What to feed ducks and geese in snow?

[Brickman House]

Hi all!

I have a flock of 8 ducks and 2 geese who roam a fenced acre of our property. Normally, we toss a 2.5 quart scoop of layer pellets in their feed tub in the morning, open their coop, and let them out for the day. They do end up eating their pellets, but obviously spend most of their day digging up goodies out of the yard.

We're in the MidAtlantic. and just got a couple feet of snow dumped on us, with another foot on the way in the next day or so. At this point, it looks like we're going to be under a mess of white stuff for weeks, which is unusual for our area. So that mean no decent foraging for our flock!

Does anyone have any ideas on what we can feed our ducks and geese for a little variety? Of course they'll still get layer pellets, but a steady diet of that has to be deadly dull compared to their usual diet. Anyone tried alfalfa cubes or a flake of alfalfa hay on their ducks or geese? How about horse feed? I can't imagine they wouldn't love the molasses and the variety of grains, but is it good for them? What about scratch grains (we have a corn/oat mix)?

Any other ideas?

 

[Emzyyy]

Any tablescraps you can give them go ahead and throw them out for them.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I make a "tea" for them out of the alfalfa cubes when they can't forage. I put the cubes in a metal bowl with a flat bottom and pour hot water on it. When it has cooled down a bit I put it in their pen and they love it. I often add vegetable scraps to it after it has cooled.

 

[Amiga]

A little bit of dry cat kibble would give them some calories and protein in all this snow, and might be interesting to them.