Conventional feed stinks....literally!

I've often heard people say that duck poop stinks. I always thought this was weird, because in 9 years of duck keeping, I've only dealt with stinky poop when (A) they're broody, or (B) I didn't turn their bedding for a long time, or (C) I didn't add more bedding to balance out the nitrogen. The poop they deposited on the grass or patio never stank.

I figured that maybe people were just not taking good care of their ducks. All these years, though, I've fed them Scratch and Pecks' organic corn & soy free feed. Just a few days ago, though, our local farm co-op was entirely out of our feed, so my husband bought a bag of Payback all-purpose feed. My son noticed that our chickens weren't eating it, and I noticed that they ducks ate all of theirs, but were left hungry afterward. But, the weirdest thing was that their poop STANK.

I rotate my ducks to a new area every day, and the last two days their area as been stinky--almost as stinky as broody duck poop. I checked the ingredients in the Payback poultry pellets, and the very first two are corn and soy.

I'm left wondering if maybe the reason many people think duck poop stinks is that they are feeding them a feed that they have a harder time digesting.

(Added note: Years back, I used to ferment my ducks' feed. During that time, I noticed that my ducks' poop was a lot less runny, and my ducks needed less feed. The type of feed really does seem to impact their stools, and I'm sure I should probably go back to fermenting my ducks' feed.)

Even with humans, you not only "are what you eat", your poop is what you eat, and the smell definitely changes!

So to me, it makes sense that ducks will be the same. I've always been told that corn is bad for chickens, so I also find it interesting that they turned their noses up at it. However, any sudden change in diet can create troubles, even if you're changing to something better.

That's a good point about changes in feed creating issues, even if it's to a better feed. I don't have a "control" flock of ducks to see how the poop smell changes when one switches from conventional to organic. I know their stools got better when I switched to fermented feed, and less good when I switched back to unfermented, but I don't really have much data beyond that. I'd love to see if other's have noticed changes in the appearance, texture, smell, etc of their poultry's stools when they switched feeds!

Nicole, would you be willing to share your feed fermenting method, please?

Carla Burke wrote:Nicole, would you be willing to share your feed fermenting method, please?

It's been a while (I stopped fermenting the feed when I was pregnant. It has a slight smell, and my pregnant self couldn't stand it. I really should start up again). But, I'm pretty sure I just followed Scratch and Peck's fermenting guide

Awesome, thank you!

While I'm waiting for my computer to pull up Nicole's referenced guide, I thought I'd drop my opinion.

Processed feed stinks. It contains random stuff, processed in bulk, and who knows what happens in the "animal feed" industry as regards safety and cleanliness. I don't trust anyone, these days.

That said, I use a processed bagged feed that is not of the best quality, but is kind of affordable, and the birds prefer it when it's been soaked for a day. I tried to do a fermented feed protocol and the birds didn't like it. They preferred ANYTHING else to that fermented feed. So, I listened.  I dumped out the "not quite fermented" buckets I had and ... the flock dived for the feed that had been soaked for one to two days. Overwhelmingly.

Maybe it's the temperature (Southern US gets very hot during the warm months and things go from Okay to DONE in no time), and they would prefer something with a bit more preparation in the winter, but in the winter I don't feel like experimenting with water and food stuff. I want to do the things and get back inside!

So the birds are stuck with feed that gets portioned out into a 5 gallon bucket with lid, water is added until the feed is covered by a decent amount, and the lid is loosely attached. It then gets put to the side to sit. I alternate two buckets, but have more if I need them - 5 gallon buckets are like duct tape, aluminum wire, zip ties, and string - I keep extra around because there is always a use for them.

I did some math to figure out how much of what I typically use and - each bucket uses about 2 gallons of water (16 pounds) to roughly 7.5 pounds of feed (based on the consumption of a 50lb bag of feed). I'm only guessing about the water, but it's no more than 3 gallons, so ... It's enough the feed absorbs the water and isn't soupy. I prefer a porridge-like consistency, as do the birds, but they seem to enjoy it no matter how thick it is.

If I didn't get so much of an enthusiastic response from the flock, I wouldn't keep doing it. I do tease them about their love for weak beer during the summer - the buckets smell like weak wort from the grains fermenting, which, technically, is accurate. There's also a mold that grows on top that smells like old socks or something and that's a bit bad, but there's lots of open air and that's a probiotic for the chickens which is part of why I started playing with the feed in the first place.  When the particularly pungent mold gets too bad, I wash out the buckets. Otherwise I let the active cultures carry over from day to day, which seems to do well for the flock.

Okay, the page pulled up and ... yeah. That's what I do aside from the amount of water and time. Less time and less water, but everything else is the same.  I guess the "sour" smell is kind of similar to sourdough. All grains getting predigested by bacterial cultures are going to have certain aromatic elements in common. That's why I think of weak beer - fermented grain is fermented grain. If I fed more in the way of whole grains, instead of the processed ground, cooked, and pressure cooked stuff, I might be more in line with the recommendations. I guess this is where Real Life intersects with Controlled Conditions. Do what works for you, whatever that is.

I do know that since I started soaking their feed they don't stink as badly. There's a certain smell that chickens *can* get, and that I've dealt with since the beginning of having chickens. Since I started soaking the feed, I haven't had the same problem with flies that has been a problem in the past. I hadn't considered that I haven't had to put up a fly strip inside in about 2 years, and haven't needed a fly trap outside in my memory. Very cool, if the two things are connected.

Kristine Keeney wrote:There's also a mold that grows on top that smells like old socks or something and that's a bit bad, but there's lots of open air and that's a probiotic for the chickens which is part of why I started playing with the feed in the first place.  When the particularly pungent mold gets too bad, I wash out the buckets. Otherwise I let the active cultures carry over from day to day, which seems to do well for the flock.

I think that's the stuff that was growing on mine. It smells like funky cheese, if I remember right. Not a good smell when pregnant! When I first started fermenting, it wasn't creating that white stuff (which I believe is called "Kahm yeast"). But, it developed later. You might be able to avoid it if you clean everything and start a new ferment (the ferment can be jumpstarted by adding some of the liquid from lacto-fermented veggies). It sounds like that's what you're already doing, so this is more for others than for you.

But, when it happened to my feed, I was pregnant and dizzy and cleaning everything and starting anew just seemed like too much of a task!

Here's a picture of kahm yeast, from WHAT IS KAHM YEAST & IS KAHM YEAST SAFE?


And from FERMENTATION FAQ: WHAT IS THE CLOUDY FILM IN MY FERMENT? IS IT SAFE?

Yep! That's the stuff!
It's important to know that it's a perfectly natural, normal, and desired part of fermenting (depending on what, why, and how you're doing it) and soaking feed.

If you clean your containers and tools, it clears it out, but I want it for it's benefits for my flock. My Cuckoo Maran cockerel loves it so much, he dances around the bucket!

I can see why someone who's in a "tender stomach" part of their life might choose to avoid that particular odor. It can be strong and pungent!

So, I've started some, for the ducks. I think it will be a bit more ok for ducks, if it's after, than if it were chickens, but I'm really hoping this thickens up!

Switching from Organic to "regular feed" is the cause of stinky poop. The "regular feed" probably has gmo species of corn which has lower nutrition along with toxins produced by the corn due to the gmo effecting the plant process of changing amino acids to proteins.  Formaldehyde and other toxins do show up in gmo corn.  Best is to stay with the Organic feed.  Have you tried adding Organic alfalfa either ground in their feed or placed in their feeding area?  Alfalfa is a cleanser along with providing a protein source, fiber, and other minerals.  Hope this helps in figuring out why the poop stinks.  Blessings

Once we'd finished off that emergency bag of conventional feed and went back to their normal, organic feed, the awful smell was gone. No more stinky poos! It's truly amazing the affects that feed can have upon animals!

I can add that if you research the use of corn as an animal food you will discover very bad things.
Corn feed cattle would die if left on that diet for about 150 days, and their insides and organs will be in a bad way.
Cattle should eat grass not corn.
But the corn industry is bigger and it has spread its fingers everywhere to sell corn.
I would encourage anybody to read "The Omnivore's Dilemma
Book by Michael Pollan "

So just out of curiosity, what grains would you suggest getting to put in a DIY duck feed? I've had ducks for a little over a year now, and am trying to find a better, less expensive feed solution (as well as trying to encourage them to lay in their nesting boxes, crazy ducks *sigh*). I have a pretty large flock of chickens, ducks, and geese, so it can get expensive VERY fast. I was using Bomgaars brand layer feed with extra scratch grains, oats, and meat scraps (for the chickens, but everyone free ranges so the ducks and geese will sometimes eat it as well). I've been switching to using soaked raw grains from the store and mixing in additional minerals, but the store has a very limited selection of grains, and I'm not entirely sure what ducks specifically need in their diet. Their poop hasn't been stinking with what I've been feeding them, but it's runnier than I'd like. the chickens and geese seem to be doing really well with my current mixture, but I'm not sure about the ducks. I checked out your scratch and peck brand, but that's super expensive and I can't support that with the size of my flock, and the fact that I live way out in the country and nowhere near a store like that.
Like I said, it can be kind of tricky to get any variety of grains out here, specifically for a price that is anywhere close to reasonable.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Once we'd finished off that emergency bag of conventional feed and went back to their normal, organic feed, the awful smell was gone. No more stinky poos! It's truly amazing the affects that feed can have upon animals!

That is interesting. If you still have some of the emergency feed left, I am wondering if the ducks will show preference if the two feeds are offered side by side? Animals tend to know what's good for them.

I actually gave them both feeds for the last few days. I discovered that ducks are not nearly as intelligent as chickens. The chickens did not like the conventional feed. The ducks, however, at the conventional feed before touching their normal feed.

I do wonder, though, if the ducks preferred the conventional feed because the protein percentage is 19%, while the Scratch and Peck's Grower feed is only 17%. They always seem to want a higher protein percentage, especially when molting (and they're molting right now.)

While what I know about ducks is only what I've gathered from feeding them at various parks and using them to give people food poisoning, I'm guessing it's the higher protein levels.

I try to give my geese cat or dog food kibble when they're molting. They will just carry on for better than a month with it, otherwise. Not having Grumpy Geese is easily worth the cost of a bag of dog food, but I have found that cat food kibble tends to be a better value, all other things being equal.
My local feedstore employees are very used to me wandering around with a calculator and reading labels. We have some really fun discussions about animal care.

A few years back, I had a bunch of ducks that would go eat the cat food! I had to stop feeding the cats outside, because the ducks ate all their food! They do really seem to want more protein than most feeds offer.

One person I know feeds her ducks solely dog kibble!

Maybe I should put some cat food in a separate bin for the ducks, so they can eat as much as they need and start laying again!