What to feed ducks at home: feeding patterns and classification of feed

Under natural conditions, the menu of a wild duck differs significantly from the usual diet of poultry. Few people think about this when feeding the ducks in the park with bread or seeds. In order not to harm birds, you need to know what the correct diet of wild birds is and what delicacy will be safe for waterfowl living in a park or on a lake.

Is it possible to feed wild ducks in parks and ponds?

Feeding wild ducks

Ornithologists strongly discourage feeding ducks in the wild. Nature has it in such a way that birds obtain food on their own. But the usual human factor pushes many people to immediately feed a bird that comes into view. This leads to the fact that the birds get used to regular, albeit not entirely healthy, food. And they stop producing it on their own.

The disastrous consequence is that with the onset of winter, it does not fly to warmer climes and remains in its feeding place. It is in winter that feeding wild ducks remaining in place becomes especially important.

Contrary to the established stereotype, fresh bread and baked goods are contraindicated for birds. Due to the yeast content, they promote the development of fermentation processes in the intestines. In addition, the duck strives to fill its stomach with them, and as a result, it ignores other food that is more beneficial for it. In addition, all kinds of food not eaten by birds, which people throw into water bodies, causes their pollution. The optimal food for ducks living in a park or pond is:

Feed for ducks

• a mixture of cottage cheese, grain and finely chopped herbs;
• oatmeal;
• fresh soft berries and fruits;
• boiled vegetables;
• grated cheese;
• ready-made feed intended for feeding ducks.

Each of the proposed options should be crushed or finely chopped. It is better to feed ducks by leaving food on the ground near the water. After all, they may not eat everything, and the food remaining in the water will begin to rot.

Feeding wild ducks in the park

Along with fresh white bread, ducks should not be fed black bread. It causes fermentation processes that have a severe impact on the digestive system. In addition, prohibited foods include excessively fatty and dairy products, peanuts, and fried seeds. Missing food with mold on it can cause the development of the fungal disease aspergillosis. Also, you should not offer porridge after heat treatment. They quickly disappear and cause inevitable frustration.

By nature, wild ducks are absolutely omnivorous. Getting used to regular abundant feeding from humans, they stop caring about obtaining food on their own. This entails irreversible disorders of the digestive system and often death in winter, with the onset of cold weather.

Why feed

Birds pick up everything that falls into the water from human hands. They often eat baked goods, cookies, grains, seeds, chips and even popcorn, so their instincts have become dulled and they are increasingly settling near people. Once migratory birds, they began to lead a sedentary lifestyle and winter in cities.

During the warm season, ducks need complementary feeding only under special conditions:

• related to environmental problems of water bodies;
• with a large number of birds on a small pond;
• if the birds are injured and are not able to obtain food on their own.

If there are a large number of birds on a pond, ducks need complementary feeding.
In winter, it is more difficult for ducks to find food, especially if the temperature drops below 15 degrees and the ponds completely freeze. And to help ducks survive the cold, they need to be fed. But this must be done correctly so as not to harm the health of the birds.

Ducks can be fed the following foods:

• curd mixture with the addition of grains and chopped grass;
• oatmeal;
• fresh berries and fruits;
• boiled vegetables;
• grated cheese;
• compound feeds that can be prepared at home or purchased.

All products must be chopped and food should be left on the shore so as not to pollute the reservoir.

To avoid clogging the water, food should be left on the shore

Which foods are good for ducks and which are harmful?

Along with products that are beneficial for poultry, there are many that are harmful. Accordingly, the first should be present in the feed, but the second should be absent. Many novice farmers do not have knowledge about the benefits and dangers of products. Therefore, the livestock often gets sick, does not lay eggs well, and does not grow meat well. To avoid this, you need to give the birds purely healthy food.

Grain is an essential ingredient in duck feed.

Products useful for ducks:

1. Most cereals. Wheat rich in proteins and vitamins, nourishing barley, and oats that promote growth and health are suitable for feeding birds. Barley is not suitable for ducklings due to its hard shell, but it is beneficial for adult birds.
2. Corn. This is a cereal, but it stands apart because of its enormous benefits for the growing duck body. Its amount in the diet of adults can be reduced, but chicks need a lot of corn. It’s good if it makes up 50% of the total weight of the daily diet.
3. Greenery. Beet tops, finely chopped green grass, nettle (need to be doused with boiling water), duckweed - these have nutritional properties and have a positive effect on poultry.
4. Legumes. They contain proteins that are extremely beneficial to birds. Peas are usually used - they are the most accessible. Other types of legumes are also suitable.
5. Fish, meat and bone meal, incubation waste. These supplements contain proteins, phosphorus, calcium, and beneficial microelements.
6. Dairy products. Cottage cheese is considered the main dairy product for feeding ducks. He's very helpful. To prepare a wet mash, you can use whey or milk instead of water. With large birds this is expensive, but for small ducklings it works just fine.
7. Vegetables. The duck body reacts especially well to pureed cabbage and carrots. However, you should be careful with melon crops.
8. Cake, meal, bran. In moderate proportions (up to 10%), these types of foods are very healthy. They contain potassium, the necessary amount of protein and fat.
9. Shells, chalk, coarse sand, eggshells. These sources of calcium are present in small quantities in any good diet.
10. Mineral supplements, table salt. In small quantities, these supplements are very useful. It is recommended to dissolve salt in water so that it does not burn the esophagus and intestines. It should not be more than 0.2% of the food volume.

Next, let’s look at harmful types of food that are recommended to be excluded from the birds’ diet:

1. Bread, bakery products, baked goods. We will tell you more about them towards the end of the article. It is only worth noting that these types of food are harmful to most birds - not just domestic ones. Stomach blockage and yeast fermentation in the intestines are not the most favorable outcome for birds.
2. Crackers. For some reason, many people believe that if the bread is dried, it won’t do any harm. This is wrong. Even a crusty cracker can swell in the stomach if left there for long enough. The chance is significantly lower than with fresh bread, but is there any point in taking the risk?

3. Flour. While fish and meat and bone meal are very beneficial, regular cereal meal is not recommended. It clogs the airways of birds.
4. Ready-made porridges (especially with milk). These are perishable types of food that cause digestive upset.
5. Pumpkin, zucchini. Ducks react neutrally to most vegetables, but melons and melons harm them a little. The main reason for this phenomenon is the laxative effect. Pumpkin and zucchini help remove calcium from the bird's body. As a result, she may have trouble standing on her feet.
6. Any products with mold. Mold causes a dangerous disease - aspergillosis, so you need to remove any types of food from feeders if mold appears on them. Even if it's healthy food.
7. Maple leaves, poisonous herbs. What is harmful to humans is also harmful to birds.

Useful and harmful products

Adults and children, walking through the park, love to feed the ducks on the pond. They find this activity exciting and useful. They say that man saves his little brothers from starvation. Not everyone knows that there are products that harm the body of birds.

The food must be balanced, with sufficient protein content. It is not necessary to choose proteins of plant origin; animal proteins are also suitable. You should also make sure you have a large amount of vitamins and microelements. Among the latter it is necessary to highlight:

• copper;
• calcium;
• magnesium.

What types of food are suitable for wild animals?

What to feed wild ducks is useful to know for those who at least sometimes feed them. It is optimal to use food of grain origin or made from legumes. A special compound feed would also be a good option.

It should be remembered that wild ducks should not be given the same type of food. It should be changed periodically, or even better, mixed. Combined food is ideal for birds.

Cereals are excellent food for ducks

Excellent food for wild ducks include:

• barley;
• oats;
• wheat;
• corn;
• peas.

The share of barley in the feed mixture must certainly be 30-35%. The composition and ratio of other components changes at your discretion.

Compound feed

The modern market provides a wide selection of combined feeds. In addition to the main elements, they usually contain a variety of useful additives. The main ones are amino acids and minerals. It is better to choose food that is created specifically for ducks. It is quite possible that it will be possible to obtain a composition intended specifically for wild ducks. True, this is quite rare, but the food exists.

If wild ducks are kept in a household and granular feed is purchased for them, then it should be soaked before feeding it to the birds. This way, not only will it not fly around the enclosure, but it will be easier to eat. But the food has a drawback: a rather high price. If there are not a lot of birds, then the difference is imperceptible, but with a large number of birds the amounts come out to be decent. Self-prepared mixtures are much cheaper at cost.

No need to buy the cheapest combination food

It is important to follow the manufacturer’s instructions, quantitative composition and expiration date. Otherwise, due to improper nutrition, ducks may be susceptible to various diseases.

Dry mix

It is better to create a diet for domestic birds yourself. If a bird is fattened for meat, then after the third week of life it should significantly increase the amount of feed (three times). And when young animals are kept for other purposes, such an increase will be inappropriate.

The diet of adult ducks and ducklings is different

Dry mixtures purchased at a specialty store or farm market contain a balanced complex of vitamins and microelements. The ducklings quickly gain weight, and after a couple of months they are ready for slaughter. It is recommended to moisten the mixture before using it.

How to prepare compound feed yourself? Recipe

Preparing feed for domestic ducks is a great way not only to save money, but also to be confident in the quality of the product. The ingredients you will need are:

• corn flour;
• wheat bran;
• greens (nettle leaves, clover, alfalfa, willow leaves).

It is recommended to prepare such a volume of feed that the birds can consume within 24 hours. This is due to the fact that the shelf life is short and the composition of the product begins to deteriorate quickly.

First of all, you will need a container with a volume of 10 liters. The chopped greens are poured with boiling water and left to cool for 30 minutes. Then 0.5 kilograms of corn flour and 1 kilogram of wheat bran are added to the mass. The resulting mass is thoroughly mixed. The result should be a thick and dense mass.

You can see the preparation of duck food in the video below:

What not to feed wild ducks and chicks

Ducks should not be fed bread. Moreover, in any quantity and in large quantities, especially baked goods and black bread are prohibited. Do not feed ducks at any age fatty foods. Fried seeds, peanuts, and fatty dairy products are prohibited. Cottage cheese is given only to small downy ducklings.

And definitely don’t throw everything you eat into the water. Ducks may pick up a product that is obviously harmful to them. Moreover, food in water quickly deteriorates, as a result, birds eat food contaminated with fungus or putrefactive bacteria.

By feeding ducks, a person believes that he is helping these birds in difficult times. However, this is not always the case. Not only domestic ducks, but also wild ducks need to be fed correctly. Otherwise, your care may cause the death of birds.

Is it possible to give potatoes

Potatoes are not only possible, but also necessary for ducks. They even feed it to young ducklings, but only little by little, so that they get used to a variety of foods and receive useful substances.

As a rule, old potatoes are used, not young ones. It must not be rotten or spoiled. It is washed, boiled, chopped with a knife and put into mash along with other vegetables, herbs, and cereals. It is not recommended to feed raw potatoes. Birds can be poisoned by it, especially if there are green spots on root vegetables, or if they eat too much of it.

Feeding wild ducks in winter

On a note! You cannot constantly feed ducks: the bird quickly gets used to free food and systematic treats. When winter comes, the ducks simply won't want to leave the city. There is no need for them to fly south if food is plentiful.

Caring for ducks

If the ducks have not flown away to their winter quarters but remain on the pond, then they must be fed. For this purpose, feeders are installed for wild ducks, which are systematically replenished. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the remaining feed does not freeze (remove them in a timely manner).

Duck feeder

The question naturally arises - what to feed wild ducks in winter so that the bird remains healthy and can hatch its offspring in the spring. Well-wishers advise catching the birds and keeping them in poultry houses until spring.

Procurement of feed

Over the summer, you can prepare a lot of healthy food for wintering ducks: cabbage, dandelion, nettles, zucchini, alfalfa, pumpkin, and any root vegetables.

It is better to dry herbs in small bunches. Hang them in the shade to better preserve vitamins. Vegetables can be purchased or grown.

In winter, ducks need more grass meal. They need sprouted grains, and the need to consume sand and gravel increases. In the summer this was not a problem for the ducks, since they found everything they needed in the pond, but in the winter the birds themselves cannot get them.

In winter, ducks need more grass meal

Any duck food is pre-ground. There is no need to throw it into a pond - it will sink to the bottom and part of it will rot. The food is placed in feeders on the shore and the ducks willingly eat it if desired.

Important! Birds need to be fed only in winter, if for some reason they had to stay. Since wild birds are not at all whimsical in their care, the only serious problems are chipping ice when necessary, and feeding

Since wild birds are not at all whimsical in their care, the only serious problems are chipping ice when necessary and feeding.

Cereals for feeding ducks

• Corn is a valuable source of fiber and protein for wild birds. The grains have a rich yellow color, which means they contain a large amount of carotene, which is converted into vitamin A.
• Oats contain fats and amino acids that are so important for ducks.
• Barley is the basis of the feed mixture. Its content should not decrease beyond the level of 30%. Any grain can be used: soaked, crushed, whole, sprouted. The only condition is that only adult birds should consume it (ducklings are strictly prohibited).
• Wheat is rich in vitamins and proteins. Wheat of any kind is added to feed compositions. Sometimes wheat is replaced with millet.
• Peas are introduced to ducks gradually. It must first be crushed. Some individuals do not eat peas and legumes.

Combined feeds are available in a wide variety at agricultural markets. They consist of ready-made mixtures of products, crushed to the required state. In addition to them, the feed is enriched with a number of useful additives, such as amino acids, vitamins, and minerals.

Among the variety of products there is also specialized feed for ducks. You can also find products designed specifically for feeding wild breeds of ducks on private property.

Feed for ducks

Important! Most feeds are in the form of dry granules. Before feeding the food to the ducks, it must be slightly soaked in water.

Wet feed is much easier for ducks to absorb because it does not stick to their beaks. This will also save significant production since duck pellets will not be scattered throughout the area.

Although it is easier to purchase ready-made feed than to prepare it yourself, the cost price is a significant overpayment. If you feed a large number of ducks, it will be very expensive.

As a last resort, you can use standard chicken feed. It also contains all the components and additives necessary for birds.

Mash

In winter, ducks need to be fed moistened mash. Despite their varied composition, the basis is almost always compound feed.

Preparing duck mash

Finely chopped grass, all kinds of grains, cottage cheese, berries, and oatmeal are added to the wet mash. Closer to spring, food for ducks needs to be made more varied, since eggs are laid in birds in March.

It is very important for wild individuals to mix fishmeal into their food during this period.

If wild ducks, who by the will of fate remained for the winter in city ponds, are fed correctly, then this will turn out to be a real and invaluable help for them. Having survived the harsh winter, beautiful and healthy ducks will liven up the park's landscape next summer.

Feeding ducks for eggs

Before the start of the mating season, some adjustments are made to the diet. This is done within 14 days. Part of the grain (namely wheat) must be sprouted. To do this, the cereals are filled with water and left for a couple of days. The water must be changed so that it does not turn sour. Greens are very useful; if you don’t have them, herbal flour will help out. Here is an approximate daily diet for expectant mothers (per head per day):

• Grain - 130 gr.
• Bran - 30 gr.
• Alfalfa (fresh or dried) - 20 gr.
• Greens - 100 gr.
• Potatoes - 100 gr.
• Bone meal - 10 gr.
• Sprouted wheat - 16 gr.

To obtain high-quality meat, feeding ducks must be varied. This allows the bird to receive all the necessary substances and consistently gain weight. In addition to grains and kitchen waste, be sure to add herbs, vegetables, and vitamins. The work of a poultry farmer will be much easier if there is a reservoir where waterfowl can forage. If you make some effort, then after 2 months. You can get excellent dietary meat.

Mineral supplements

Ducks get minerals and vitamins from herbs, vegetables, fruits, and also from mineral supplements. What can you feed ducks using minerals?

• Gravel and coarse sand help to better digest solid foods such as grain. They literally grind it into small particles in the stomach. Approximately 10 g of this mixture should be consumed per individual per week, but usually breeders do not measure out the norm, but simply pour gravel and sand into a separate container and place it in the nesting box - the bird will eat it when the need arises.

  Changing the diet of ducks depending on the time of year

Important!

If a duck is sick, a veterinarian may prescribe mineral supplements and premixes.

• Bone meal makes up 2-3% of the total mass of food. It contains a lot of minerals, but if the ducks are given fresh fish, this additive can be excluded from the diet.
• Chalk and shell, salt are necessary for the formation of normal, strong shells of duck eggs. If females don't have enough of them, they may even start laying eggs without shells at all!

What to feed wild ducks at home

When keeping mallards or representatives of other species of wild birds at home, their diet should be as close as possible to the natural menu. The diet of these species is somewhat different from that of poultry.

Mineral supplements

Under natural conditions, the menu of wild birds includes many crustaceans and mollusks, and the duck swallows the animals along with the shell or shell. Thus, it provides the body with mineral nutrition. At home, if ducks do not have access to a natural pond, the birds are offered foods rich in calcium: shell rock, chalk, limestone, crushed eggshells.

These products should be freely available, in a separate trough. The approximate rate of feed consumption per bird is 3–6 g per day. The need for minerals increases sharply during the laying period, since with each egg laid the female’s body loses up to 1.5 g of calcium.

Vitamins and vegetables

On a home farm, you can feed wild ducks with simple and affordable vegetables:

• red and fodder carrots;
• leaf and white cabbage;
• pumpkin and zucchini;
• fodder beets (red beets are not recommended, they cause diarrhea).

Vegetables are given fresh to preserve all vitamins. For small ducklings, they are grated and mixed with grain feed. For adult livestock, it is enough to chop the vegetables into small pieces. The consumption rate depends on the age and size of the bird and ranges from 3 to 40 g.

As a vitamin supplement in winter, birds are offered sprouted grain and grass meal. To germinate grain you need to do the following:

1. Whole grains of wheat, barley or oats, washed from dust and husks, are placed in a wide bowl. The layer should not be thicker than 1.5 cm.
2. Pour warm water over the grain until it covers the product completely. Leave in a warm place for 5 hours. The grain should swell well in water.
3. The water is drained. The wet grain is covered with a cloth and left for 12–20 hours in a warm place at a temperature of 22–26 degrees.
4. When white roots 5–10 mm in size appear on the seeds, the product can be fed to birds. Adults are given 3–5 g of sprouted grain per day.

Grass meal can be purchased at pet stores, where it is sold in granule form. The raw material for production is legume hay. Before giving to the ducks, the granules are crushed into powder or soaked in warm water.

You can make your own herbal flour. To do this, in the summer, stinging nettle is cut and dried in the shade. The dried plants are placed in a tight bag and crushed, simply by crushing and trampling. Dry leaves crumble into flour, but rough stems can be discarded. Herbal flour is stored in paper bags in a dark and dry place. Add 1 teaspoon per head per day to mash in winter.

For large numbers of ducks, synthetic vitamins are used: premixes and water-soluble compounds (Chiktonik). The drugs are administered into the feed according to the instructions.

Grains and cereals

Wild ducks eat oats, corn, barley and wheat. It is better to give the grain steamed whole or crushed, so it is easier to digest. The daily requirement for adult birds is 30–40 g of grain feed.

In nature, ducks willingly eat the seeds of various grasses: brome, clover, meadow grasses.

Meat and fish

Ducks can be given raw or boiled river fish and meat. Small fish up to 8 cm long can be thrown whole, larger ones can be chopped in a meat grinder.

The meat is given in the form of boiled minced meat. It is allowed to use minced meat and bones. It is known that ducks are good hunters; it has happened that the bird caught and ate a mouse or a baby rat.

The share of animal food in the diet should be at least 20%, and preferably 30%.

Diet depending on the time of year

Based on climate change throughout the year, the poultry farmer has to adjust the pet menu so that it remains complete.

Winter

Ducks spend most of this time of year indoors. They are fed grain feed with the addition of protein products (meat, fish, cottage cheese, fish and meat and bone meal). Greens are replaced with fresh vegetables and herbal flour, sprouted grains.

Complex vitamins must be added to food or water.

Spring

The spring diet does not differ from the winter one until the birds are released for walking. By eating fresh grass and being in the sun, ducks no longer need vegetables and synthetic vitamins.

Summer

In summer, ducks spend most of the day on the pond or on the run. Their diet is as close to natural as possible - the birds feed on aquatic and coastal vegetation, and they themselves forage for insects and mollusks in the water.

The poultry farmer needs to enrich the summer diet with grain feed in the amount of 50–80 g per head.

Autumn

In autumn, the bird needs to gain fat before flying to warmer climes or wintering in place. Domestic ducks don't fly anywhere, but instinct forces them to show an insatiable appetite at this time of year. The birds' diet is dominated by cereals. Ducks are fed grain mash with the addition of cake.

Feeding wild ducks in the natural environment or at home requires compliance with a number of rules aimed at maintaining the health of the bird. Birds living in a park or near a nearby body of water can be fed with grain, fresh vegetables or special grass pellets. Roasted seeds, snacks or bread should not be given.

Root vegetables and succulent forages

Photo of feeding ducks with duckweed

The warm season is the time for vitamins. Ducks need fresh vegetables, root vegetables, and, of course, greens for normal body function. These products contain nutrients, vitamins, minerals, amino acids - everything you need to improve your productive qualities.

However, in the summer season, as well as spring and autumn, you can harm the bird if you give something wrong, so it is important to understand what you can feed ducks and what not

Greens should make up approximately 20% of any mash if the bird does not have access to free range at least in an aviary. If there is a range, then you don’t have to put grass in the mash - the bird will find it on its own. Ducks digest pea stalks, alfalfa, clover, and nettles well. They are usually collected and ground up, or simply planted in the aviary so that the birds have access to them. Aquatic vegetation is a favorite delicacy for ducks. Plants growing in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs should be present in their diet

And if the bird is not allowed into the pond, it is important to collect such greens yourself and add them to the mash. These herbs include duckweed, elodea, pondweed and some others.

Young animals can eat about 15 grams of aquatic greens per day, and adults can eat up to 500 g/day.

Important! In spring, summer and autumn, keeping poultry is cheaper due to the fact that they find part of the food while walking.

• Root vegetables, namely carrots and boiled beets, must be given with mash throughout the year. In winter they are not difficult to get, but for the bird it will be a real gift. Moreover, feeding vegetables and root vegetables reduces the risk of disease during the cold season.
• Vegetables contain many useful substances. They are added to mash or given separately. Healthy vegetables include cabbage, pumpkin, and zucchini.

Agricultural waste

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In addition to cereals, it is useful to include waste from the agricultural industry in the diet of ducks. What can you feed ducks using similar products?

• It is very beneficial to use meal or cake for fattening. They are made from canola, soybeans, peanuts, sunflowers or cotton. The abundance of fats and minerals makes these foods healthy, but they may only make up up to 7% of the total daily diet.
• Bran makes up up to 10% of grain flour feed. Essentially, it is waste generated during the production of flour. They can be given no earlier than 20 days of age.

Ducks can also be fed stillage (waste from beets and potatoes during the production of alcohol) and baker's yeast.

What do wild ducks eat?

The largest and most noticeable duck on the city pond is the mallard. Representatives of this species are the most numerous in any body of water. They are almost not afraid of humans and sometimes take food from hands.

In nature, these ducks, like other waterfowl, feed mainly on plant foods. The diet is based on aquatic plants (algae, duckweed, moss) and grass growing along the banks of the reservoir. In autumn, birds often visit mown fields, where they collect leftover grain.

Living near water, ducks have the opportunity to eat various aquatic fauna:

• shellfish;
• fish fry;
• tadpoles and frogs;
• invertebrates living in the silt and wet soil of the coastal strip (worms, beetles, larvae, etc.).

During the breeding season of frogs, amphibian caviar is also added to the diet.

Wild ducks in nature feed on aquatic fauna

Wild duck food contains large amounts of plant fiber and protein. A small part of the diet consists of seeds of wild herbs and cultivated plants. In winter, wild ducks migrate to regions where they can find shallow, non-freezing reservoirs and familiar food.

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