This isn’t too serious but my ducks are weird and give me headaches 
. I have a flock of girl ducks and normally they are friendly and tame and love their food, but now and then they act shy and don’t eat much. This is one of those shy and don’t eat much phases.
Their normal routine is they get a small breakfast that they can eat right away. I don’t want any feed sitting out during the day because I don’t want to attract wild birds (bird flu precaution). I rinse and refill their water tubs. They are always happy to see me and run up to eat. Some of them will eat out of my hand, the rest aren’t very personable but they will walk around my feet and aren’t scared. Then in the evening I fill all their dishes so they will have food throughout the night. I haven’t been weighing their feed - just using my bucket to give them a consistent amount and monitoring to make sure they seem like they are well fed. They have 24/7 access to fresh grass and plenty of space in their pasture.
Well the last couple days they are not very friendly and don’t act happy to see me. And they have food left in their dishes so they aren’t finishing what I feed them. I usually sit with them for awhile to make sure they are all healthy but they just act upset and don’t come near me. When I give them more space they act normal- swimming, dabbling, etc, but only snack lightly on their food. Maybe they are just overfed I don’t know.
The only thing that has changed diet wise is the feed store has not had the dumor lay crumbles I normally use so I’ve been giving them Nutrena lay pellet 22% protein. So maybe they don’t like it or maybe the higher protein is actually filling them up faster.
The only other difference is my young duck, Fancy, is normally the leader and most friendly and she has an eye problem right now and isn’t quite herself. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Yesterday she was holding one eye closed and I examined it and put in eye drops but it looks totally normal. Maybe she scratched it. I have terramycin which I will use if it doesn’t clear up. So maybe the rest of the flock is just following her lead. .
These ducks make me worry!
. I have a flock of girl ducks and normally they are friendly and tame and love their food, but now and then they act shy and don’t eat much. This is one of those shy and don’t eat much phases.Their normal routine is they get a small breakfast that they can eat right away. I don’t want any feed sitting out during the day because I don’t want to attract wild birds (bird flu precaution). I rinse and refill their water tubs. They are always happy to see me and run up to eat. Some of them will eat out of my hand, the rest aren’t very personable but they will walk around my feet and aren’t scared. Then in the evening I fill all their dishes so they will have food throughout the night. I haven’t been weighing their feed - just using my bucket to give them a consistent amount and monitoring to make sure they seem like they are well fed. They have 24/7 access to fresh grass and plenty of space in their pasture.
Well the last couple days they are not very friendly and don’t act happy to see me. And they have food left in their dishes so they aren’t finishing what I feed them. I usually sit with them for awhile to make sure they are all healthy but they just act upset and don’t come near me. When I give them more space they act normal- swimming, dabbling, etc, but only snack lightly on their food. Maybe they are just overfed I don’t know.
The only thing that has changed diet wise is the feed store has not had the dumor lay crumbles I normally use so I’ve been giving them Nutrena lay pellet 22% protein. So maybe they don’t like it or maybe the higher protein is actually filling them up faster.
The only other difference is my young duck, Fancy, is normally the leader and most friendly and she has an eye problem right now and isn’t quite herself. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Yesterday she was holding one eye closed and I examined it and put in eye drops but it looks totally normal. Maybe she scratched it. I have terramycin which I will use if it doesn’t clear up. So maybe the rest of the flock is just following her lead. .
These ducks make me worry!
