Too many slugs?

[Isaac 0]

Mine won't eat slugs either, earthworms are a different story. For me it's the chickens who kill the toads/frogs, they grab it with their beak and beat it against the ground till its stone-cold dead.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Or chase each other down playing pass the frog! Mine do love a good earth worm too!

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Interesting, what medicine did you use, and did you do this to all your ducks?

Choking is not impossible i would think. Never good to eat to much of one thing.

Interesting, what medicine did you use, and did you do this to all your ducks?

It has been over two years since I wormed but I used Safeguard (fenbendazole 10%) liquid for goats at 0.23cc/mL per pound, for 5 consecutive days on all of my ducks. I did it because Kwackers, my oldest best duck was doing some gaping and acted like she had something stuck in her throat. She is my best forager and I live in an area where Gape worms are found. They have not had any symptoms since.

 

[corriemartin]

I'm certainly no expert on ducks, but my thought with ducks, and chickens, and horses, and human children, for that matter, is that they will eat what they need. If the protein in slugs is what they need, they'll eat them, and when they need something else, they'll seek that something else out. Buffet is a good term.

Back when I had horses, every year they'd eat a couple hedge apples, which I had been told were natural de-wormers, with some kind of mild toxin. But it was only ever a couple, even though there were hundreds in their pasture. After that, they didn't touch them.

I never worried about what my children were eating, knowing that they had a variety of good foods available to them at all times. Some meals they just ate bread; others they just ate chicken; others they didn't eat at all, but had snacked on fresh red peppers while I was making dinner.

My thought is that commercial "duck starter" is a substitute for what ducks might find if they were one their own, with good foraging. But the foraging is better. Who are we to try to second guess nature?

 

[Miss Lydia]

My brother and a neighbor kid ate elephant ear once that wasn’t something they did again.

 

[Ratchnick]

My brother and a neighbor kid ate elephant ear once that wasn’t something they did again.

Oh my!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Reason I said this was just shows kids don’t always know what’s best for them. Reason for parents. Same as our flocks it’s up to us to ensure they all get a balanced diet. And most of us cannot do that with out buying commercial feed.

 

[416bigbore]

Reason I said this was just shows kids don’t always know what’s best for them. Reason for parents. Same as our flocks it’s up to us to ensure they all get a balanced diet. And most of us cannot do that with out buying commercial feed.

I also have tried giving Miss Piggy and Porky both large plump slugs from our garden thinking that would be an awesome treat over earth worms and they turned their bills up at them. So I guess there must be a reason why ?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Them things are slimy even ducks know their limits

 

[416bigbore]

Them things are slimy even ducks know their limits

Our four ISA Browns hens picked at the a few times and went about their business in an other direction. So yes, Chalk them nasty things off the list ! LOL