Ducks are undeniably one of the cutest animals you can have. Especially at your home when they start running after you with those small feet. Aside from that, you can raise ducks for eggs and meat as well. So, if you are planning to get some ducks to nurture, you should go for it.
Now, planning to have ducks will raise a question: how much to feed a duck per day. Here, I will tell you all about feeding ducks and how you can approach it. Stick around the article to get all the information you need.
What to feed your duck?
When it comes to feeding your duck, you always have to consider what you are feeding them. Whether you are raising them for meat or eggs, it doesn’t matter—a balanced diet with all the required nutrients for their healthy growth whatsoever. Here we have compiled a list of the best duck feeds.
You should always keep in mind that around 16 percent should be a protein-based diet for the nutrients. Especially if you are looking to get some eggs from your duck, then that’s the compulsory requirement. An unbalanced diet will surely lead to the duck having issues with its health and egg production.
• Proper diet for ducks
So, what’s the perfect food for ducks? If you want to have a perfectly balanced diet for your ducks, opt for specialized duck pellets. And you can add some crushed grains to that as well. These two have all the required nutrients your duck needs for its growth. You can rely on this food to fulfill their dietary needs.
Now, if you are raising duck in a free-ranging space where they can find food themselves, then it’s great. For that, you have to be careful of their weight all the time. You have to make sure they are finding food properly. In such cases, ducks may eat slugs, tadpoles, snails, worms, small fish, crustaceans, and so on. These are the proper food they get from nature.
Another crucial thing ducks need is grit. Grit can be very helpful for digesting all the food ducks eat. If they are free-ranging, then they can find grit from oyster shells and such items. Or you can provide them commercially produced grit.
• Additional foods you can go for
Aside from those, you can try out different corns and greens. For example, lettuce, chickweed, different types of grasses, broccoli, grapes, zucchini can be a good way to go. Now, make sure these are secondary food items for your ducks. You can consider them as treats. You can keep only ten percent of your daily diet based on these types of food.
How much to feed a duck per day?
Knowing what to feed your duck will never be enough. You have to learn the amount you should feed your duck. Generally, ducks will need about 170 to 200 grams of food every day. Now that depends on a lot of factors. Their age, species, the purpose you are raising them comes into play here.
If you are free-ranging, you won’t have to worry about the quantity of their food. But if you are feeding them yourself, then you will need to find the perfect amount. You will need to go through some adjustments to find the perfect number.
• Perfect amount to feed your duck
How much to feed a duck per day? It’s better to try out with a higher amount of food to feed your duck. Especially if you are raising them for eggs or meat, you will need to put some extra protein food in there. So, in this case, you can start with 200 grams of feed or pellets for each of your ducks.
Now, this is the amount you should be feeding them for the whole day. And in the afternoon, you can give them some treat food like I mentioned above. However, if you find any leftovers from the food, you can reduce the leftover amount of food from the next day’s diet. Then, you can slowly increase the amount of food you give by 2 or 3 ounces once a week.
You have to try out these things to figure out how much your duck can consume in a day.
• Considerations to make
Once again, the important thing to keep in mind is the diet of your duck. When you raise them for a special purpose, they will need some extra care. If you are raising them for meat and eggs, you will need to add some extra protein to their diet. You can use commercial duck layer feed.
Like I said earlier, commercial pellets and grains come with the best nutrient value for your ducks. Along with that keeping, some treats and grits is always a better option for the overall growth of your ducks.
Things to avoid
There are some things you have to avoid feeding your duck. These can be very harmful to them and even cause their death. Although it doesn’t happen instantly or immediately, it may happen eventually.
• Commercial food with coccidiostats
When you are buying a bird, feeds avoid the ones with coccidiostats in them. They can be very harmful to your ducks. Also, keep away from feeding your ducks medicated feed that is supposed to be produced for other birds.
• Treats and additional stuff
Apart from that, restrain from feeding them onions, avocado, potatoes, peanuts, caffeine, spinach, and so forth. These can have an allergic reaction on your duck and may lead them to become ill.
Ducks also suffer from food poisoning. Whenever they get sick, you have to keep the sick duck away from all the other ducks. Because dropping of a duck can affect the other ducks, and they can get sick.
Final words
To sum things up, how much to feed a duck per day depends on the duck’s nature, activities and purpose. The main thing to keep in mind is to maintain a properly balanced diet. Free-ranging is obviously a better way to raise ducks. But if you don’t have space, then it’s best to go for commercially produced feed and pellets. I hope this helps you find the perfect amount and diet for the healthy growth of your duck.
