Which feed?

[needafarm]

Hello everyone,
I adopted a 3 day old duckling yesterday. The people I got it from gave me a little food. When I went to the feed store all they had was 25 lb bag of turkey starter, and a 25 lb bag of turkey/game bird grower. My questions are, will any of these work? Can I just get the grower, because from what I read they only eat the starter for 2 weeks and I dont think one duck will eat 25 lbs in 2 weeks (would hate to waste the money). Or should I look for a different feed store, if this is the wrong kind of feed for ducks. I asked the people who work there their advice and they said the chick starter, but it is medicated. When I pointed it out, they said thats what they feed their ducklings when they have them.
I was also wondering at what age you can start giving them treats like peas.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks.

 

[Duck_feeder]

I'm not familiar with turkey feed so I'm not sure if that will work.

If possible try to find a different feed store. The one we go to sells duckling feed by the pound so we only got as much as we needed. If you end up having to buy chick starter, medicated is okay if the medicine is amprolium. We went through about 15lbs for two ducklings but I tossed out the old food daily as they tended to either get it wet or poop in the bowl...

As far as peas, we hold off on giving them any until they are large enough that they won't choke on a whole pea (4 weeks for our runners). If you chop them up, you can probably feed them earlier.

For my ducklings I waited until they were about a week old before giving any treats (made sure they were eating their feed) then started giving them finely chopped grape tomatoes and butter lettuce. They ate so slowly back then that it took them about 15 minutes for the two of them to eat just one grape tomato! As they got bigger I added more treats and made courser chops.

Is this your only duck? Are you planning on getting some ducky companions? Are you keeping this duck indoors or outside?

 

[needafarm]

Thanks for the quick response. They did sell the chick feed by the pound and it only containd amprolium. I'll call a couple of other feed stores and see if they sell the duckling food if not I guess I'll use the chick starter.
We only have the one duck. Right now its inside. We have three pet chickens in our backyard. The duckling is tended to all day by my daughter, so its been getting plenty of attention. I had to tell her ducks and people dont sleep together. A box on her bedroom floor satisfied her. I am using a heat lamp.
Any other advice or suggestions would be great.

 

[Amiga]

I agree with Duck_feeder, see if there is another place close enough. There is an old fashioned hardware store down the road, and they sell a wide variety of feed. If I had not wandered in there one day, looking for something else, I would not have known.

Some have recommended beginning to add in grower feed slowly, beginning at two weeks, so that the change in diet is more gradual. That way you can use up a bit more of the starter. You may be able to find someone willing to trade for starter, too, since we are somewhat early in the year and others in your area may be getting ducklings a few weeks after yours was hatched.

Remember crumbles for the little ones - I think pellets are too big, and mash can be problematic (though some report adding something moist to the mash if that is all they can get).

 

[spamee34]

any idea what breed it is?

 

[Duck_feeder]

Amiga makes a very good point about gradually switching from crumbles to pellets.

When you do the switch, keep an eye on what the duck is eating. I started with 90% crumbles and 10% pellets and planned on increasing the pellets by 10% every 2-4 days. If they are eating mainly the crumbles, you'll want to transition slower at first. If they are favoring the pellets, you can transition faster. For us it was pretty simple - within a week Moxy and Norie were only eating the pellets (Moxy started eating the pellets and Norie just does whatever Moxy does) so I discontinued my transition plan and stopped using the crumbles altogether.

As far as other tips, here's a few basics. Sorry if these are obvious to you, I don't know what your experience with ducks is and I want to make sure you're aware of them.

1. Water MUST be available to ducks whenever food is present. They can choke if they don't have water to drink.
2. Water MUST be deep enough for the duck to submerge it's entire bill. This allows them to clear their nares (nostrils)
3. Until they grow their adult feathers, all baths should be supervised. They aren't very water proof and can drown in relatively shallow water if they get soaked and tired from swimming.
4. Until they are a few weeks old, dry off the duckling after a bath and make sure it stays warm until completely dry.
5. Once a duckling bonds to a person (most likely your daughter) expect it to get scared and peep a lot whenever they are separated. A picture of your daughter might help calm the duck. A mirror can be used to trick the duck into thinking it has a duckling buddy. You might want to avoid providing a mirror until after the duckling bonds to your daughter if it will be a long term pet.


How are you handling the poop issue right now? While the duckling is really young it's not much of a problem since the poop is so little, but in very little time they'll be getting much bigger and more frequent...

Let us know if you need advice on waterers for the duckling. An open bowl is just asking for the duckling to take unsupervised swims.

 

[needafarm]

I was told it is a mallard/muscovy cross. Any ideas what it may look like? at What age can you tell males from females?
I had ducks when I was a kid and they were so much fun. But I didn't have to worry about all the specific details. I have done a lot of reading on caring for them, through this forum, thanks everyone.
Right now I am going to use old towels that I can just take out and wash. At what age can I start using pine shavings or should I even use it?
Thanks for all the feed advice, I'm going to definatly check around for a better feed store, I'm sure I can find one.

 

[needafarm]

Oh yea, I am using the chick waterer (the one with the red lid). And then give it supervized baths.

 

[Hattiegun]

glad to see u found chick starter.. turkey str is very high in protein 30% (Im new to this) but my understanding
is that would be to much.. turkey/gamebird may be down around 23%which (from my understanding) may be okay
for a couple weeks..just my 2 cents... I had one duck. lived in the house for 2 months,, getting more soon

 

[needafarm]

I would get more if I could. I think my DH would throw a fit. When he came home yesterday and saw I brought hm another animal. He told me to get on the internet and try and find an animal he hasn't already told me no to geting. He'll get over it, he always falls for them.