Best food for baby ducklings
What Do Ducklings Eat? 13 Foods for Baby Ducks
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Adorable and fuzzy, ducklings eat a slightly different diet than grown ducks. What they eat helps them grow into strong swimmers, capable flyers, and the chatty birds we know and love.
So, what do ducklings eat?
Ducklings eat insects, plants, algae, and worms.
Wild baby ducks eat differently from pet ducklings as well.
But how much does a duckling need to eat in order to become a fully fledged adult? And what is best to feed your new pet duckling, should you have one? Let’s learn about this adorable bird now.
What Does a Duckling Eat?
Baby ducklings eat bugs, algae, plan matter, and birdseed.shaftinaction/Shutterstock.com
A duckling eats a variety of bugs, including worms and beetles, plant matter, algae, and more. They are considered omnivores and opportunistic eaters, which is why the ducklings in your local park aren’t shy about taking your bread or other bird food!
According to The Wilson Bulletin, the beak structure and overall width of their mouth can affect what a baby duck can eat. Depending on the species, they have the ability to strain food from plants or peck food from the water.
A duckling’s diet changes as the bird ages. Their diets expand and become more omnivorous, depending on the species and the available regional food. Let’s take a look at what a duckling eats on a more in-depth level.
A Complete List of 13 Foods Ducklings Eat
Ducklings have been known to eat the following foods:
- Worms
- Bugs
- Invertebrates
- Algae
- Grass
- Plant matter
- Small fish
- Cracked corn
- Oats
- Barley
- Mixed greens
- Birdseed
- Nuts
Ducklings should be fed a diet of mealworms and plant matter at an early age, though grasses tend to make baby ducks bloat. Wild ducks tend to stick to whatever bugs they find, and they will eat food that is fed to them by park visitors or guests.
Bread has been long regarded as a bad thing to feed wild birds. Molding bread can be fatal to baby ducks, and the lack of nutritional value in processed bread can damage a duckling’s ability to grow.
Keep in mind that a duckling’s food source changes as it ages. Even after as little as four weeks, a duckling can shift to eating more bugs or grain meal should you be keeping ducks as pets.
By four weeks of age ducklings are eating more bugs and grain meal.Matias Gauthier/Shutterstock.com
How Much Does a Duckling Eat?
A duckling eats around ¼ pound of food per day. It will depend on the age of the duckling and the food available, as ducklings are keen eaters. They free graze as young birds, and require even more food as they age.
It is important to stick to this amount of food if you are raising ducks from a young age. While ducklings free graze for the first 4-5 weeks of their lives, you should be sure to stick to a certain amount of food once they age a bit more.
A study performed by Waterbirds: The International Journal of Waterbird Biology states that younger ducklings dive for food much less often than older ducklings. This usually leads to an uneven feeding in very young ducklings, and can even put them at risk of predation.
As ducklings age, they begin to behave more like adult ducks- diving for bugs or water invertebrates is less of a problem for them, and therefore they eat in larger quantities. A 0-5 week old duckling is most at risk, between its many predators and its inability to dive for food.
Speaking of predators, let’s take a look at some animals that are a risk to ducklings… There are quite a few.
What Eats Ducklings? Their Main Predators
Predators like foxes, raccoons, and hawks eat ducklings.Jody Ann/Shutterstock.com
Ducklings have many predators that will eat them, including cats, foxes, and large fish. The following predators will eat ducklings:
- Feral cats
- Foxes
- Large fish
- Snakes
- Bullfrogs
- Snapping turtles
- Raccoons
- Hawks
- Owls
- Crows
According to Ducks Limited, a duckling is unable to fly until it has reached at least 50 days old, making this period of time the most dangerous for them. Their potential survival rate is anywhere from only 10% all the way up to 70%.
Their survival rate depends on many things, including their location and the size of their brood. However, ducklings are indeed easy prey, especially considering their inability to escape or fly away!
What to Feed Ducklings as a Pet
Ducklings eat birdseed, pellets, mealworms, and fruit.Santirat Praeknokkaew/Shutterstock.com
You can feed ducklings a variety of things when keeping them as pets:
- Birdseed
- Duck pellets
- Chicken feed
- Mealworms
- Vegetable scraps
- Fresh lettuce and mixed greens
- Cracked corn
- Barley
- Oats
- Fresh fruit
Always be sure to only feed your ducklings a certain amount of food per day, and be sure to get rid of any food leftover after a 12 hour period to avoid feeding your duckling contaminated food.
Ducklings love oats, barley, and cracked corn as a treat, though be sure not to feed them too many grains when they are young. There is specific duckling feed that you can buy from pet stores and hardware stores in order to keep them healthy.
Moistening any food that you give a baby duck is a necessary part of the process. Ducklings don’t have teeth or any real way of chewing, and they instinctively prefer to peck and strain food from sources of water.
Speaking of water, having an ample amount of water available to baby ducks is key to their survival. Not only do they require it as swimmers and waterfowl, but they need to be consuming a large amount of water per day in order to survive.
Ducklings are fairly easy to care for as pets, though be sure to avoid placing any pebbles or rocks in their enclosures, as they can easily swallow these and get ill. As they age, ducklings will become easier to care for, and they will eat just about anything you choose to feed them!
25 Things Baby Ducks Like to Eat Most (Diet, Care & Feeding Tips)
Ducks are animals from the family Anatidae like geese, swans, and seabirds, with wiggling buttocks that rarely leave anyone indifferent. What do baby ducks eat is a crucial question regardless of whether you feed them on a nearby lake or keep them in your yard. Let’s take a look.
Table of Contents
- Baby Ducks Habits and Biology
- Do Baby Ducks Eat Dirt?
- What Do Baby Ducks Like to Eat Most?
- Food Avoid to Feed Baby Ducks
- Tips to Feed Your Baby Ducks
- Summary
Baby Ducks Habits and Biology
Believe it or not, you can see ducks on all continents except Antarctica. It is the only place on the Earth that is too cold for them.
Raising baby ducks is not complicated, and it is very similar to raising other poultry. After hatching, you should only place them in a box or crate with straw on the bottom. Since baby ducks only have fluff, you need to provide them with extra heat, preferably heat lamps.
During the first week, the lamp temperature should preferably be 90 F (32 C). You need to slowly reduce it over the next few days until reaching 70 F (21 C). Once the ducklings stop shrinking under the heat source, it means they are ready to turn off the lamps.
At the age of 7 to 9 weeks, baby ducks are ready to stay outdoors, so you can make a cage, like a chicken coop and keep them there. That will protect your ducklings from predators, such as:
- Raccoons and skunks
- Snakes
- Foxes and weasels
- Cats
However, you need to leave them enough space to spread their wings wholly and freely while cleaning their bodies. Also, bigger space will allow better air circulation in the area.
Ducklings are ready to enter the water when their feathers grow. It is probably a good idea to choose a rubber children’s pool for the first encounter with water, but never leave them unattended. Adult ducks are careless and can inadvertently drown their babies.
One of the crucial things is to provide your ducklings with enough clean water. These birds find it difficult to digest food, so they need to mix it with water to facilitate this process. Also, water helps them clean and rinse their beaks from food debris and dust.
Do Baby Ducks Eat Dirt?
While watching baby ducks as they walk over the space, you can think they swallow mud and dirt. Still, there is no reason to worry since they won’t ingest such things.
Ducklings actually separate small insects, worms, small aquatic plants and animals, and weeds before eating them. In other words, your baby duck sifts mud and dirt while looking for its favorite food.
On the other hand, you should be prepared that baby ducks often swallow sand and pebbles. Their rough texture helps break down and crumble food in the duck’s stomach, thus making digestion easier.
What Do Baby Ducks Like to Eat Most?
For the first few days after hatching, the ducklings live from the egg yolk remains. After that, you need to feed them with starter food for ducks with the addition of vitamin B complex, particularly niacin. Otherwise, you will get birds with crooked legs.
After two weeks, ducklings can eat the same food as adult ducks. Avoid giving bread and crackers to prevent problems with swelling during swallowing. Not to mention that this food type hasn’t any nutritional value for these birds.
Make sure your baby ducks always have enough water. If you notice that they avoid drinking offered water, you should sugar it a bit to attract ducklings until getting into the habit.
Ducks like to eat fruit, but you should give it to them in moderate quantities since it is packed with sugar. The fruit type will determine whether you need to chop or mash it. Your ducklings will enjoy consuming:
- Strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries
- Pitted watermelons and melons
- Pitted and cut apples and pears
- Pitted peaches and cherries
- Grapes without skin and seeds
- Bananas puree without peel
- Pumpkin meat cut into small pieces
- Tomato fruit
Vegetables and green leaves are crucial for duck nutrition, but you need to chop them before offering this food. Remember that ducks don’t chew food but swallow it, and large pieces will make digestion difficult. Your ducklings will particularly enjoy the following:
- Peas
- Salads
- Beets and radishes’ green parts
- Chard and broccoli
- Cauliflower and kale
- Cucumber
Besides fruits and vegetables, your babies will like eating many other plants, including:
- Mowed grass and clover
- Dandelion
- Rose petals
- Aquatic plants
It is highly advisable not to treat these foods with chemicals since they can endanger your ducks’ health. Once your baby ducks are 12 weeks old, it is time to include dairy products in their diet. The best options are:
- Chopped cottage cheese
- Classic Greek yogurt made from whole milk full of natural probiotics
Remember that dairy products naturally cause the unpleasant smell of feces, so there is no reason for worry. Since proteins are crucial in duck nutrition, you should offer your birds treats like:
- Worms and super-worms
- Black soldiers fly larvae
- Crickets
- Dried river shrimp
- Boiled and scrambled egg yolks
Keep in mind that this food type shouldn’t make up more than 10% of your ducklings’ diet.
Food Avoid to Feed Baby Ducks
There is a large selection of healthy food to feed baby ducks, so you should avoid some products since their quality is not good enough for these birds. It is necessary to be careful with:
- Spoiled, moldy, and rotten food
- Chicken food with added antibiotics and other medicines
- Cat food with a high amount of methionine toxic to ducks
- Fried and processed food
Even though ducklings like eating fruit, you need to avoid certain types or their parts to prevent possible health issues:
- Citrus fruits, including lemons, oranges, mandarins, and grapefruits since they prevent calcium absorption
- Fruit seeds and pits
- Peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans
Even though vegetables are healthy food, you should consider that your ducklings won’t like certain types. Plus, some veggies can be harmful to their health, including:
- Potatoes and their leaves
- Peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants’ leaves
- Eggplant and green tomato
- Onion
- Rhubarb
- Iceberg salad that causes diarrhea when given in large quantities
- Spinach that prevents regular calcium absorption
- Raw and dried beans
- Avocado
Finally, you should never offer your ducklings some ingredients that are also unhealthy in the human diet, such as:
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Chocolate
- Food with high sugar levels
In the end, I need to mention plants you should pay special attention to, especially if your ducklings are free to walk around. Since these plants contain poisonous substances to all birds, including ducks, you should avoid letting them near areas where they grow. The list includes:
- Buttercup, Lily of the Valley, and Morning Glory
- Bird of Paradise, Clematis, and
- Bleeding Heart, Azalea, and Cardinal Flower
- Hemlock, Larkspur, Milkweed, and Elderberry
- Jerusalem Cherry, Mistletoe, and Holly
- Coriander, Parsley, and Nettles
- English Ivy, Ivy, and Dieffenbachia
- Burdock
- Tobacco
- Weeping Yew and Oak
- Some mushroom types
Tips to Feed Your Baby Ducks
As I have already mentioned, raising ducks is similar to raising chickens. Once they hatch, moving them to a wooden or plastic box or crate set with straw is necessary.
Food
While they are still small, commercial starter duck food will meet all their needs, but you can also use starter feed for chickens. It is OK, but never forget to enrich it with B complex vitamins, particularly niacin.
You will lightly achieve this by adding brewer’s yeast. In such a case, it will be enough to add 2 pounds (0.9 kg) of yeast to a bag of 90 pounds (41 kg) of chicken food.
After a few weeks, you can start with different food. Let your baby ducks roam freely and feed on available food from nature or leave food on the ground to let them find it on their own.
Some breeders recommend feeding ducks every four hours, while others practice free feeding with constantly available food whenever their bodies ask for it. If you pick out the second option, it is vital to pay attention to food freshness. Never allow it to stay at a place too long and spoil.
Ducks grow very fast and reach full maturity in just a few months. That is why a proper diet rich in vitamins and nutrients is crucial.
Water
Water is necessary for ducklings for several reasons. They have difficulty digesting, so they mix food with water. Plus, these birds often need to rinse dirt and dust from their beaks to protect themselves from infection.
Remember that baby ducks are different from chickens when it comes to water. While chickens need a shallow container for food and water, duckling’s beaks are longer and wider, so such a container won’t suit them.
The duck food and water bowls should be deep and wide. However, never overdo the water tank depth and always try to set stoppers to prevent the duck from putting its head under the water too much.
Summary
Baby ducks are easy to raise. It is advisable to provide adequate food and some water surface, like a natural or small artificial lake, to make them happy. Believe it or not, your ducks can live up to twenty years with proper care, a balanced diet, and necessary nutrients.
How to feed ducklings to gain weight: my experience
How to feed ducklings so that they grow well and quickly gain weight, I share my experience of feeding at home.
Feeding ducklings is slightly different from feeding the same chickens, ducklings can quickly gain weight due to green fodder, which significantly reduces the cost of purchasing compound feed and grain for poultry. In this article I will tell you how to properly feed ducklings so that they gain weight well.
Feeding day old ducklings in the first days of life.
Immediately after the ducklings hatch from their eggs, they need to dry off on a warm heating pad. The ducklings are placed in a cardboard box in which there is a heating pad and bedding; on a warm heating pad, the navels of the ducklings heal well, which is very important.
On the first day, ducklings rest and gain strength, during the first day of life they do not need food yet, they still have a supply of nutrients in their bodies.
On the first day, the ducklings already need to put a drinker with boiled water and teach them to drink water. To do this, you can tilt the ducklings with their beaks into the water so that they learn to drink it. You can give the ducklings water through a pipette.
It is important that the ducklings cannot climb into the drinker with their paws, otherwise they will get wet, and hypothermia is extremely dangerous for ducklings at this age. A drinking bowl can be made from a nylon lid from a glass jar, in the center of the inverted lid we put an inverted glass cup filled with water.
What to feed ducklings in the first days? The first food for daily ducklings will be millet and a finely chopped boiled egg, any chicken and duck eggs will do.
Tip! The boiled egg must be crushed very finely, if a large piece of duckling comes across, it can choke on it.
In order for ducklings to learn to eat food, you can take millet in your palm and roll it by bringing your palm to the beaks, ducklings see moving grains of millet and start pecking at it. It is important to simply show the ducklings that this is food, give it a taste, after which they themselves will find the grains on the litter and peck at them. At this age, food should be constantly in the feeders.
Starting from the third day, ducklings can already be fed finely chopped greens, ducklings are very fond of and willingly eat knotweed, alfalfa, clover, onion greens, young nettles. Greens must first be washed well.
How to feed week-old ducklings.
Ducklings at a week old are already actively eating food and the main food for them will already be compound feed, you can make compound feed for ducklings yourself from turf. Contain week ducklings in a brooder.
To do this, you need to finely grind corn and wheat grains in a grist, mix and give to ducklings in the form of wet mash.
Tip! Wet mash quickly begin to sour and deteriorate, so knead so much mash that the ducklings eat it right away.
Ducklings should be fed at least 6 times a day.
Do not forget about the prevention of gastrointestinal diseases, add a little potassium permanganate to the water a couple of times a week so that the consistency is slightly pink.
From the age of one week ducklings can already be grazed on the grass, for this you can build an aviary and put it on the young grass. If this is not possible, then you can simply pick the herbs and put them to the ducklings, they can already peck it on their own.
To improve digestion, ducklings need to put a feeder with crushed chalk, crushed eggshells and fine gravel.
Feeding one month old ducklings.
Ducklings at the age of one month already need more green fodder, at this age ducklings need to be kept on grazing, they graze well and gain weight.
For good growth and development, ducklings need a body of water or a container of water where the ducklings can bathe. I always feed ducklings fresh duckweed, this is an excellent source of vitamins, duckweed contains many microorganisms that serve as a source of protein for ducklings.
I put the duckweed in a pond and the ducklings swim all day and catch duckweed and other algae.
But of course, one green food will not be enough, you also need to feed the ducklings with wet mash, I add grated zucchini to the mash, the ducklings willingly eat such food and grow well. Duckweed can also be added to mash, ducklings eat such food well.
Table of feeding rations for ducklings by age.
During the summer period, the ducklings gain very good weight and by the fall you will have adult well-fed ducks. Thanks to plant foods, duck meat is not fatty, more dietary and juicy.
I recommend watching a video on how to make food for ducklings.
Another video about feeding ducklings.
types of feed, diet and norms
For normal development and rapid weight gain, ducklings need to receive high-calorie balanced feed from the first days of life that meets the needs of age and direction. Health, survival, livestock productivity and, accordingly, the profitability of the economy primarily depend on the proper nutrition of birds. Thanks to a well-designed diet and feeding regimen for ducks, it is possible to improve the quality of the final product and reduce veterinary costs, both at a large poultry farm and at home.
- What foods are good for ducks?
- Benefits of feeding ducks with specialized feed
- Features of the spring-summer diet
- Nuances of feeding in winter
- Prohibited products
- Norms and diet of ducks of various ages
- Benefits of compound feed for ducks produced by MEGAMIX Group of Companies
What foods are good for ducks?
Cereals are the main component of feed mixtures. They contain a lot of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and fiber necessary for good growth and muscle gain. |
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Legumes are a high-calorie source of protein |
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Juicy feed enriches the diet of ducks with vitamins, stimulates appetite |
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Animal products are necessary for the normal development of the bird's body, rapid weight gain or increase in egg production. |
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Minerals are important for good food digestion and egg formation. |
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Benefits of feeding ducks specialty feeds
High-quality ready mixes are biologically safe and balanced. They are made from natural components of plant and animal origin, which has passed multiple tests. They use the most digestible grains as the main ingredients. Starter mixtures can be additionally enriched with pure amino acids obtained in the laboratory.
Ready mixed feeds and meet the age needs of birds. In the production process, they undergo short-term heat treatment, which destroys harmful microorganisms, but does not have time to destroy useful substances. The use of purchased compound feed simplifies the care of ducks and frees the poultry house from additional work on the preparation of mash.
Features of the spring-summer diet
During this period, the chicks are actively growing and gaining weight. If the breeder specializes in meat breeds, then feeding is limited only to the spring-summer season. In large farms, where birds do not have the opportunity to walk, ducks are given compound feed 4 times a day. For home breeding, summer is also the best period. On small farms or in subsidiary farms, wet mashes are usually alternated with a mixture of cereals and fresh herbs, and concentrated mixtures are used instead of complete feed to enrich the diet.
In duck breeding, the cultivation of birds in water bodies is used, however, such conditions are not suitable for all breeds. The advantages of the method are that ducks independently extract all the necessary nutrients. However, to gain weight, they need to additionally give high-calorie feed. Because of this, the fattening time can increase up to 4-6 months. instead of 2.5. However, as a result, the breeder receives lean, juicy meat with excellent taste.
Nuances of feeding in winter
In egg breeds, the diet during the cold season changes significantly. The amount of succulent fodder and greens is reduced. Instead, the proportion of meat and bone and fish meal, dried hay, and boiled vegetables is increasing. Ducks need to be fed only twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. The main volume is made up of grain mixtures, wet mixers. To compensate for the deficiency of proteins, vitamins and calcium, special premixes or protein-vitamin-mineral complexes are used.
In winter, it is important to ensure that egg breed ducks receive enough calories, but do not gain excess weight, since obesity leads to a decrease in productivity.
Prohibited products
Despite the fact that ducks are almost omnivores, some foods can harm them. It is not recommended to give the bird:
- Moldy feed. Mycotoxin poisoning can lead to serious consequences.
- Fine flour. It can clog the nose and swell in the stomach, causing a false feeling of fullness. As a result, ducks receive less nutrients, eat less feed, and gain weight worse.
- Bread. Such food causes dysbacteriosis and upset of the gastrointestinal tract in the bird's body. Only crackers in small quantities are allowed.
- Fresh milk. In the stomach, it is not absorbed, but folds, causing indigestion.
- Poisonous herbs for ducks: celandine, cocklebur, henbane, poisonous milestones, maple leaves, etc. When chopping fresh herbs, you need to carefully check all the plants.
- Fresh nettle. Untreated stems and leaves can burn the walls of the stomach and lead to irritation of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Cucurbitaceae, in particular cucumber and marrow. Their excessive use provokes the excretion of calcium.
- Vegetable and fruit cleaning. They are too dense and hard to digest.
Norms and diet for ducks of different ages
Calorie and nutrient requirements change in chicks as they grow. When choosing feed for ducks, you should pay attention to its labeling and composition.
In the period up to 4 weeks, the digestive system of the chicks is still not sufficiently formed, easily digestible proteins predominate in the feed. Enzymes are added to the feed mixture to improve digestion. The diet of ducklings is enriched with organic acids, vitamins, macro- and microelements, which are responsible for the formation of a strong skeleton and the normal development of internal organs. Since the immunity of chicks is weaker than that of adult ducks, coccidiostatics are added to the starting compositions. These substances destroy pathogens and prevent the massive spread of coccidiosis among young animals.
In the finishing phase (4-8 weeks), ducks require less protein. The protein content in the feed is reduced, but the amount of carbohydrates and fiber is increased so that the bird gains weight faster. Laying ducks require specialized feed. It contains antioxidants that increase the productive period of birds and improve the palatability of eggs.
The feeding schedule is developed taking into account the age of the bird, the season, the size of the livestock and the characteristics of a particular breed. Violation of the recommended regimen can provoke gastrointestinal diseases and blockage of the goiter. In the starter phase, food is given frequently, but in small portions. As the ducks grow older, the dosage increases. By the finish stage, the number of feedings is gradually reduced to 2 times a day.
Feeding large portions increases the average daily weight gain of birds. It usually takes 2.5 months to raise ducks for meat. Birds are kept in separate pens or cages and restricted in movement so that they gain mass faster without wasting calories on movement. They are fed high-calorie mixtures containing a large amount of cereals and starch. Wet mixers are filled with whey. 2 weeks before slaughter, fish products are excluded from the diet.
During the period of active laying, ducks need to provide a varied diet with a high content of vitamins. In winter and early spring, it is useful for laying hens to give sprouted grains of oats, wheat and barley in the amount of 10–15 g. Every day, the bird needs to drink about 1 liter of water, so it is not recommended to feed it with wet mash. The diet of egg breeds should include yeast rich in B vitamins.
The MEGAMIX company produces all types of complete mixtures for ducks of various ages.
PK-21 Starter feed for ducklings from 0 to 4 weeks
PK-22 Finishing composition for young animals 4-8 weeks, accelerating weight gain
Benefits of compound feed for ducks produced by MEGAMIX Group of Companies
You can order all types of feed mixtures for ducks and geese from us.