Feeding Pekins on a budget?

[Strix-Aliana]

Man I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I took in some pekin ducks! They can freaking EAT!! To be honest, they’re eating me out of house and home and that’s WITH a pond plus 5 acres to forage!! How on earth people afford to keep ducks in a run or cage is beyond me.

Maybe it’s partly because I refuse to feed them cheap feed. But still. Do any of you manage to feed your pekins on a small budget? Seems like I spend $70 a week for 5 pekins.

 

[indianaducks]

Mine eat way more than the rest of my ducks too. I don't know if they are regular or jumbo pekins, but mine are fairly useless in terms of foraging. It drives me bonkers. But they are cute. I just buy duck and layer food at tractor supply.

 

[fatty and friends]

jumbo pekin should have limited food so they don’t get overweight and have issues. i feed my boys their duck feed twice a day, morning and night, and then healthy snacks a few times in between (smaller breeds should have food available 24/7, so they are seperated from my other 3 ducks too)

 

[SolarDuck]

70 a week is a lot for food.. what food do you buy?

 

[picklestheduck]

I feed mine flockraiser from tractor supply. Or layena. I also through them all my fruit and veggie scraps. Just don't feed them citrus or anything like onions or peppers. Mine love peas and lettuce!! Cabbage is a big hit too!

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Man I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I took in some pekin ducks! They can freaking EAT!! To be honest, they’re eating me out of house and home and that’s WITH a pond plus 5 acres to forage!! How on earth people afford to keep ducks in a run or cage is beyond me.

Maybe it’s partly because I refuse to feed them cheap feed. But still. Do any of you manage to feed your pekins on a small budget? Seems like I spend $70 a week for 5 pekins.

Do you use crumbles or pellets? I notice when I use crumbles a lot of it ends up on the ground and obviously that means they go through it faster, so I only use pellets unless TSC is totally out. But $70 seems like a lot for one week, 5 pekins. The most I’ve had at one time is 7 or 8 ducks and they didn’t even eat a 50lb in one week. Similar to you ours forage all day and we feed them garden/kitchen veggies scraps.

 

[CoriM]

Seems like you might be able to find a good quality food for a lot less than $70 a week. I had three pekins up until last week - only two now - plus a handful of other ducks. The pekins do eat a lot more than the smaller breed ducks. I buy the Mazuri Waterfowl 50 pounds for $46 and it lasts me at least a month. I also add in scratch and peck a couple meals a week.

 

[indianaducks]

I have 7 pekins or jumbo pekins and 9 other ducks right now. I probably go through a 40 lb bag of duck food and a 40 bag of layer food every couple of weeks. I don't really count... I just buy more when I get low. But each bag is like $16-18. So no way am I spending $70/week. My feed bill did go up tho with the addition of the pekins.

 

[Quatie]

With mazuri feed I could see someone spending that much money. It is like almost $50 for 40lbs. I love my ducks, but not that much. I spend $20 on feed at my local feed store, but I have 23 ducks. I do find other breeds encourage Pekin to forage more and pig out less. But I remember when I mostly had Pekin and they ate a week's worth of food in a couple days. I stopped giving them 24/7 feed.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Man I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I took in some pekin ducks! They can freaking EAT!! To be honest, they’re eating me out of house and home and that’s WITH a pond plus 5 acres to forage!! How on earth people afford to keep ducks in a run or cage is beyond me.

Maybe it’s partly because I refuse to feed them cheap feed. But still. Do any of you manage to feed your pekins on a small budget? Seems like I spend $70 a week for 5 pekins.

Pekins are a breed of duck that shouldn't be free fed as they are originally a meat bird and can get very overweight. Get a measuring cup and start measuring out their food. You can also include veggies and some fruits as healthy snacks (occasionally) to keep their hunger at bay.

Hope this helps and update us on how it goes!