What is better to feed ducks at home for fast growth for beginners

It is impossible to successfully breed ducks without competent preparation of a feeding ration. High-quality, high-calorie, balanced nutrition increases egg and meat productivity. Choosing what to feed ducklings and ducks, the farmer focuses on the number of livestock, the desired productivity and financial capabilities. On large farms, intensive feeding with compound feed is chosen; on private backyards, it is customary to feed ducks with natural grain and grass feed.

What do ducks eat?

The diet of ducks should be varied and balanced, this is the only way to achieve high productivity of the livestock. Birds eat:

1. Cereal feed is the basis of the duck diet. Whole and crushed grain, sowing - sources of carbohydrates, vitamins, mineral elements that provide energy for the development of the body. Birds willingly eat wheat, corn, barley, oatmeal, boiled rice. Ducklings should not be given whole grain; it will burden the digestive tract, which will cause the young to die. It is necessary to feed ducklings up to 2 weeks of age with chicken or coarsely ground flour (barley, without shells).
2. Juicy food. Herbs, algae, vegetables - birds like to feast on them in summer.
3. Animal feed. It is essential for ducks as a source of proteins and minerals that ensure the strength of the skeleton and growth of the body. Small fish, fish and bone meal are used for feeding ducks.
4. Mineral supplements. Strengthens the skeleton, prevents calcium deficiency. Especially necessary for layers, whose body spends a lot of minerals for the formation of eggshell.

The table provides a list of foods that are recommended for feeding ducks. By composing and replacing them, they form an optimal diet for egg and meat birds.

The diet of ducks changes as they get older. Memo for novice farmers on how to properly feed ducklings from birth to adulthood using the example of CT5 and STAR-53 broilers:

1. Feeding ducklings up to 5 days - boiled yolk (10 g), wet mash and chopped grass (5 g each).
2. From the 5th day, millet (3 g), dash of wheat and corn (5 g), bone-fish mixture in equal proportions (4 g), low-fat milk (2 g) are added.
3. For fortnightly - wheat-corn turtle (70 g), grain mixture (15 g), millet (10 g), low-fat cottage cheese (20 g), fish meal (8 g), sunflower cake, bone and grass meal (5 g each) ), yeast (3 g), shell rock and chalk (2 g), salt (0.5 g).
4. For menstruation - rub (100 g), bran and herbs (60 g each), grain mixture (20 g), fishmeal (10 g), bone meal (7 g), chalk and shell rock (2 g).
5. For two-month-olds - the diet is the same as for monthly ducklings, but a portion of corn turkey is taken 70 g, wheat - 30 g, grain mixture - 60 g.

Take a look also

Description of ducks of the Star-53 breed, their rearing and feeding at home

Prohibited bird food

Despite the omnivorous nature of ducks, you cannot give them certain foods:

• old bread, moldy feed are sources of aspergillosis (fresh soaked bread is allowed in small quantities);
• fine flour (in the mouth, when it interacts with saliva, it turns into a sticky mass, clogs the nasal passages);
• milk (causes diarrhea in ducks);
• poisonous herbs - henbane, celandine, hemlock and others;
• Maple leaves.

Before using nettle, scald with boiling water to neutralize stinging villi that can irritate the stomach of ducks.

Do not feed the birds with zucchini and cucumbers in large quantities - these vegetables increase the leaching of calcium from the body. You cannot feed ducks with peels of potatoes and fruits, watermelon and pumpkin rinds - the bird's digestive tract simply cannot cope with the digestion of rough food.

How many times a day should you feed?

Newborn ducklings are supposed to be fed for the first time a day later from pecking. Before that, they only drink a weak manganese solution. During the first week of life, ducklings eat every 2-3 hours, that is, 6-7 times a day. After 3-4 days from birth, the chicks can be released with their mother to feed to the reservoir, then the owner only needs to feed them 3-4 times a day.

Composition of compound feed for ducks

Ready-made feed for the rapid growth of ducks is sold in a livestock store, but it is better to prepare it yourself, saving money. The preparation is simple, and the farmer will be confident in the quality of the feed. To make compound feed, they take grain mixture and greens. A simple and versatile product variant includes the following components:

• corn flour;
• wheat bran;
• clover;
• alfalfa;
• nettle leaves;
• willow leaves.

Take a look also

Description of wild ducks with a crest and a sharp beak, the habitat of mergansers

Compound feed is a perishable product, therefore, such an amount is prepared that the birds eat per day. Take a 10 liter bucket. The green components are crushed, poured with boiling water, left for half an hour.Then add bran and wheat flour to get a mass of dense consistency. Stir it thoroughly until smooth.

Subtleties of feeding depending on the season

In winter, it is more difficult to feed ducks, because there is no natural vitamin food - herbs, vegetables. The winter diet is based on cereals, grain mixtures, wet mash. Bone and fish meal, hay, carrots, boiled potatoes are used as a useful addition.

The basis of the diet in summer is greens. It is good if free range is used, and near the poultry house there is a natural reservoir in which birds get a significant part of the food (algae, underwater vegetation, insects, molluscs). In this case, the owner only needs to feed the ducks 2 times a day. If the birds are kept in a pen, then twice a day they should be fed with wet mash, twice more - with dry grain feed.

Fattening of adult ducks for meat before slaughter

Ducks are fattened for meat within 2-3 months. 15 days before slaughter, food with a high protein content is included in the diet: boiled potatoes, legumes, cottage cheese. Fish products are excluded so as not to spoil the taste of duck meat.

Meat animals are placed in a small cage that restricts movement so that the bird's body spends fewer calories.

The basis of the diet is hearty mash, composed of boiled potatoes, boiled corn, wheat, barley grains, seasoned with meat brew or sour milk whey. It is supposed to feed the mash 3 times a day. It is important that broilers eat every last crumb. The approximate daily ration of fattened ducks (g per individual) is shown in the table:

Feeding during oviposition

The diet for the laying hen is selected taking into account its egg production, the daily portions of the products are indicated in the table:

Birds that lay eggs have increased portions of foods rich in calcium and other minerals. Feed the ducks 4 times a day. It is recommended to add yeast solution to the feed (20 g per 1 l of water). The hen should drink about 1 liter of water per day, but it is not advisable to give wet feed during the incubation period.