Can baby ducks eat chicken food

Can Ducks Eat Chicken Feed? What You Need to Know!

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Nicole Cosgrove

Last updated: Jul 22 2022

Whether you’re a duck owner or someone who occasionally throws out breadcrumbs at the local pond, you should know what type of food is edible for them. If you’ve ever wondered if chicken feed was one of those foods, but weren’t sure if it would hurt them, don’t worry! Ducks can eat chicken feed.

There are some negative side effects and a few guidelines you need to know. Any concerns you may have will be addressed, along with additional information about the health content of chicken feed and finding a few nutrient-rich alternatives.

What’s in the feed?

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Chicken feed has many nutritional benefits for poultry. It is composed of grains, oilseed, and animal by-products. Protein content will vary depending on the brand and anything above 18% protein content will be hard to find.

This is all well and good for chickens, but what about ducks?

Well, ducks are not chickens and will need a slightly different diet. The most potentially harmful difference is the lack of niacin in the feed. If you’re only feeding ducks occasionally at your local park don’t worry, chicken feed won’t harm them. However, if you are raising ducklings yourself, they will need more nutrients than chicken feed provides.

What should ducks eat?

image Credit: Kim Loan Nguyen thi, Pixabay

Chicken feed is one valid option. If you decide to go that route you will need to make up for the lack of niacin. Without the niacin, your ducklings will grow to be smaller than average or they might even develop bowed legs and be unable to walk.

Adding brewer’s yeast to the feed is a common solution. When feeding ducks, you should add approximately 1. 5 tablespoons to every cup of chicken feed.

Other options include niacin tablets, liquid B3 vitamins, or vitamin and mineral packets. On average, ducks need 9 mg of niacin a day, so plan accordingly.

Making sure you have the proper niacin to feed ratio can get very complicated very quickly, but if math’s not your thing there are alternatives to chicken feed. Most professionals recommend waterfowl pellets above all else when feeding ducks. They are full of the nutrients your aquatic friends need and you won’t have to account for the missing niacin.

Related Read: Can Ducks Eat Tomatoes? What You Need to Know!

How much is too much?

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Ducklings love to eat! They’re growing and they need a lot of protein, but this poses a minor problem for those who use chicken feed. Most chicken feed is medicated to prevent coccidiosis, a common problem for chickens, but not a concern for ducks. Ducklings have a tendency to eat a lot, about 6-7 ounces of feed a day, and if they eat too much, they can over-medicate themselves and become sick.

When feeding ducklings, it’s best to find non medicated chick starter to avoid this potential problem.

Full-grown ducks don’t need as much food so there is a much smaller risk of over-medicating. However, you will still need to make sure they are not being overfed. Ducks usually need around 4-6 ounces of feed a day.

Conclusion

For all you duck lovers out there know that chicken feed is a very safe a nutritious option for ducks. It doesn’t matter if you’re raising a team of ducks or feeding the stragglers in your backyard, chicken feed will most likely do no harm.

In case you weren’t taking notes, here’s a quick summary of everything you need to know! Ducks need niacin which chicken feed does not contain. Ducklings need more food than ducks but will become sick if they eat too much chicken feed because it is medicated to prevent coccidiosis. There are plenty of nutritious alternatives if you’re uncomfortable with chicken feed, the most commonly used is waterfowl pellets.

Now go out there and feed some ducks!

Can Ducks Eat Chicken Feed? Duck Feeding 101

Can ducks eat chicken feed? When raising ducks and chickens together, it’s important to know if they can share feed and eat the same foods. They have certain nutritional requirements, and duck feeds are designed to meet those needs. It’s important to know what do ducks eat.

When raising ducks for the first time, it’s important to know if ducks can eat chicken feed and can ducklings eat chick starter. This includes starter, grower, finisher, and breeder feeds.

As such, let’s talk about a duck’s dietary needs and compare it to a chicken’s nutritional requirements to find out. It’s important to have the right diet for the right bird. We’ll also provide you a list of what you can and cannot feed your ducks.

Can ducks eat chicken feed?

When raising ducks, it would be convenient to feed ducks chicken feed, especially if this is what you have on hand. If your chickens and ducks free range together, it’s also important to know.

Chicken feed contains a mixture of nutrients and minerals that are also beneficial to a duck’s health. However, it doesn’t have the exact nutritional balance for ducks.

Can Baby Ducks Eat Chick Starter?

It’s best to use feed that is made for ducks. Choose feed that is high quality without a lot of by-product ingredients. You want your ducks to have optimum nutrition. With it, they can have poor feathering, lower body weight, reduced egg production, and more.

When you choose quality feed from a reputable dealer, you will help ensure you’re raising healthy ducks.

When considering what to feed ducklings, it’s best to feed ducklings with waterfowl starter crumbles for their first three weeks of life. If you can’t find crumbles, which are small and safe for ducklings to consume, you can buy pellets.

If that isn’t an option, you can feed your ducklings with a chick starter, but should only do so for the first two weeks.

Beyond that, you should switch their feed to a lower-protein grower feed, until they’re around 18 weeks old.

What Are the Dangers of Chicken Feed for Ducks?

Technically, a more accurate answer to can ducks eat chicken food is yes, but you shouldn’t rely on it as a long-term feed solution.

Chicken feed contains high amounts of protein, which helps chickens grow faster and optimizes their egg production. On the contrary, too much protein is not good for ducks in the long-term.

You also shouldn’t rely on chicken feed for your ducks since they need more niacin in their diet than chickens do, which the feed won’t provide.

Too Much Protein

If baby ducks grow too fast from eating too much protein, they can develop foot and leg problems. It can also cause ducks and ducklings to develop “angel wing”, a condition in which the ducks’ feathers turn outwards. This condition will prevent them from flying and migrating.

Lack of Niacin

Vitamin B3 or niacin is not stored in the body, and ducks need a high amount of it to stay healthy. That means they need high levels of niacin in their feed to ensure they’re ingesting it regularly.

Niacin is particularly important when ducklings are developing. Chicks, on the other hand, don’t need the same levels of niacin in their diet, so their food won’t contain it.

If you want to use it short-term or for the first two weeks of a duckling’s life, you should mix it with around 5% brewers yeast for extra niacin.

How to Use Chick Starter for Ducks

If it’s cost prohibitive to buy duck feed, you can use chicken feed as an alternative. You can use a 23% protein chick starter for the first 2 weeks, followed by a 20% protein broiler grower diet.

Another option is using a broiler finisher diet containing 18% protein. However, you must do this with care and caution. Oftentimes broiler chicken feed contains feed medications that do not have the Food and Drug Administration’s approval for ducks.

If you want to use chick starter instead, while it’s not preferred, you can make it work.

Here is how you can make chick starter feed more suitable for your baby duckling’s needs.

Weeks One and Two

Since your ducklings need more niacin at this age, you can add the following in your chick starter before feeding it to them:

Brewer’s Yeast

The most popular and easiest method of supplementing a duckling’s diet with niacin is to mix some brewer’s yeast into the chick starter. This yeast is used for brewing beer and making bread, but many people also take it to boost immune and digestive health.

You can buy it from natural food stores, health food stores, and online. What you need to do is mix 1.5 tablespoons into each cup of chick starter feed you give your ducklings.

Brewer’s yeast is powdery, so pour it on top of the feed to ensure that your ducklings get some of it before it all settles at the bottom of the pile.

Some people will wet a good amount of the feed so that the powder sticks to it. Just note that wetting it too much or at once could make the mixture moldy and inedible if they don’t eat it right away.

Being a water-soluble vitamin, you can add niacin to a ducklings diet by buying liquid niacin and putting it in their water. You’ll need to add around 500mg of niacin to every four gallons of water.

If it looks like a particular duckling is struggling, you might need to administer 10mg to 20mg daily to that particular bird to make sure it’s getting enough.

However, it can still be very tricky since ducks love to splash around. You never know how much water could be wasted.

Niacin Capsules

You can also buy vitamin B3 in capsule form, so if you can’t find the liquid, just break open the capsules and mix them into your ducklings’ water.

From Weeks Two – 20

When your ducklings are around two to three weeks old, they just start growing faster. That doesn’t mean they need more protein; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. This is when you should be switching them onto a lighter protein feed.

If you can’t find a chick starter with 16% to 18% protein, you can bulk it out with uncooked, rolled oats.

You’ll want to use enough oats to make the feed contain around 20% oats in total. You’ll also need to carry on supplementing their diet with niacin, as described above.

Continue supplementing your ducklings’ diet in these two ways until they are at least 20 weeks old, at which point you can switch them onto layer feed.

What Can Ducks Eat?

If your ducks are free-range, ducks can eat all sorts of things they forage from around the garden, such as grass, weeds, and bugs. If your ducks aren’t free-range, you’ll have to pay more attention to the types of food and amounts you’re giving them.

Right Feed for Every Duck Age

The right feed for your ducks will change, depending on their age. The nutritional needs will also be slightly different for ducks bred as pets and for laying eggs or meat.

Different duck breeds can also be better suited to each of these purposes, so you must ensure you pick which breed will be right for your needs. On that note, here is the typical feeding plan for ducks bred for laying purposes.

Waterfowl Starter or Crumbles for Ducklings

Not every garden or pet store will have food specifically made for ducks, so it can be difficult to know what to go for. Whatever food you choose, though, it should contain around 20% protein.

Although the answer to can ducks eat chicken feed is a yes for the first two weeks of life, you should ideally source and buy waterfowl starter food.

Waterfowl feed contains the ideal amounts of protein and niacin to meet your ducking’s needs. It may be difficult to find at your local stores, but you can easily buy it online.

Flock Feed for Juvenile Ducks (Over Two Weeks)

Once your ducklings become juvenile, they won’t grow quite as fast as before. Thus, you should switch them to a feed that contains just 15% protein.

Flock feed is easier to source than a waterfowl starter. It will meet all of a still-growing duck’s nutritional requirements. As such, there is usually no need to supplement their diet with anything else.

Laying Feed for Adult Ducks

Once your ducks are ready to start laying, you should switch their feed again. This time, you should get one that contains around 16% to 17% protein. A proper laying feed will help support and maintain healthy egg production. Most feed stores should stock waterfowl laying feed to meet all of their requirements, but calcium supplements may be necessary.

Keep your eye out for poor eggshell quality and supplement their diet when necessary. If you can’t find waterfowl feed, chicken laying feed is sufficient, but you should also add in 5% brewers yeast for extra niacin.

What Do Ducks Eat for Snacks and Treats

Ducks will also enjoy a range of other food items as snacks and treats that you can feed them alongside the feed. Except for green snacks, you should restrict other snacks and treats so that they only make up around 10% of their total diet.

Green Snacks

Your ducks will love to eat leafy greens, and you can feed them as much of this as you want. When we say leafy greens, we mean anything from weeds and grass cuttings to kale, Swiss chard, and lettuce.

Some people add salad leaves to their ducks’ water since it keeps them fresher for longer and ducks like to drink while dining.

Bugs and Insects

When answering can ducks and chickens eat the same food, in terms of bugs and insects, that would be a big yes.

Like chickens, ducks are not fussy-eaters when it comes to bugs and insects. Plus, the good thing about bugs is that free-range ducks will be able to find them on their own.

Indian runner ducks are excellent foragers and thrive free-ranging, especially if they have a pond to source from. A Rouen duck is also a good forager and will be a good addition to a garden.

That said, many people like to raise their mealworms for regular buggy treats. You can easily grow mealworms and red worms at home. This will save you the time of finding them in your garden and the cost of buying them.

Even if your ducks have lots of snails, insects and more to forage, you’ll still need to provide them with feed to support their eggs and meat production. Heavy producers such as a Pekin duck will need to be feed in the morning and evening.

Fruits

Ducks really love fruits, and you’ll probably get a kick out of watching them eat it too. Berries, tomatoes, melon (they’ll go wild for watermelon rind), and seeded fruits, like strawberries are some of the fruits they love the most. Giving ducks leftover scraps or fruit to spare is a great treat for them.

Vegetables

Apart from green leafy veggies, there are other vegetables that your ducks can feed on, such as cucumbers, broccoli, corn, zucchini, peas, and squash.

Grains

Ducks also really like grains, but you should make sure you only ever feed them whole grains. Otherwise, they’ll gain too much weight. Ducks are quite prone to putting on weight, so you need to keep their feed and snacks as healthy as possible. Wheat bran, barley, oats, alfalfa meal are all options to consider.

Necessary Supplements

Ducks are simple animals to keep, and for the most part, they don’t really need dietary supplements. However, depending on the land they’re scratching on and eggs’ health, you may want to supplement their diets with grit or shells.

Grit

Like chickens, ducks have gizzards and will find small pebbles on the ground and eat them to grind up their food. If the land that your ducks have access to has a lot of dirt and tiny pebbles, you won’t need to supplement them with grit.

On the contrary, if they live in an area with a thick lawn of grass and you’re worried about the lack of grit around, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Throw just a handful or two of grit per week to ensure that they’re able to digest their food properly.

Oyster Shells

If you notice that your ducks are laying eggs with no shells or a pitted shell, you’ll need to supplement their diets with oyster shells. Oyster shell is an excellent calcium supplement that will help your ducks lay eggs with strong eggshells; in fact, you can use any type of shell, even old seashells.

Just crush them up and then add a small handful of shells to their feed daily. The quality of the eggs you collect from them will transform in a matter of just days.

Ducklings grow quickly

What Should You Not Feed Ducks?

When wondering can ducks have chicken feed, it’s important to consider what ducks shouldn’t eat. Surprisingly, there are quite a few things that you shouldn’t feed ducks, so take a look at the list before feeding them any toxic treats.

Better yet, print it out and keep it somewhere handy so other members of your household can double-check the list before feeding them the wrong scraps.

Citrus

Ducks don’t tend to like citrus fruits. They can also affect a duck’s ability to absorb calcium, which will affect their egg quality.

Spinach

Like citrus, spinach can interrupt calcium absorption, leading to the production of thin-shelled eggs.

Iceberg Lettuce

Small amounts of iceberg lettuce are okay, but too much of it will give your ducks diarrhea.

Raw, Dried Beans

Raw beans contain phytohaemagglutinin, which is a natural insecticide that is toxic to ducks. The act of cooking or sprouting kills off the insecticide, so both sprouted and cooked beans are fine food for ducks.

White Potatoes

You shouldn’t feed your ducks white potatoes since they contain the toxin called solanine. That goes for cooked and raw potatoes and both the skin and flesh.

They also shouldn’t eat the plants themselves, which are part of the nightshade family of plants. Solanine can destroy red blood cells and cause diarrhea and, in some cases, heart failure.

Tomato and Eggplant Leaves

Eggplant and tomato plants are also part of the nightshade family. Ripe tomatoes and eggplants are fine, but green tomatoes and the plants themselves are toxic to your backyard birds.

Avocado

The flesh, pits, and skins of avocados contain a toxin called persin, which can cause myocardial necrosis or heart cell death. Apparently, just 5% of an average-sized avocado is enough to cause death to a small bird within just 48 hours.

Apple Seeds

Apple seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide. Your ducks shouldn’t also be eating any other pits, whether from peaches, cherries, plums, or apricots.

They do love apples, though, so just remove the core or pits before giving them apple treats.

Onions

Onions can cause duck anemia since they contain thiosulfate, which kills red blood cells.

Junk Food

When we say junk food, we’re talking about anything that we know isn’t very good for us, including chocolate, caffeine, salty, sweet, processed and fried food.

What Food Will Kill Ducks?

From the list of food items you should avoid giving your ducks, you will note that not many food items will actually kill your ducks. The main ones that you should be very careful not to let your ducks have access to are:

Avocados
Raw beans, dried beans
White potatoes

Likewise, any leaves and stems from plants belonging to the nightshade family can kill them. This includes eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and other nightshades.

Can Ducks Eat Chicken Feed?

Asking “Can ducks eat chicken feed?” won’t always get you a straight answer because although they can technically eat it, it’s not the best feed for your ducks.

While it would be convenient, it’s best not to feed ducks chicken feed. Try to buy food made specifically for waterfowl without a lot of added by-products. In addition, make sure you buy the right one to suit your ducks’ age.

Unless you’re rearing ducks for their meat, a chicken feed will have too much protein in it and not enough niacin for your ducks’ needs.

Unlike chickens, ducks also like to drink as they are eating. This means you should always keep a water trough or bucket nearby where they can take regular sips conveniently.

The water supply should also be deep enough so that your ducks can dunk their entire head into the water.

In summary, it’s best to provide ducks with food made for waterfowl and not chicken feed. Ducks and chickens have different nutritional requirements. However, you can amend the chicken feed to make it nutritionally appropriate for ducks if necessary.

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An overview of mixed feed and its composition

Since the duck belongs to a species of waterfowl, it needs a special diet. Modern types of feed meet all the needs of poultry and contain a complex of necessary vitamins and microelements. What kind of food should be used for domestic ducks, and how to properly organize the feeding of ducks in summer and winter?

Content

1 Types of duck feed
- 1.1 Processed agricultural raw materials
- 1.2 animal feed
- 1.3 Vitamin feed
- 1.4 Mineral additives
2 feeding in the summer
3 feeding in winter
4 videos “How to feed ducklings”

Types of feed for ducks

240002. ducks at home, like all their wild relatives, can be fed with almost any kind of food. Of course, many years ago it was acceptable to feed domestic ducks even with the leftovers from your table. In our time, you can choose such a balanced feed, guided by modern concepts and standards.

Domestic ducks, like wild ducks, need nutrients such as protein - it is part of every animal body and, if wild birds can get it with worms or larvae, then domestic birds cannot. Ducks also need carbohydrates to increase vitality, fats for normal growth and weight gain, vitamins for good immunity, mineral supplements for building bone tissue. All this is contained in compound feeds, which will be discussed below.

Processed agricultural raw materials

Such compound feed for various breeds of ducks is meal, bran and cake, which are considered to be production waste at processing plants. Cakes and meals obtained from oil plants - such as peanuts, cotton, soybeans, rapeseed, sunflower - are the result of pressing these crops. They contain a lot of healthy fats, potassium and phosphorus, which have a positive effect on the formation of a normal skeletal system in both wild and domestic ducks.

What is the consumption of this type of compound feed per duck? Experienced farmers advise giving home-raised poultry about 5 to 10% of its total weight.
Bran is a waste of flour milling, and is a fairly economical compound feed. They are a mixture of germs, flour and grain hulls. They contain a large amount of protein and nutritious fiber. The recommended dose of such feed for each duck is up to 20% of the weight of dry feed.

Bard is waste from the processing of potatoes or bread, which is the result of the production of alcohol. It is quite acceptable to give this type of food to ducklings that have already reached the age of one month. As for the recommended dose, experts agree that it should be about 10% of dry food.

Beet pulp, which remains after the production of sugar, is not just a feed waste, but also an excellent compound feed for poultry. Since there are a lot of carbohydrates in the composition of dry cake, it is better to feed the ducks with them. It is recommended to introduce it into the diet of ducklings, starting from the age of 20 days. In this case, the amount of such feed should be no more than 9% of the total dry food weight.
Baker's yeast, they are also brewer's yeast, allows the bird to replenish the supply of B vitamins in the body. Ducklings who are 10 days old from birth can be given dry or raw yeast. In this case, the consumption should be no more than 3% of the total weight of all dry food.

Food of animal origin

Wild birds enjoy eating animal products - insects, amphibians, invertebrates, small fish. Therefore, for ducks that are kept at home, such food is very necessary.

Fishmeal is somewhat similar in composition to small fish that wild birds can eat in the wild. It is not only very convenient both in use and in storage, but is also harmless to the health of birds (meaning its fat-free version). In fishmeal, experts note a high content of phosphorus, proteins, calcium, B vitamins. In the diet of poultry, the amount of this type of product should not exceed 7% of the total mass of feed. It is possible to make similar minced meat with your own hands, taking fresh fish for this purpose. The consumption of finished raw materials for each adult duck in this case should be about 30 grams.

Meat and bone meal is not so rich in useful substances, but also a very important product included in the feeding of ducks. It can be noted a fairly high protein content - more than 30%. Meat and bone meal can be offered in combination with other types of compound feed to ducklings that have already reached the age of 5 months.

The consumption of this product should be no more than 5% for the smallest, about 8% for medium-sized and no more than 10% for adults.
Dairy products are recommended to be included in the daily diet of not only ducklings, but also adults. Experienced farmers advise giving low-fat cottage cheese to ducklings from birth. Do not feed ducks with fresh milk - this can adversely affect the state of their digestive tract. Dairy products in recommended doses have a high biological value for poultry and can increase the growth of young animals.

Vitamin feed

Feeding ducks also requires the introduction of a variety of vitamin feed into their diet. These include clover greens, nettles, fodder cabbage, quinoa, tops of carrots, beets and other root crops, pea-oat mixture.

They are a real storehouse of vitamins, a source of protein, carotene and others, indispensable for the full growth and development of both wild and domestic ducks. Green duck food is best offered in its original form. To do this, the greens should be chopped, and then mixed with flour products.

Vitamin feeds should be fed to young individuals who have reached 3 days of age, pouring several times a day into specially equipped feeders. Such compound feed, made by one's own hands, should normally make up no more than 30% of the amount of all dry feed in the bird's diet. Experts consider herbal flour to be very useful. It is much better for ducks than vitamin hay. This kind of flour can be made with your own hands from crops such as clover, alfalfa, as well as other cereals and legumes.

Herbal flour contains a lot of carotene, protein, folic acid and other useful substances. You can offer it to ducklings from 3 days of age. It should be no more than 4% by weight of the entire dry mix. Grated vegetables - yellow pumpkin, carrots, cabbage - have proven themselves to be excellent as a vitamin compound feed. They contain a large amount of vitamins that are needed for the full development of both wild and domestic ducks.

Experienced farmers advise offering boiled crushed potatoes to birds, which is quite capable of replacing a third of the grain feed in the diet. Cabbage may be offered to domestic birds without any restrictions. Caring for domestic ducks involves adding salted carrots to wet mash, as well as carbohydrate-rich boiled beets.

Mineral Supplements

Domestic duck care is also impossible without feeding them with mineral supplements. After all, they play an important role in the formation of eggs with a hard shell surface.
Eggshells, chalk, shells - contain a large percentage of calcium, which is necessary for the body of both wild and domestic adults. It is in the shells that the content of about 40% of calcium is noted, which can affect the formation of the shell of the desired hardness. Shells with a diameter of not more than 2 mm should be mixed with special mixers.

As for the egg shell, it must be crushed and combined with the main compound feed.
Bone meal has in its unique composition not only calcium, but also potassium, phosphorus, sodium. The body of poultry can absorb it well and quickly, as the practice of many breeders shows. It is best to offer bone meal to the bird along with the main feed in the diet. Also, the daily nutrition of each duckling cannot be imagined without gravel or coarse sand.

A duckling should be given 10 grams of sand per week. Such components help both wild and domestic ducks to carry out normal grinding inside the stomach of cereals. Salt is needed by birds in a very small amount - up to 0.2%. If their daily diet contains enough normally salted foods, then it is quite possible to do without salt.

Feeding in the summer

Provided the birds are free to graze during the warm season, they are fed in the morning and in the evening. Being near a reservoir, the bird is able to consume both food of animal origin and all kinds of vegetation. The owner should be aware that grains such as oats, barley, millet, wheat, and corn are suitable for free-range ducks. Barley is recommended to pre-soak - at least 10 hours. If you use rye, then only last year's, so as not to disrupt the normal functioning of the intestines of birds.

When ducks are deprived of the opportunity to go out to pasture, caring for them requires a completely different feeding regime - up to 4 times a day. At the same time, grain should be offered twice, and green food two more times (mixers that include grass and fresh leaves, potatoes, beets, carrots, grain husks and other components are well suited). Even if you decide to grow at home not domestic, but wild ducks, then there are no special differences in their nutritional diet. The only thing to remember is boars, they are also varieties of wild birds, whose meat is valued for its dietary properties and unique taste, they are obliged to receive fresh chopped fish every other day.

Feeding in winter

In winter, poultry must be kept in a barn or barn. In winter, it is customary to feed ducks on walks, but this is only true for those regions that are characterized by a warm climate. In the northern regions with a harsh climate, it is customary to feed such birds in an insulated barn or barn where they live, and then let them go for a walk for a couple of hours.

In the autumn-winter period, it is best to feed poultry three times a day - early in the morning, at lunchtime, and also before it gets completely dark. In the morning and afternoon, the bird is advised to offer a special wet mash, and give a whole sprouted grain for dinner. It should be remembered that on days when the frost becomes especially strong, it is recommended to prepare the mash using warm water. Mixers are recommended to be fed freshly prepared, it is best if adults eat them within an hour. After each feeding, the feeders must be cleaned of food residues. As mentioned earlier, in winter, as well as in the warm season, it is important to observe the drinking regimen. Drinking bowls are equipped in such a way that birds cannot climb into them and spill water.

Video “How to feed ducklings”

How to make compound feed at home for ducks? For an example of a complete food recipe, see the entries below.

How to feed ducklings to gain weight: my experience

How to feed ducklings so that they grow well and gain weight quickly, 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.

What to feed week-old ducklings.

Ducklings at the age of one week 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 dirt. 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 a week old ducklings can already be pastured 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.