Duck Food Quantity?

[DuckLane]

Hi everyone,

We apologize in advance for this somewhat complicated and drawn out question about feeding ducks ... here are some photos for fun. Today was their first day trying out their duckmobile. They absolutely loved it, especially because they long ago cleared out every last bit of vegetation from their run, and they are full-time foragers.

So, about feeding ducks, our big question is QUANTITY. By way of background, our main sources of information have been Lisa Steele's book, Dave Holderead's book, and Tyrant Farms website. Both Lisa Steele & Holderead talk about limiting the quantity of feed for ducks, in order that they do not get too heavy and have leg problems because of it. Lisa Steele recommends 1-2 cups of feed per duck per day. Holderead has a chart for ounces of feed per duck per day based on their weight. Since our ducks declined to be weighed, we used their breed, fully grown Khaki Campbells, to approximate an amount of feed. But elsewhere in his book, he talks about giving enough feed during laying periods that the ducks can eat in a certain amount of time. He says "free choice, or the amount the birds will clean up in 10-15 minutes, should be fed 2-3 times daily". Our ducks eat the feed so fast that the amount they could put away in 10-15 minutes, 2-3 times per day would be vastly more than what the chart indicates by weight.

We have seen in these forums that there are a lot of folks who simply free feed ... leave feed out for the ducks all day, letting them eat what they want, but the other twist on the question is that we have started fermenting their feed, which they enjoy, so perhaps it is a little different from leaving out a big bowl of dry crumble or pellets, and we don't know if its a good idea to leave a big pile of wet fermenting food out all day. Or it might be ok?

We have been giving our ducks organic feed, and recently started fermenting it.

What is your understanding about the quantity of food that ducks should get? Thank you so much in advance!

 

[ruthhope]

My son has a flock of 5 pekins including 1 drake. I have drakes, currently 3 muscovy and 1 pekin. We both feed pellets. He uses organic layer pellets and adds brewers yeast. I use regular duck pellets

We feed them morning and evening offering 1 cup per duck into the bowl in the morning. Later in the day, they get up to another cup per duck, but that is reduced if there is significant amount of pellets left in the bowl from the morning. When the pekins are laying, they are always hungry and gobble down 1 cup each twice a day. The pekins have been in a restricted run that no longer has vegetation since a dog got over the fence into the back yard when they were outside their coop foraging. So they only get to eat the pellets and dried mealworms.

My drakes free range around my back garden during the day. I am no longer feeding them in the coop at night as we are dealing with a rat infestation. I offer a second cupful of pellets for each drake late in the afternoon. Sometimes it is all eaten by their bedtime. Other times it is not. Presumably when they have eaten a lot foraging. Pellets left over at their bed time are removed and stored in the aluminum bin with the rest of the duck feed.

My son's pekins range from 6lb to 8lb. My muscovy are 12lbs and 14lbs.

I recommend offering all ducks a cup of feed twice a day. Ours get some dried mealworms on top of their pellets and frozen peas in a bowl of water during the day or chopped water melon, in addition to the pellets

 

[DuckLane]

Thank you so much, Ruth! This helps a lot, and gives us direction!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I find a lot of the information on ducks to be somewhat outdated. Some breeds like Pekins are prone to putting on weight too fast while others tend to be on the leaner side. My cousin is a retired vet and the person who gave me guidance on hatching ducks (which I do every year) both said they rarely see an overweight duck with the only overweight ducks they saw being Pekins. The overweight ducks were not just being fed duck feed, but other foods like corn, lots of extra fruits and mealworms. They also both said many ducks are actually on the underweight side. I feed 20% protein all flock free choice, oyster shell free choice, they forage during the day and I have never had an overweight duck…ever… I also have never had any serious health issues besides the occasional bumble. However, to answer you fermented question I would only put out what they can eat within a 1 hour period so you are not wasting feed or having it go bad.

 

[ruthhope]

I find a lot of the information on ducks to be somewhat outdated. Some breeds like Pekins are prone to putting on weight too fast while others tend to be on the leaner side. My cousin is a retired vet and the person who gave me guidance on hatching ducks (which I do every year) both said they rarely see an overweight duck with the only overweight ducks they saw being Pekins. The overweight ducks were not just being fed duck feed, but other foods like corn, lots of extra fruits and mealworms. They also both said many ducks are actually on the underweight side. I feed 20% protein all flock free choice, oyster shell free choice, they forage during the day and I have never had an overweight duck…ever… I also have never had any serious health issues besides the occasional bumble. However, to answer you fermented question I would only put out what they can eat within a 1 hour period so you are not wasting feed or having it go bad.

I don't think my son and I have ever had an overweight duck. His flock and the various pekins I have had (in the last three years I have had 6 pekins to rehab and rehome) have all been active and rather thin little ducks. The muscovy drakes are great lumbering lumps of duckiness, but none has foot or leg joint problems.

I believe (maybe naively) that creatures including ducks and human babies, know when they have had enough to eat and auto regulate their intake.

However, maybe ducks being raised on high protein diets for meat are on such an unnatural diet that they cannot auto regulate.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I don't think my son and I have ever had an overweight duck. His flock and the various pekins I have had (in the last three years I have had 6 pekins to rehab and rehome) have all been active and rather thin little ducks. The muscovy drakes are great lumbering lumps of duckiness, but none has foot or leg joint problems.

I believe (maybe naively) that creatures including ducks and human babies, know when they have had enough to eat and auto regulate their intake.

However, maybe ducks being raised on high protein diets for meat are on such an unnatural diet that they cannot auto regulate.

Agreed. I think the problem is when people start keeping their ducks confined so they can’t move about and feeding them otherwise unnatural food sources in excess. For example, corn is popular to buy in bulk to feed to poultry because it’s cheap, but it also will fatten things right up which is why it is used by the meat industry to add marbling. Things like mealworms I don’t have a problem with except for when I’m hearing about people putting out a whole cup per bird or filling a bowl for them. I have read all of the older duck books and articles saying that you have to limit ducks food intake or they will become overweight and yet after talking to vets, owning ducks for years along with reading actual research I am not convinced that old “information” on ducks becoming overweight is anything more than someone’s personal views. With free choice feed, daily exercise and a balance of treats I have yet to be convinced that a duck will become overweight on their own.

 

[DuckLane]

Thank you so much Hollow & Ruth, this exchange really helps put things in perspective. We really appreciate it, and our ducks do too!

 

[ruthhope]

One caviat to ".....creatures including ducks and human babies, know when they have had enough to eat and auto regulate their intake." Anyone with a beagle will know that beagles are the exception to that autoregulate rule! My own beagle would eat until she pops if allowed.