should I do? I opened a capsule of Probiotic supplement into some frozen peas this evening just in case they were having problems. They ate the peas, but left the Mazuri. What should I do? Go back to Flock Starter and Ultra Kibbles? The Mazuri is expensive with shipping so I'd be glad to get something local. Is it typical for them to go off their food at this age? The Muscovy has learned how to fly and today got out of the pen and flew up on my roof. I had a terrible time getting her back in the pen. I almost gave up knowing well that a raccoon or a cat would probably get her.

 

[cayugaducklady]

I think it's OK that they have a food preference. I'd feed them what they like and use the mazuri as a treat/scratch grain. If you're OK with them potentially wasting the mazuri you could mix it all together to see if they'll eat it that way.

Two other ideas:

1) try offering the mazuri as a fermented feed.

2) Make a dabbling bowl with a few ounces of mazuri in it. My ducks cant resist treat submerged in water.

 

[RainForestBird]

I guess my ducks are spoiled because I always float their food in water. I also sprinkled some in their swimming pool today but they left it.

So I guess I'll be switching to the Purina flock starter and Ultra Kibbles. The Purina is supposed to be for meat birds and my ducks are definitely not for the table! I'll be lucky if I get a few eggs. They are purely ornamental.

How do you ferment the duck feed? I'm assuming that means wetting it and letting it sit in a dark place?

 

[Ravynscroft]

Do they have Purina Flock Raiser instead? I feed it to all my ducks without any issues... what is the protein content on the Starter?

 

[cayugaducklady]

The easy way to ferment it is yo disk it on water over night before feeding the next morning. It's not a real ferment but it's easy.

Here's a link that describes an actual ferment system:

http://ohlardy.com/fermented-chicken-feed/

 

[Kangasox]

Here's another fermenting link. It's super easy, nutritionally great, and ducks love it. Like, line up at the gate and quack until we come love it.
https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/