What Should Pet Ducks Eat?
Adult ducks should continue receiving a complete waterfowl or appropriate all-flock feed as the main part of their diet. Ducks that spend time outdoors will happily forage for grass, weeds, insects, worms, snails, and other natural foods, but foraging alone may not provide a complete and balanced diet for domestic ducks.
For adult ducks that are not laying eggs, a maintenance ration typically contains less protein and calcium than a layer ration. Ducks actively producing eggs require additional calcium for strong eggshells.
For laying females, provide an appropriate layer diet or offer oyster shell in a separate container so they can consume additional calcium as needed. Oyster shell should not be confused with grit: oyster shell supplies calcium, while grit helps birds grind food in their gizzard.
First of all, when getting a duck, the most important thing to avoid legs, joints and many other problems as your duck grows fast, is giving them Niacin in their diet, even as adults. I use nutritional yeast, it has all the vitamins and niacin they need that you can supplement. To this day, my ducks and geese have never had niacin deficiency. A lot of times, some brands of duck food don’t even have all the proper vitamins in the feed that a duck needs, especially niacin, so you need to supplement that if your food doesn’t have enough of what they need.
Calcium
Laying females have much greater calcium requirements than growing birds. A layer ration or appropriately provided supplemental calcium can help support eggshell production. Do not routinely feed a high-calcium layer diet to young, nonlaying birds. Excessive calcium in immature poultry can damage the kidneys.
Niacin
It is totally avoidable and treatable, but imperative to start as a duckling to avoid health issues. Feed a duckling diet, because waterfowls have different needs than poultry as they grow. Your duckling will grow so fast, usually full grown within the first month, that the niacin will really help prevent any joint problems. After all, domestic ducks are heavier than wild ones and it is hard on their legs to support that extra weight. Peas have niacin but are not enough to provide a good source of the supplement.
Chicken food might be cheaper and easier to find, but it doesn’t have all the nutrients and vitamins your duck needs. If you are thinking of giving them chick food and supplementing the rest of what your duck needs, it will just be more expensive to do it that way anyway, so you might as well just find them proper duck food to avoid any problems later.
Grit
Ducks eating only commercial pellets or crumbles generally do not need additional grit because the ingredients have already been ground.
However, ducks eating whole grains, vegetables, grass, or other fibrous foods need access to suitable grit to help grind food in their gizzard. Ducks that spend plenty of time outdoors on natural soil will often find small stones and grit themselves. Confined ducks may need poultry grit supplied separately.
Treats and Fresh Foods
Ducks LOVE treats, and giving them treats is also a wonderful way to bond with them. Healthy choices include foods such as:
- Peas
- Chopped leafy greens
- Romaine lettuce
- Cucumber
- Watermelon
- Blueberries
- Small amounts of corn
Treats should remain just that—treats. A good guideline is to keep treats and scratch grains to approximately 10% or less of the duck’s total diet so they do not replace the nutrients provided by a complete feed.
Ducks may act as though they are starving whenever they see you with treats—I know mine do!—but too many treats can unbalance their diet and contribute to excess weigh. Foods like bread and crackers have no nutritional value to ducks and can cause malnutrition and painful deformities if consumed too much. Do not feed them to ducks or wild ducks. Feed ducks a maintenance pellet, (Layer pellet for females) cracked corn, oats, rice, birdseed, thawed peas, chopped lettuce (Kale, romaine), or sliced grapes, broccoli, carrots, strawberries. They also love watermelon, earthworm, and mealworms. Some ducks like different things.
Foods to Avoid
Avoid moldy or spoiled food completely. Ducks can be particularly vulnerable to toxins produced by mold, including aflatoxins. Cornell also warns about stagnant water, decaying organic material, certain pesticides, and rodenticides.
Foods generally considered unsafe for birds include avocado, chocolate, caffeinated beverages, alcohol, very salty junk foods, onions, and certain seeds or toxic plants. Avocado in particular has caused serious heart toxicity in susceptible bird species.
Keep Their Diet Simple
You do not need to create a complicated homemade diet to keep your ducks healthy. In fact, trying to formulate your own food without understanding poultry nutrition can easily result in nutritional deficiencies.
The simplest approach is:
Complete duck or waterfowl feed + clean water + moderate healthy treats + forage = a good foundation for a healthy duck.
Water
Never forget the water! Ducks should have clean drinking water available whenever they are eating. They use water to help swallow and clean food from their bills and nostrils.
Their drinking container should be deep enough for them to comfortably immerse their bill. Ducks do not require a swimming pool to eat or remain healthy, although access to bathing water provides enrichment and allows them to perform natural behaviors.
Because ducks make their water dirty unbelievably fast, drinking containers should be emptied, cleaned, and refilled frequently.
