Wood Duck Ducklings and Mazuri Waterfowl Starter

[jgell]

I have raised wood ducks in the past with mixed results. After reading some posts I am going to use Mazuri Waterfowl Starter this year. I was just wondering what is the best way to present it to the them? Do you just add it to their water dish or do you provide them the opportunity to swim and feed? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Jmiller429]

with new ducklings, sprinkle the food in the water and float it, smear it on brooder walls, feed dishes, anything and everything, smear it on the chicks themselves. Meal worms are a good idea as well.

 

[rioreptiles]

About 4 months ago I was brought an abandoned wood duck egg and he ended up hatching out a week later on Easter Day. I was totally clueless, but since I breed bearded dragons I had plenty of chick starter for feeding my live bugs. It didn't take long to figure out the chick starter wasn't going to work, but he started eating small super worms the next day. I also had the Mazuri Insectivore feed on hand so figured I'd give it a try after reading wood ducks ate a lot of invertebrates in the wild, and the local feed store didn't stock the Mazuri Waterfowl Starter. Needless to say, he loved the Insectivore and still eats it quite a bit now, but he favors the dubia roaches we farm for our reptiles and will go over to the bins to beg when he wants them. I don't think I could have raised him successfully without the live bugs in the beginning, especially being an only child here. Just thought others would like to know about the Mazuri Insectivore in case of an emergency, it is fairly high protein (25%) so you wouldn't want to feed it to just any kind of duck.

 

[duckmanjim]

So many struggle getting woodies to start eating but insects are the answer! I fed mine crickets and never had a problem. Along with a gamebird starter!