Mushy Pellets

[abitquackers]

Hello all,

We're feeding our ducks on Fenland's Waterfowl Pellets. I put the bowls beside the deep tray of water, as recommended so they can drink during eating, but the pellets are getting wet as the ducks eat and becoming mushy. I had read that mushy food isn't a good idea as it can clog nostrils etc. Do I need to be concerned about this or am I having a newbie panic over something normal?

 

[Honk]

Our pellets are well away from their water and to be honest they're such greedy little herberts that they shovel as many pellets down as they can and then wander off to the water and that's it. No backward and forward. I only give them pellets during the spring and early summer, the rest of the year they have to make do with corn, grass and whatever they can find.

 

[dorsetduckowner]

Hi! Im the same I feed the pellets next to water so they can wash them down and they turn them to soup which they dabble in. It is wasteful and messy but ducks are water feeders, (and wasteful and messy) and much prefer to wash their food down with water. I tend to leave wheat under water during the day for them then give them a small helping of pellets morning and evening, no more than they can eat in ten minutes. Free range foraging is great for them if you have enough space for them to do so and does keep them healthier, but if they dont have much space to range and forage then they need the vitamins and minerals from the pellets
Good luck!

 

[abitquackers]

Thank you both! In the future, they will have more space to forage, but currently our garden is an overgrown 3 acre plot full of brambles with no fence. We've put together a safe enclosure, so I imagine they'll need pellet food. It's a relief to hear yours mush it up too! Ours are so nervous at the moment that we have to leave the food for a little longer, but I hope in the future to get it down to a similar time frame. At the moment, it's an hour or so (they don't like to come out before we've left the area), but they're very new, bless them.