When to give pekin ducks pellet feed?

[anonymous99]

At the moment, my pekin ducks are 8 weeks old. I have 2 hens and 7 drakes that all grew up together. I was wondering, when do they need to start eating pellets? And what kind? I’ve read that pellets can cause kidney problems for drakes and I don’t wanna get the wrong kind. There’s a tractor supply store and a feed store in town, but i’ve never really had a chance to see what kind of pellet feed they have. What kind of pellet feed can I give to all of them when it comes time to put them on pellets? They’re on grower feed right now.

 

[Duckiiess]

I feed the purina duck pellets to my flock of 20, started them on that at about 4 weeks old, get 40 lb bags from tractor supply. It's on the expensive side, but they like it.
The duck pellets have plenty of niacin, so you won't need to supplement with that anymore when you switch over too.
Have only heard of problems for the drakes if you're feeding layer pellets.

 

[bhaugh]

I feed mash so they don't ever get pellets

 

[Duckiiess]

I feed mash so they don't ever get pellets

Do you soak it in water or give it dry? I tried mash here but the ducks really didn't like it.. They eat much more pellets, and since I'm raising some of them for meat I want them to be eating as much as possible for now... once those ducks are gone, the others will be getting the mash again, it's about half the price from a bulk feed store down the road.

 

[bhaugh]

I buy All Flock and cover it with water so the feed is covered like 3 inches. It keeps the wild freeloaders at bay because they can't get to it but it can't sit out for more than a day or so. I have muscovy and not feeding to eat. If your feeding to process out soon, dried Mealworms can put on the weight. It's good for me when they need to gain weight

 

[Duckiiess]

I feed some of those too, as well as peas and corn.. those bags of mealworms add up quick though, so they only get a couple handfuls of that per day.
Don't think I've seen any all flock mash, most have been crumbles around here.. they like that too, just not the fine mash.

 

[bhaugh]

I feed some of those too, as well as peas and corn.. those bags of mealworms add up quick though, so they only get a couple handfuls of that per day.

I buy by the 5lb size about $35 online.

 

[Duckiiess]

Sounds pretty similar to what I've been paying... pretty sure they'd eat a whole bag in a day if I let them lol