What % Feed for Call Ducklings?

[Scifisarah]

I have my first call ducks in the incubator and am checking out my local feed stores to see what they have in nonmedicated feed. I have some conflicting info on what I should feed them - one reference says that people start their calls on 15% protein feed with lots of greens so they don't get very big. Should I give them 15% Dumor Grower/Developer or start them on the normal 20% Dumor Chick Starter or do something else entirely? At what ages do you switch them to what percent? Is there a certain brand you prefer? I am looking to stay away from creating the food myself. If you raise calls, I would love to hear your advice and experiences. Thanks!

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

We feed ours the 20% for the first 2-3 weeks then swich to the 15% to help prevent the drop wing...as far as getting too big, as long as they have room to run and not in small cages they should do fine..also the grass is also really good for them to eat. We put grass clippings in the pens as much as possible and sprinkle kelp on their food.....

 

[Scifisarah]

Do you use a nationally available brand, or something local? I hope the Dumor brand I can get at the TSC here is alright. I remember looking at your ducks when I was researching the butterscotch color which two of my eggs are. If I go "duck crazy" I may be getting in touch with you for some of yours

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Quote:
we start them on Nutrena chick starter. TSC food will work fine.....then we use the Dumor grower/finisher 15% when they are 2-3 weeks old. Butterscotch is our specialty

 

[Scifisarah]

Mrs. Turbo :

Quote:
we start them on Nutrena chick starter. TSC food will work fine.....then we use the Dumor grower/finisher 15% when they are 2-3 weeks old. Butterscotch is our specialty

And when do you switch them off the 15%, and then to what? Sorry for all the questions, but you are definitely someone I will take advice seriously from - your ducks all look gorgeous! Do you ever offer hatching eggs, or only ducklings?​

 

[Laney]

I wish there had been a faq somewhere about %'s to feed ducklings. I had kept mine on the 20% the whole time they were in with my chickens. So at almost 8 weeks old I have one duck with dropped wing, and a bunch more that seem to have trouble holding their wings up when wet.

When researching the dropped wing I came upon the 14% recommended diet...and immediately bought the 15% which is the lowest I could find available. We've also started adding grass clippings, lettuce etc into their diet.

I have my little drop wing wrapped and I hope with the wrappings and the lowered protein and added greens he'll perk right up.

I would have separated the chickens and the ducks at 2-3 weeks if I had known then what I had known now about the mess and the feeding differences.

Laney

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Mrs. Turbo :

Quote:
we start them on Nutrena chick starter. TSC food will work fine.....then we use the Dumor grower/finisher 15% when they are 2-3 weeks old. Butterscotch is our specialty

Is the nutrena chick starter you get a mash, or does it come in both mash and crumbles? I picked up 2 bags and both were mash. Ive read you cant give waterfowl mash, so I was mixing it with water, and they loved it.​

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Quote:
You can help the drop wing by pulling the end wing feathers, like 2-3 on each side and then help them exercise their wings daily by gently raising and lowering them in the air.....do it so they flap their wings on the way down. Do this for about a week or two and you will see improvement. Let me get with my husband on what to feed adults....it changes during the year. Breeding season they get more protein...etc.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Quote:
we start them on Nutrena chick starter. TSC food will work fine.....then we use the Dumor grower/finisher 15% when they are 2-3 weeks old. Butterscotch is our specialty

Is the nutrena chick starter you get a mash, or does it come in both mash and crumbles? I picked up 2 bags and both were mash. Ive read you cant give waterfowl mash, so I was mixing it with water, and they loved it.

not sure what you mean by mash, our mash is "wet crumbles"......we feed the ducklings the crumbles and the adults get pellets. I know some feed is really fine like a powder and that can choke the ducks and get stuck up their nose.....

Ican let you in on another trick we learned along the way......if our duck lay soft shell eggs we add some hog grower in the feed. It is high in calcium. Oyster shells are always left in the bowl, no matter how small so it doesn't do the job.....lol

 

[Laney]

Thanks for the advice!! And any info on the feed would be great. I had no idea they would leave the oyster shell.

We have some that we put in the feed and cracked corn we throw out for the geese and ducks in our pond. Our Geese had soft and missing shells and we wanted to give them a little boost.

So far we have had no duck eggs from the ducks on the pond. We have 2 Pekin females and 3 males. 1 Mallard, 1 Khaki Campbell and 1 unknown beautiful drake who has a gorgeous green mallard head, white chest and black body. Those three drakes are so relentless that one of my Pekins has decided to become a Goose. She has disassociated herself from the other ducks and now stays with my two Ganders who have lost there Hens. The Ganders protect her from the overzealous mating.

They have free range of our 17 acres and either they are really really good at hiding the eggs (I've searched the entire pond bank, the woods, the dam etc) or the Pekins are too old to lay.

A friend of a friend had offered us a bunch of guinea hens, but showed up with ducks and geese stating he couldn't catch the guineas so he brought them. We have no idea on age etc.

I'm hoping to get some eggs from this group. Who knows???

Laney