Topic of the Week - Feeding Ducks

[Pyxis]

So sorry for your friends friends loss...

I do not want to start a long thread where everyone piles on, I merely had a question and further up someone already gave me advice and I am taking it into consideration.

Regards...

No worries, I think it's fine since this is a thread about feeding ducks and fermented feed is on topic and could be something someone was interested in, and they may read through here in the future for information. That wasn't directed to you, I was just sharing my opinion on it and saying why I personally don't do it. If you feel it's right for you and want to give it a try, go for it, everyone does what they think is best for their birds

 

[chickens really]

For people that don't have thousands of dollars to have Ducks?...They are simple as long as you can manage them?..Feed the best balanced feed and it all works great.

 

[Steven Mazzo]

I do not use a filter. I was going to initially when I was planning the set up but then I saw the mess they made in the baby pool and just decided to use a pump to empty it out ever couple of days and refill it. Nice and uncomplicated but probably not the most economical way of doing it. As a new duck daddy I'm learning from my mistakes as I go lol.

 

[WVduckchick]

test1

Kathy, it's odd. I looked at this thread this morning, but CR and Steves posts were not there. After your post, they seem to have magically appeared.

 

[Animal family]

I feed my male and female MannaPro game and showbird. They also get fresh salad, (kale and romaine), dried mealworms, and peas. At night before bed they each get a handful or two! Of raw peanuts. Oh and sometimes an extra chicken egg yolk. They also free range the backyard although the pickings are slim this time of year.

 

[Patrick McKee]

...necropsy and the report came back indicating that they died of an issue that was directly caused by the fermented feed. Maybe the feed wasn't fermented properly...

Excellent point.

Someone who is not familiar or lacks the proper skills to know what is a good ferment or a bad ferment, should stay away altogether and just use dry feed and be done with it. Easy Peasy.

Fermentation in and of itself is not dangerous and will not kill you, (think beer and bread).

If you are planning on trying fermented feed, learn all you can about fermentation BEFORE trying it.

Fermentation reduces odor of poop, firms up the poop (not the cecal poops) and increase nutritional feed value as the fermentation process increase not only, bio-availability of nutrients, creation of essential b, c and k vitamins that are not present in dry feeds, it also doubles the amount of feed.

Here is a great (invaluable actually) FAQ on fermentation of feed, written by a BYC alum (at least the thread here said they were... TikkTok.

https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

I am using Scratch and Pecks Starter Feed as it seems all the feed here in my area of Texas has soy, corn or peanuts and I am allergic to 2 of those (if anyone knows of a corn, soy and peanut free poultry food, please let me know). I will most likely have to make my own feed in the future, but as a start this is what I am using.

Scratch and Pecks Fermentation FAQ.

Thank you all for being such a wonderful caring community of bird people.

Patrick

 

[Pyxis]

Someone who is not familiar or lacks the proper skills to know what is a good ferment or a bad ferment, should stay away altogether and just use dry feed and be done with it.

I definitely agree. I actually tried fermented feed for awhile and just didn't find the benefits that the birds were supposed to get from it worth the effort. Since they did really well on dry feed, didn't seem to prefer the fermented feed, and I wasn't really seeing any of the things they were supposed to gain from it like better feather quality (my birds have good feather quality already), less waste (which isn't an issue for me because they don't waste the dry food - any that gets kicked out of the feeder they just eat), and less stinky poop would be more for my benefit than theirs and I don't really care about that because I have to clean out the coop either way, lol. I didn't find that it cut the feed bill in half either. Plus I prefer to feed free choice and have food out for the birds all the time, and with fermented feed you can't really do that.

So for me personally fermenting just isn't worth it, and the chance that something could go horribly wrong if I made a mistake and my entire flock could die scares me away from it anyway.

It's totally a personal thing. I hope you don't feel I was attacking your choice to use it, because I'm not. For some it's great. For others, it's not worth it. I fall into the second camp. Since the topic came up, I decided to share my thoughts on it, which is what this forum is for I'm sorry if me sharing my information and opinion offended you, because it wasn't intended. It seems like you may have taken my post personally and that was not the intent at all. As I said before, do what you feel is best for you.

 

[Patrick McKee]

> Pyxis: I felt you made a valid point and wanted to highlight it and further warn people. While also trying to continue the conversation by offering support for my opinion.

Again, I am not offended, My apologies if it was incorrectly stated.

 

[cr@zy(hickenl@dy?]

Do anyone sprout grains for ducks? i sprout barley for my chickens (and give a homemade dry grain/lentil etc mix). I am getting ducks this spring and I've been reading up on feed and the differences in duck needs. but it seems most people buy a comercial feed.
Will ducks eat sprouted grains? As anyone tried?

 

[onaharley]

I have thought about it but never put it into motion. I figured what little room I have in the house it might not be worth the effort, I'm sure they would gobble up a small plait in no time flat....