keeping and feeding ducks and bantams, together

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
HI, i am new here and a couple of questions please! i recently hatched out call ducks and pekin bantams together in my incubator, 2 weeks old now and wondering when i can put them onto growers ? can the pekins eat pellets at this age? also can i put my calls with the others i have, when they come off heat? (there is 4 weeks difference in age) advice much appreciated ,thanks
 
Well chicks and ducklings do have different dietry requirements. Ducklings need to be switched to growers much earlier,if you leave them on chick crumb the excess protein can lead to wing deformaties such as angel wing.
I have my ducklings on growers from 3 weeks, runners at 2 weeks as they grow and feather so quickly. Chicks don't need growers until around 6 to 8 weeks old.
Keeping ducklings and chicks together in a brooder I really wouldn't advise, pekins chicks are tiny,plus ducklings make so much mess in their water which would lead to almost permanently damp conditions for the chicks which would be risky healthwise for them. I don't know if calls are any different mind :)
 
i keep call ducklings and chicks seperate due to the wet mess problem, that david described, also ducklings cannot have medicated crumb
 
Yep, I would keep them separate too - the ducklings will soon be making lots of mess and the chicks will need to be kept dry. Ducklings can come off heat earlier too.

When you buy your chick crumbs and growers- make sure they are not medicated (contain ACS / anti-coccidiosis drug). The ducklings shouldn't have this. The chicks can have it.

Tim
 
Hi and thanks for the replies, ducks and mess! yes i agree but i have a large brooder (and one part of it where the waterer is) has a fine mesh floor so the wet is not really a problem,i didnt intentionaly set out to hatch them together, i was asked to incubate for the last week because of a incy problem it just coincided with my ducks hatching they are going back to the original owner in 2 weeks, i dont use medicated food for the ducks but i mix a portion of chick crumbs in for chicks (i read on here someone keeping chicks and ducks together with no problems) i have not had pekins in brooder before so i need the best feeding advice for 2 weeks please, i do grind up pellets for the calls to start with, thanks
 
The best feeding advice I can give for the Pekins is to feed them chick crumbs until 6 weeks old, then gradually introduce growers pellets.

For ducklings - up to 3 weeks old, they should be fed non-medicated starter crumbs. At 3 weeks old, start to wean them on to duck growers pellets, again non medicated.

Anything in-between is not ideal as you can't guarantee the chicks will be having the correct diet.

Chickens and ducks can indeed mix and I'm sure people do have success in raising them together but they do have different requirements so I guess it's a compromise.

They both have different heat requirements too - but that's not so much of a problem, providing the ducklings can get out of the heat and the chicks can go under it.
 
I went out today and bought a second heat lamp (always handy anyway) improvised with an old cupboard with mesh over the top and split chicks from ducks, i thank you all again for the replies
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top