Basic nutrition for Pekin ducks?

[Launchpad]

So my two Pekin ducks (pictured), Niles and Daphne, are about 11 weeks old. I have no reason to think they are unhealthy in any way but now that I've successfully kept them alive and happy and grown up I want to make sure I've got them eating properly.
Currently they get two handfuls of duck feed in the morning and two handfuls in the evening. Brewers yeast is added every time luckily they love it. During the day they are of course rooting around the yard eating bugs and whatever they dig up. I turn the sprinkler on and off throughout the day to give them fresh water to drink and of course create puddles for them. They swim in the pond on and off but right now it's so hot (central Texas) that they spend a lot of time in the shade under the porch and in the shade in nearby trees where their sprinkler is. They get ice water a few times a day (they loooove ice) and for other treats they are randomly given frozen peas in the ice water or some other fruits, usually some kind of melon. When they are put up at night they are always given another little bunch of peas and share a banana.
I just want to make sure they are not underfed/overfed etc or if I should add things to their diet.
I also occasionally refill their cup of duck grit and oyster shell when it's getting low.
Any and all thoughts/recommendations/ stories are welcome and appreciated

 

[fatty and friends]

what brand of duck feed do you give them?

i would recommend limiting fruit to once a week at most. mine get vegetables everyday but fruit is sugary and not very healthy for them. also, as long as they are not jumbo pekin, food should be available 24/7

 

[Launchpad]

Regular Pekin, not jumbo.
They are currently on Purina (pictured)
I will begin providing it 24/7 though it takes them a few hours to finish it whenever it's given they always prefer hunting bugs and digging in puddles so I'm not overly worried they are hungry but from now on it will be avaliable at all times.
I will begin cutting down fruit to a once a week treat and get them eating vegetables as treats

 

[ruthhope]

I use the same purina feed for my ducks -- currently 3 pekins and 2 muscovy drakes. My son uses organic layer feed that is meant for chickens and adds brewer's yeast to each cupful of pellets put in the ducks' bowl.

Two of my pekins [ now in their second year] eat a cupful of duck feed each every day -- they are fed in their own feeder while in the coop overnight. They have access to a communal feedbowl during the day and do occasionally eat there; they also eat my garden weeds and veggies and any bugs they can find. My third pekin drake is a juvenile and only eats half a cupful of feed -- I wish he would eat more. But he is out foraging during the day and maybe he is better at it than the older drakes. I have never seen him eat from the communal bowl [he is bottom of the pecking order but I have not seen him warned off from the communal bowl.]

My son has pekin females in their second year and they consistently eat a cup each of layer pellets every morning and a cup each at night. They feed from a communal bowl in the coop, and the two are there eating frequently during the day whereas his juvenile pekin drake doesn't seem to be there eating as much and the female muscovy definitely doesn't eat as much as the pekins. All the females are laying and so they have oyster shell in a separate bowl.

Your ducks may not need brewer's yeast once they are fully grown -- from 16 weeks -- particularly if either is a drake. My son's females continue to get brewer's yeast as one of them gets confused if he stops it. Seriously confused: she can't find her way out of the coop and drives the others crazy calling out for them.

Yours also nolonger need grit now they are out foraging.

All our ducks get treats: meal worms -- which they love -- and peas which they used to pig out on but now they are out foraging, are not eaten so greedily. They occasionally get cherry tomatoes -- 2 do not like tomatoesm -- and occasionally the tubors from the boston ferns growing in my back garden. I stopped putting out plates of chopped kale as they prefer my veggies!!!

I agree that you should not overdo the treats particularly fruit as the purina is balanced and you do not want to dampen their appetite for the duck food.

 

[Launchpad]

Sounds good.
If they like the brewers yeast is there any reason to stop since it's not expensive? Can't imagine it hurts
I refill the rocks just because the majority if the property, especially where they roam, is lacking rocks larger than the tiny ones the size of chicks grit all they have access. But if I should remove it I will
Also I've found varying information on the oyster shells. Which ducks need it and when.... should i only provide to laying females or can both of them eat some whenever they want since it's just calcium?
Yep they love basically any vegetables you give them I just like to rotate the foods like that so they get benefits of different ones and never get sick of a single kind

 

[ruthhope]

Sounds good.
If they like the brewers yeast is there any reason to stop since it's not expensive? Can't imagine it hurts
I refill the rocks just because the majority if the property, especially where they roam, is lacking rocks larger than the tiny ones the size of chicks grit all they have access. But if I should remove it I will
Also I've found varying information on the oyster shells. Which ducks need it and when.... should i only provide to laying females or can both of them eat some whenever they want since it's just calcium?
Yep they love basically any vegetables you give them I just like to rotate the foods like that so they get benefits of different ones and never get sick of a single kind

No harm in preempting any future problems by continuing brewer's yeast -- my son's ducks like it, too.

You can also continue to provide grit if you wish. My ducks eat dirt and that is all they seem to need. No grit that I know of. Maybe some snail shells!!