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Destiny Hagest wrote:Good to know - I'm thinking once we start free ranging we'll set up their kiddie pool. There's a creek across the street, but it's not within sight, hoping they stick around. They are just so darned handsome!
Miranda Converse wrote:
Start giving them peas now and they will never leave you alone!!
(pg 257-258 )Holderread wrote:"Substances they contain can inhibit digestion, be toxic and suppress development and growth, they must be used with certain precautions. Raw legume seeds of any kind should not be fed to poultry under most circumstances, especially in growing and breeding birds"
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/sproutmyths.html wrote:Soaking for 18 hours removed 65% of hemagglutinin activity in peas.Soaking for 24 hours at room temperature removed 66% of the trypsin (protease) inhibitor activity in mung bean, 93% in lentil, 59% in chickpea, and 100% in broad bean.
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Destiny Hagest wrote:I'm not sure if it's because feed is all these ducks have ever known, but they act like they are just ravenously hungry if they don't get a solid 2 cups of chicken pellets a day. I only have enough food scraps for my chickens, but the ducks free range, and currently there's an abundance of grass and dandelion that they are totally passing over.
Do you guys think they're just spoiled to the pelleted food?
Nikki Thompson wrote:
Also, I believe chicken feed is a lot higher in protein content than duck feed. Chickens require that to maintain a healthy diet, but ducks are water fowl and too much protein can actually harm them. Ducks need adequate calcium most of all though. This helps with proper bone development, feathers, eggs (the shells are supposed to be really hard and that's how they get to be hard), etc.
Nikki Thompson wrote:What is the purpose of your ducks? Companionship, food, eggs, etc.? Ours are all three, but you can care for them in different ways depending on what you're raising them for.
Destiny Hagest wrote:
I hate that we feed them chicken food! But I've been unable to find them actual duck food anywhere (though I confess I haven't looked online). Given our climate, supplemental feeds are pretty much essential until we have our own place, but I definitely don't like what I feed them, it feels yucky.
Their primary purpose is for egg production, though one of the three has stopped laying altogether, and the other two have tapered down recently - there are a lot of feathers around right now though, so I think this is the summer molt, and maybe that's the cause of that.
I really appreciate your help and advice! I'm so busy with household and work projects, and I would love to get a better system in place for these guys.
Destiny Hagest wrote:We actually let our ducks free range - they seem too big to fly, they can barely waddle across the yard (though they hasten their pace when they see us heading to the feed bin).
I live in central Montana, where slimy critters aren't plenty, the primary food sources right now are grass, grasshoppers, and dandelions. But of course, in a few weeks most of that will have dwindled as well, it's a tough climate to be sure.
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Nikki Thompson wrote:We have a homemade greenhouse we let ours into during the cold winter nights; they help heat the plants (and the other way) and the critters in the plants get eaten by the ducks. It got stinky pretty quickly, but we tried to keep it cleaned and we put bedding down for them too. Overall, it worked great!
Destiny Hagest wrote:
I thought about trying this actually!
Did you have any issues with ducks damaging your plants?
Nikki Thompson wrote:
Destiny Hagest wrote:
I thought about trying this actually!
Did you have any issues with ducks damaging your plants?
We did have problems with them tryin to eat the plants or digging them up trying to find bugs but when we put the plants up on a shelf they didn't seem as worried with them. Our (temporary) greenhouse was small too...I wanna say the bottom frame is about 6'x16' (an odd size) but they way it worked for us was to put up a mesh curtain half way so we had the plants in the back and the ducks in the front. When the cold season is over, all the bedding and duck poop makes a great mix to plant directly into!
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Destiny Hagest wrote:
Thanks for the inspiration
Wolf wolf wolf
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Mike Barkley wrote:I'm considering getting a few ducks. Have a perfect hole that's just begging to be kept filled from the barn roof gutters & will attempt to grow as much of their food as possible. Some questions.
1.Will they munch nearby veggie gardens to death? Or is fencing them out absolutely required? There will always be plenty of other easily accessible food for them but don't want them eating ours.
2. There's a cow watering hole within 75-100 yards of their intended pond. Many frogs live there. Are the ducks more likely to prefer that? Would that present any health issues to the ducks or humans who consume the ducks? Would it harm the cows or their meat in any way?
3. Do they get along with chickens & are there any animal or human health concerns with that?
4. I would prefer they be free roaming but they will have safe shelter at night. Don't want to clip wings & don't want them leaving. Quite a few acres they can roam safely, assuming a predator doesn't get them. Any issues with that?
Destiny Hagest wrote:Ah, thank you for that feedback! It's a little challenging, we're high altitude and such, so no amphibians up here, and insects only 4 months out of the year, unless you count this crazy El Nino we're having.
I'm going to try them with some food scraps tomorrow, the guy that gave them to us gave us a bag of chicken layer pellets he had been feeding them, but I'm not real keen on that at all. Our climate makes feeding systems tricky here.
I'm curious, do you let them free range, and do they stay in your yard well? We have them fenced in with their house in a small paddock right now, we were planning to leave them like that for a week to give them time to get acclimated with their surroundings, then let them have free run of the place. We have about an acre here. Do you think they'll stick around?
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