The Duck Thread

[Miss Lydia]

What do ducklings eat?

if you can find it duck starter if not I use an all flock Purina makes a good one called Flock Raiser. If you have to buy chick starter you'll need to supplement with brewers yeast of plain niacin because the chick starter down't have the niacin that ducklings need, When are you getting your ducklings? Niacin dif in ducklings can cause lameness and neurological trouble.

 

[jacobashearer]

i dont have any ducklings right now but im buying a pair or grey call ducks on tuesday so i just wanted to know, and instead of crushed oyster shells can i give them crushed egg shells?

 

[Miss Lydia]

i dont have any ducklings right now but im buying a pair or grey call ducks on tuesday so i just wanted to know, and instead of crushed oyster shells can i give them crushed egg shells?

Yes you can, and be sure to post pics when you bring them home.

 

[jacobashearer]

Ok i will and thanks!

Yes you can, and be sure to post pics when you bring them home. 

 

[Starfire669]

That's so sweet! What a good duck you have love all the little ducklings around her.

Ebony was the smallest and lowest duck in the pecking order. She is so passive that she wouldn't hurt a fly. She was with a pair of 3 week old goslings during the storm and she did very well with them. As soon as I put the ducklings in the nursery, she came hobbling over as quick as she could to see what was going on. The ducklings took 1 look at her and started trying to get to her. 1 managed to squeeze through the chicken wire to get to her. So I put her in and all of them settled down.

If it's nice and toasty where they are and no preds can get to them then maybe you should just leave them with her. They look very happy with their new mom. I just walked up on a 4'blk snake in our front yard which would make me very uneasy if i had ducklings or chicks. 

Ebony doesn't mind them crawling on her back, but she hasn't spread her wings to allow them under her for warmth. I have a 250W heat lamp in there, but it is going to low 50s for next 3 nights. They need to get under her for warmth for the next few nights or come inside.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ebony was the smallest and lowest duck in the pecking order. She is so passive that she wouldn't hurt a fly. She was with a pair of 3 week old goslings during the storm and she did very well with them. As soon as I put the ducklings in the nursery, she came hobbling over as quick as she could to see what was going on. The ducklings took 1 look at her and started trying to get to her. 1 managed to squeeze through the chicken wire to get to her. So I put her in and all of them settled down.
Ebony doesn't mind them crawling on her back, but she hasn't spread her wings to allow them under her for warmth. I have a 250W heat lamp in there, but it is going to low 50s for next 3 nights. They need to get under her for warmth for the next few nights or come inside.

Might better bring them all inside then. But just letting them crawl all over her is amazing. That's very unusual for a duck to accept ducklings that aren't hers.

 

[holm25]

like my avatar

 

[peawinkle]

I have a 2 week old Pekin who has started crawling rather than walking.... not always but enough to have me worried. This just started yesterday and the duck is HUGE. From my research it appears as if it is Niacin deficiency. I am feeding him/her Purina chick starter (unmedicated) and he is huge.

Is it enough to add Brewers Yeast or should I actually add Niacin tablets? How much?

 

[Starfire669]

Might better bring them all inside then. But just letting them crawl all over her is amazing. That's very unusual for a duck to accept ducklings that aren't hers. 

I don't know if she has accepted them or if she is so used to being stepped on and bullied that she just doesn't care. I do hope she accepts them though. She will be separated from the flock for however long it takes her to heal. Maybe mothering the babies will make the confinement easier for her to bear.

 

[holm25]

can our ducks eat grass there 4 days old