# Duck feed question



## CFarmerLady (Dec 1, 2011)

My Mom tried to raise ducks last summer, but she said they ate too much feed and that she'd never raise them again. She was feeding a mix of chicken feed and cat food. They were five white Peking drakes, and she went through fifty pounds of each feed in about three weeks. Is this normal, or was something weird going on? They seemed happy and healthy, and when the "experiment" was over they were very tasty! :grin: Just curious.


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## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

I say it is normal. I have 2 runners & 9 silver appleyards. They eat at least 100lbs feed a wk. if not closer to 150lbs. Tomorrow 6 of the silver appleyards go into the freezer. Will be some of the most expensive meat we have ever had!!! The we're potential show quality Holderead stock, so cost $10 each after shipping & I have been feeding them since June. Turkeys are almost as bad IMO.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Wow, that is a lot of feed per week. I have 11 ducks, some runners & some welsh harlequins & mine don't eat near that amount of feed but I do let them free range a few times a week which cuts down on the amount of commercial feed plus I give them food scraps which they Love too.

We had turkeys for awhile too, heritage breed & the Big breasted varieties. The Big Breasted varieties ate A LOT but they also waste a lot too, kick it out on the ground, etc.
We just got peacocks & they are using their beak & pushing the food out onto the ground.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

CFarmerLady said:


> My Mom tried to raise ducks last summer, but she said they ate too much feed and that she'd never raise them again. She was feeding a mix of chicken feed and cat food. They were five white Peking drakes, and she went through fifty pounds of each feed in about three weeks. Is this normal, or was something weird going on? They seemed happy and healthy, and when the "experiment" was over they were very tasty! :grin: Just curious.


That sounds like a lot of food but I've never had any Pekins. They are a meat breed & need the protein to grow nice & big for the freezer. Glad they tasted Yummy, we've tried some of our extra drakes I've hatched out in the past & we didn't care for the meat but it could be the cook(me) too!


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## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

My peafowl hardly ever eat their feed. I bet my pair of peafowl could make 50lbs of feed last several months. 
I am certain it isn't the runners causing all that feed to disappear. It's those pretty silver appleyards. I had seen other reviews saying they were awful on feed conversion, but I wanted a few for myself. Turns out that out of 9-- I have 7 drakes!!! Pekin feed conversion is suppose to be much better since they can be butchered at 7wks (if memory serves me correct). 
If you are ever in whole foods or a similar place that has while ducks for sale, it does help you understand why duck is much more expensive than chicken.


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## CFarmerLady (Dec 1, 2011)

Thanks for the answers!


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

jcatblum - you should have butchered them much younger - 12 weeks is fine. The extra time doesn't make them really much larger and you reach the point of diminishing returns (you feed a lot, they are done growing). 

Also, it does seem like a lot of food. I've fed 25 ducks (of various sizes and ages) in the winter for 250 lbs a month. That is in the winter with no free ranging and the most I've ever fed in a month, even with growing babies as well as the adults! I would skip the cat food - you might use a little for "finish" in a show bird, but not for half their diet. You can use a quality chicken grower food with the addition of niacin (ducks need more niacin than chickens) to avoid leg and neurological problems. If they waste a lot, be sure to get them on pellets as soon as they are 3-4 weeks old, they don't waste so much pellets. I'd almost think something was getting into her feed and helping the ducks eat it. 

My 18 ducks ate 150 lbs of Layeena last month for instance. They do get out in a large yard for greens and bugs several hours a day, but 50 lbs of chicken food and 50 lbs of cat food for 5 ducks in a month seems way high to me.


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## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

Mine don't free range. They were bought for show purposes & have a large fenced area that actually still has some vegetation in it. I waited on butchering to pick out the best ones after they fully colored in. I leave food available all the time that is how we go through 100 lbs a wk. My chickens only get feed at night when we lock them up. They free range all day. I know these ducks could have been easier on my wallet but there primary purpose wasn't for meat. DH was already talking about the next batch! If he wants to raise ducks just for meat I will order some pekin & butcher them nice & early!!! 
These ducks have out eaten any other poultry I have ever raised. They were hungry monsters-- haven't weighed them out yet, but I agreed they stopped putting on weight about a month ago. However it was only in the past 2 wks that the boys finished coloring in.


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## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

I'm not the big duck expert, but it does seem to me that ducks will eat and eat and eat, given the opportunity, especially in the fall. I think they're trying to put on fat for that long flight south or something. When I had Muscovies, they ate an enormous amount of food if it was given free choice, and when I butchered them, they carried an enormous amount of fat. 

I now have fourteen chickens and six Welsh Harlequin ducks, one of which is a drake. The five duck hens each lay an egg every single day, and I get around five or six eggs a day from the chickens (two roos, seven older girls, five pullets), but I think they're hiding some, too. 

Anyway, I'm going through about six pounds of feed a day, plus free range most days. That seems about right if you do the math: 6 oz. per laying duck hen, 4 oz. per laying chicken hen (same as hens in moult), about 2 oz. per rooster or drake. They have some feed left over most days, probably because of the free ranging, so I'll probably cut it back to five pounds pretty quick. I want them to run out of feed in the afternoon every day. That way, the layers will get enough to lay, but not enough to get too fat and stop laying. That's the theory anyway. Oops! I just added 25 pounds of growing turkeys (at 3% of bodyweight per day), so that's another 12 oz. per day. Better keep it at six pounds.


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## BobbyB (Apr 6, 2009)

Laura Jensen said:


> I'm not the big duck expert, but it does seem to me that ducks will eat and eat and eat, given the opportunity, especially in the fall. I think they're trying to put on fat for that long flight south or something. When I had Muscovies, they ate an enormous amount of food if it was given free choice, and when I butchered them, they carried an enormous amount of fat.
> 
> I now have fourteen chickens and six Welsh Harlequin ducks, one of which is a drake. The five duck hens each lay an egg every single day, and I get around five or six eggs a day from the chickens (two roos, seven older girls, five pullets), but I think they're hiding some, too.
> 
> Anyway, I'm going through about six pounds of feed a day, plus free range most days. That seems about right if you do the math: 6 oz. per laying duck hen, 4 oz. per laying chicken hen (same as hens in moult), about 2 oz. per rooster or drake. They have some feed left over most days, probably because of the free ranging, so I'll probably cut it back to five pounds pretty quick. I want them to run out of feed in the afternoon every day. That way, the layers will get enough to lay, but not enough to get too fat and stop laying. That's the theory anyway. Oops! I just added 25 pounds of growing turkeys (at 3% of bodyweight per day), so that's another 12 oz. per day. Better keep it at six pounds.



Everything ( poultry wise that is ) is free range all the time. My chickens and guineas roost in trees, the turkeys where ever they choose( except car tops ) and the ducks never sleep, just roam and nap around the clock.

Once they are old enough I open the coop and let them out, they get what they can find plus a variety of grains I am given at work. That is usually oats, wheat, corn, corn chops, milo and peas. 

Some come to eat when I throw it out, most dont. The ducks dont come around as much as they did.

I am planting 1 acre each in 2 different green plots for the Winter, such as it is here. They all will be able to roam and graze the green stuff and maybe find a bug here and there as well. 

Our biggest expense will be buying ducklings and a couple bags of feed to get them up and going. 

And as far as duck fat, thats what makes them so good. The customer and his wife even talked about it.

Years ago I butchered a Pekin and my Mom made duck and dressing. I had never eaten a tame duck before and that was the best and greasiest dressing I ever had and the duck was fabulous.

If I had to complain any at all about this deal is, they want the birds plucked down to the beak, head left intact and the hogs scalded and scraped.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

I feed ducks mostly whole grains.
Processed feed seems not to fill them up.
I mix wheat, oats, corn, and any cheap grain with their feed.
Fills them up, keeps them fat, and they are satisfied.


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## BobbyB (Apr 6, 2009)

pancho said:


> I feed ducks mostly whole grains.
> Processed feed seems not to fill them up.
> I mix wheat, oats, corn, and any cheap grain with their feed.
> Fills them up, keeps them fat, and they are satisfied.


What he said. My ducks would eat whole corn before they ate anything else. I fed 16 I think 3 bags of 20% flock grower and then turned them out. They have never looked back.


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

JUST WANT TO ADD..THEY'LL EAT AS MUCH AS YOU GIVE THEM. I had 12 pekin ducks, 2 were drakes. They got a quart of layer pellets, and a handful of corn at night when I put them in. Now, I have 5 pekins, and they get the same amount...and they want another quart in the morning! Free ranging also helps cut down on feed consumption.
If you want to fatten them up, I'd say add corn (although I never eat my birds). I think your mom was over generous in feed  Also...IMO, I have a bad feeling, feed is not containing the quality it claims, since the economy has dropped. I say this because of the amount of feed all my birds seem to need, compared to a few years back.


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## BobbyB (Apr 6, 2009)

Dazlin said:


> JUST WANT TO ADD..THEY'LL EAT AS MUCH AS YOU GIVE THEM. I had 12 pekin ducks, 2 were drakes. They got a quart of layer pellets, and a handful of corn at night when I put them in. Now, I have 5 pekins, and they get the same amount...and they want another quart in the morning! Free ranging also helps cut down on feed consumption.
> If you want to fatten them up, I'd say add corn (although I never eat my birds). I think your mom was over generous in feed  A*lso...IMO, I have a bad feeling, feed is not containing the quality it claims,* since the economy has dropped. I say this because of the amount of feed all my birds seem to need, compared to a few years back.


I realize this is not the topic of the OP, but, I work for a big feed and grain company. They make their own feeds and also buy feed from Purina and Cargill.

I cant speak for any other state, but here in TX, a guy from the state is subject to show up at random and take samples from anywhere and anyplace he chooses. It may be corn in a bin and the cut open several varieties of sacked feed. 

It is then tested and if it is not what claimed, there will be problems. I read this a lot but I know if the labeled proteins, fats and minerals are not present in the stated percentages, its an issue for the state and the feed company. 

Dont know what else to say about it, but I dont think its the feed.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

Those ducks can really shovel up the corn .I'm glad to have a good creek and free range to help out the feed bill on these yard ordaments or pets .


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

Ducks DO eat a lot. 
I switched to a generic but complete dog kibble for my poultry feed. It was a little bit more expensive per weight, but everyone is very healthy and the kibbles don't get wasted like the crumble did. Unless it gets wet it ALL gets eaten by the geese, ducks and turkeys. 

Makes good eggs and meat birds taste fabulous on it too.


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## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

Was given some WAY fat muscovies this wk. the guy had over 60 ducks running around. I asked how much feed are you going through??? He said he hadn't mowed the grass in 10 yrs & showed me a bag of corn. Pulled out a 64oz cup & said they get 2 of these a day. 1 in the AM & 1 in PM. Not a single bird looked hungry. His birds were trained to forage & were very happy with finding their own food.


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

jcatblum said:


> Was given some WAY fat muscovies this wk. the guy had over 60 ducks running around. I asked how much feed are you going through??? He said he hadn't mowed the grass in 10 yrs & showed me a bag of corn. Pulled out a 64oz cup & said they get 2 of these a day. 1 in the AM & 1 in PM. Not a single bird looked hungry. His birds were trained to forage & were very happy with finding their own food.


I am envious of that kind of situation.


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## DYngbld (Jun 16, 2009)

We put about five pounds of feed out in the morning. All the birds free range and have free choice of the feed we put out. Normally there is about a half pound left at night when we lock the birds up. That is for 30 some chickens and four peekin ducks.

The chicks get about a pound of feed a day, they too are "free ranged" just in a more controlled area untill they are big enough to be with the big birds.


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## airotciv (Mar 6, 2005)

I have 28 ducks and 6 chickens and they all free range, but I still go though about 100 pounds of food a month. Yes they are good for bug control/eggs, but are they worth the feed bill, not really.


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## mduncn52 (Sep 8, 2007)

8 Ducks here. I pekin Drake, 5 black swedish (1 drake, 4 ducks) and 2 muscovy ducks. I feed two coolwhip containers each morning and 1 in the afternoon and they free range in my city yard all day, every day. also put out a container of scratch when i remember( especially in winter, for body heat). I have a bunch of healthy 8-9 pound ducks. Only put out what they will eat in 15 mins. The rest is just duckpiggin!


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

Oh My goodness...all this talk of fat ducks....who cares how fatty they are as the fat renders down very easily to one of the best tasting fats that one can imagine....
roasted potatoes cooked in duck fat is an absolute favorite around here.
I recently saw a Woot deal for 2 -8 oz containers...2 truffled butters and 1 7 oz container duck fat for a bargain price of.....$34.99 + shipping

Truffle Butter and Duck Fat (3)


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