What do you feed your ducks?

[duckdad]

I recently discovered a reletively new but fairly expensive "feed" for the indoor ducks...

Carpet.

The little terrorist have been pulling the tarp back and exposing the carpet underneath and EATING it...in a couple spots. They are smart enough to cover their handy work and not make it too obvious which leads me to believe that they are much smarter that we give them credit for. I almost had a seizure when I rolled up their tarp to change it and saw chunks of my carpet missing....gone all the way thru to the padding...

No wonder the poo was in better piles than before. They're getting more fiber in their diet..

So, the revised 'flooring' for the indoor pen will now be as follows..:

sheet of plywood, copper sheet, kevlar or similar HARD material...beak resistant.
Then a tarp layer, covered by towels or cheap poly/cotton blend pillow cases.
Ducks on top.


They do that again and they're gonna find themselves advertised in the meat section.......



The "hairy beast" strikes again......

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Forgive the LOL duckdad, but I had a similar reaction when the chickens found some exposed styrofoam insulation on our back door. Chomp, chomp, chomp!

 

[duckdad]

Thats funny actually...

I had used some styro foam board in the past as a mat to lay the tarp on....and they found that and ate styrofoam till they crapped packing peanuts. I saw how much styrofoam they consumed and just knew that I had 2 dead ducks! I figured that much foam would plug them up hopelessly. Not even close. green dirty packing peanuts...with a little white sprinkled in.

After removing the styro they continued to hunt around the edges of the pen as if they were searching for their favorite snack food...so I assumed that is what they were doing. I never saw the tarp pulled back so I figured they never found stryo so they gave up. They were getting the tarp pulled back enough to munch the carpet and letting the tarp return to the edge and cover the hole they made...little monsters..looks like someone scalped the yard with the mower set too low.

Today they lost their window privilege that allowed them and the big ducks to see each other and chat, and the indoor pen got relocated to the TILE entryway where they can munch to their hearts content...good luck duck !
While doing that I notice that the big ducks have been eating the dang screen on the window....I see my crested female sticking her head IN thru the hole they made in the screen...

Got to give them a little credit on that one though,.....the hole is square and pretty nice clean edges.Problem is that it grows each day.....

Gotta love 'em.......

 

[ourlittleflock]

oats? what kind of oats? where do you get them?

 

[Senna95]

I just came back from a "feed run". I've got over 200 birds, including chickens, ducks, geese, and pheasants, and I've been mixing my own feed. I mix oats, barley, wheat (red and white), alfalfa crumbles, fish-meal, a vitamin packet, a little extra niacin with a concentrate that a local lady makes up for me that includes corn, soy, peas, lentils, and more wheat. It comes to about 16% protein when its all done. All the birds eat the same thing, but I mix in a little extra fish meal for the pheasants. They also get scraps and any fresh fruits and veggies I can pick up from the local produce market. It's A LOT of work, but I like knowing what my birds are eating.

And all are looking dumb, fat, and happy!