Feeding Ducks in Ghana: Diets by Age and Purpose

Can the ducklings share the broiler starter?

Here is a question we hear more than most. You have half a bag of broiler starter left from a chick batch, and six Pekin ducklings in a box by the kitchen. Can the ducklings eat the same feed for a few weeks, so you do not have to make a trip into town?

Our honest answer was: maybe, but read the bag first. If you are buying your first ducklings, our frequently asked questions cover the basics of what to expect in the first week. A broiler starter is built for a fast-growing chicken, and a duckling has a different appetite for some nutrients. Niacin is the one that causes the most trouble. Ducklings grow quickly on their legs and bones, and when the niacin in their ration runs short, they splay, walk badly and do not thrive. Chicken rations are not always balanced for that.

So the practical rule is this. Use a feed labelled for ducks, or a starter that the maker confirms in writing is suitable for ducklings and declares niacin on the analysis. If your supplier cannot tell you, do not use the bag. A feed that costs a little more per bag is cheaper than a pen of crippled ducks.

We are not telling you to avoid chicken feed altogether. Some farmers use a good quality chick starter as a stopgap for a few days when the duck feed runs out. Keep that short, write the date down, and go back to the duck feed as soon as you can.

Three jobs, three diets: meat, eggs and breeding

Most of the confusion about duck feed comes from treating every duck the same. A diet is built for a job. The bird's job decides how much protein it needs, how much energy it burns and how much calcium it has to lay down in the shell.

A meat duck, usually a Pekin, is trying to put on weight quickly. It needs a steady protein level while the frame grows, then enough energy to fatten in the last weeks. It does not need calcium at all, and too much protein late in the cycle is money spent on muscle you do not need.

An egg duck, such as an Indian Runner or a Khaki Campbell, is light and nervous. Its work is laying, and the feed has to carry enough protein and a lot of calcium for the shell. When a laying duck is short of calcium, the shells thin and the birds eat their own eggs if they can reach them.

A breeding duck is a layer with an extra job. Its ration has to support egg quality and fertility, and that depends on a steady, uninterrupted feed supply more than on any single ingredient. Two feed changes in one month will hit the hatch before anything else you can see.

If you are not sure which job your birds are doing, ask your supplier which breed you have and what it was bred for. A local duck kept for meat and eggs will need a compromise, and you should watch its weights and its egg count for a month before you settle on a ration. Our breeds page describes the general behaviour of the types we know, and it is a better starting point than a guess.

Turkeys and game birds run on a different protein curve from ducks. If you keep several species, our turkey feeding guide and our guinea fowl feeding guide set out their numbers separately, and you should keep each species on its own ration.

Duckling starter at 20 to 22 per cent, and the label you must read

In the first three weeks, ducklings need a starter ration around 20 to 22 per cent protein. That is a little lower than the protein many turkey and game bird starters carry, and it is a little higher than most growers. The figure matters less than whether the bag is built for ducklings, so read the whole label.

Look for three things. First, the protein level, stated as crude protein. Second, niacin, which should appear in the guaranteed analysis or in the ingredient and additive list. Third, a feed date and a batch number, so you can match a bad bag to a bad outcome if something goes wrong.

Keep the starter in a dry store, off the floor, and do not buy more than four or five weeks ahead in the rainy months. Feed that sits in a warm, damp store turns musty within weeks, and ducklings are the wrong birds to test it on.

The first days are the hardest. Put the starter in shallow trays where the ducklings can see it, and check that every duckling is eating within the first hours. A duckling that stands at the tray and ignores it is either cold or unwell, and feed will not fix either problem.

Why we wet the first feed for ducklings

Ducklings handle dry crumb badly. They pick it up, drop it, and sweep it into their water. We have seen whole trays of starter disappear into a drinker on a hot afternoon, and the birds that ate least were the ones that needed it most.

Our routine for the first week is to dampen the starter with a little clean water until it holds together when squeezed. It should look like crumbly porridge, not soup. Spread it in shallow trays, a thin layer at a time, and offer fresh feed more often than you would for chickens.

The catch is heat. Wet feed goes off quickly in a Ghanaian afternoon, so do not leave it out. Clear anything the birds have left after about two hours, and wash the trays every day. A wet feed that smells sour is a bigger threat to ducklings than a dry feed that is a little short on protein.

Once the ducklings are at about three weeks and eating well from a feeder, you can stop wetting the feed. Do it gradually over two or three days, so the change in texture does not put the birds off eating.

Growing ducks from week three: stepping protein down to 16 to 18 per cent

When the ducklings move on to a grower, their protein comes down, and many new keepers panic when they see the change. The birds are not losing ground. A growing duck that carries less protein than it did in its first weeks is simply building frame and muscle at a steadier pace, and the energy in the grower carries the weight gain.

A grower around 16 to 18 per cent protein suits meat ducks from about three weeks to market. We do not recommend dropping straight from the starter to the lowest figure on the shelf. Step down in two stages if you can, or mix the two rations for four or five days so the ducks adjust to the new taste and texture.

Weigh a sample of birds every week. Pick ten at random, weigh them on a kitchen scale in a bucket, and write the average down. If the average slows for two weeks running, the ration is too low in protein or too low in energy for the birds you have. Do not wait for the end of the cycle to find out. Our guide to feed wastage shows how to tell a ration problem from a feeding-method problem.

A bird that is growing well will be eating a reasonable amount and will be active on its feet. If the birds sit in the water edge all afternoon, or the legs look weak when they walk, stop and check the feed label before you blame the breed.

Laying ducks need calcium in a separate dish

Laying ducks need a layer ration around 16 to 17 per cent protein, and that ration needs a lot of calcium. Most keepers aim for a ration with roughly 3 to 3.5 per cent calcium, which is far more than a grower carries. Eggshell is made almost entirely of calcium carbonate, so a duck that lays every day is drawing on her calcium every day.

Here is the mistake we see most. Farmers mix the oyster shell into the layer mash because it is easier, and then the calcium is eaten unevenly. Some ducks take a lot and others take very little. The result is a flock where a few birds lay good shells and most lay thin ones.

Keep the oyster shell in its own dish next to the layer feed, so each duck can take what it needs. Fill the dish every morning, and watch what is left. A dish that is empty by midday means the ration is short on calcium. A dish that is full for days means your birds are doing well with the mash.

Duck eggs with soft or rough shells are often the first sign that calcium is short. Check the eggs each morning, and if you see a change, check the ration and the shell dish before you change anything else.

Feeding beside water without losing half the bag

Ducks are not chickens, and their feeding habits are messier. They dunk their heads, they splash, and they pick up feed and carry it to the water edge. A farmer who sets feeders on the bank of a pond or a plastic pool can watch a big chunk of the bag disappear in a single week.

Put the feeders on dry ground, away from the water, and use a drinker that keeps the feed dry and the water clean. A simple rule works well: the feed should be dry and the water should be deep enough to dunk but not deep enough to drown a duckling. A raised feeder with a lip, placed under cover, does the job. The feeder and drinker guide goes into the designs in more detail.

In the rainy season, the feed around the water also turns damp, and damp feed grows mould. Mould in a duck ration is a real risk, and the toxins some moulds produce are a problem you cannot see by looking at the bag. Our feed storage guide explains how to keep grain and mash dry, and it is worth reading before the rains start.

Clean the drinkers and the feed trays every few days, and remove any feed that has been sitting in the wet. Ducks will eat from a dirty tray if they are hungry, and that is how a mouldy meal ends up in a bird.

Greens, snails and the feed you can save in the rains

Ducks forage well. Given grass, duckweed, small snails, worms and insects, a healthy duck will take a good share of its energy from the ground. That is one of the reasons duck farming suits a small yard with a damp corner. In the rains, the foraging can cover a surprising amount of the feed bill.

Foraging is not a feeding plan, though. In the dry harmattan months, the grass dies back, the insects go underground, and the ducks eat far less from the ground. A duck that relied on the pond in December will be underfed by January. Keep the ration at the level the birds need, and treat greens and snails as a bonus.

Foraging is also part of the free-range picture we describe in our guide to feeding free-range birds, and many of the same rules apply. Chopped green leaves, such as moringa or sweet potato tops, are useful as a supplement, but they do not replace protein. A green leaf is mostly water and fibre. Offer them in small amounts and remove what is left.

Never feed stale bread as a treat. Bread is high in salt and low in the nutrients a duck needs, and it fills the crop without feeding the bird. We see it fed to ducks in towns and then the same farmers ask why the ducks are slow to grow.

A feed bill for 40 Pekin ducks to market

Feed is the largest running cost in most duck flocks, and the same sum applies to a ration bought ready-made or mixed at home, as our home mixing article explains, so it is worth doing the sum before the birds arrive. This example uses round numbers, and you should replace every one of them with your own figures. We have assumed a feed price of GH₵4 per kilogram purely to make the arithmetic clear. Your miller's price will be the one that counts.

Assume 40 Pekin ducks, raised to about seven weeks. For this example, each duck eats about 9 kilograms of feed from start to market. That is a working figure for the arithmetic only. Your own feed records, kept for one full batch, will give you the number you can trust.

The sum goes like this. Forty birds at 9 kilograms each is 360 kilograms of feed. At GH₵4 per kilogram, that comes to GH₵1,440. Divided across 40 ducks, the feed cost is GH₵36 per bird. Add the chick price from your supplier, the litter, water, medicines and your own time, and you have the real cost per bird to set your price against.

Now compare the feed line with what the ducks sell for. If the feed cost per bird is a large share of the price you can get, the answer is either a cheaper ration, a shorter growing period or a better price. Do not solve it by starving the birds. Underfed ducks take longer to reach weight, and the extra days cost more feed than they saved.

Duck feed by age and purpose at a glance

This table is a starting point. Confirm each ration with your supplier, and let your own weight and egg records have the last word. The protein levels are typical ranges for commercial duck rations, not a guarantee from any particular bag.

The meat and layer lines use different feeds for good reason. A layer ration on a meat flock is a waste of protein and calcium, and a grower ration on laying ducks leaves the shells thin. For the wider picture on how a bird's feed changes as it ages, our phase feeding article covers the same logic for chickens.

Four feeding mistakes we see on duck farms

Most of the duck problems that reach us at the hatchery start with the feed, not the chicks. These are the four we see most often.

1. Using a chicken starter with no niacin information. The birds look fine for a fortnight, then the legs start to go. By then the damage is done.
2. Putting the shell in the mash. It looks tidy, but the calcium goes to the bold birds and the shy ones lay thin eggs.
3. Feeding at the water edge. Half the ration ends up in the pond, and the rest goes damp and mouldy in the afternoon.
4. Changing rations without a plan. A switch from grower to layer in a single day upsets appetite, and a flock that stops eating for two days loses growth it never gets back.

None of these needs a large budget to fix. They need a feed sheet, a few clean trays and the habit of weighing a few birds on the same day each week.

A checklist for the feed store before the ducklings arrive

Work through this list before the first box comes off the van. If you have not yet placed an order, the order form and our delivery page show how the chicks reach you and what the box looks like on arrival. It takes an afternoon and saves weeks of guessing.

• Confirm with your supplier which starter they carry for ducklings, and get the niacin figure in writing.
• Buy enough starter for the first four weeks, and no more than a month ahead in the rains.
• Store feed off the floor, under cover, with a clean lid on every bin.
• Set up shallow starter trays on dry ground, away from the water.
• Buy a separate shell dish for the layers, and keep it filled from the point of lay.
• Agree with your buyer or supplier when you will move the ducks to grower and then to market.
• Keep a notebook with the bag batch, the date opened, the weight sample and any change you made.

If you are not sure about any ration, ring +233 24 915 1503 with your breed and a note of what the birds are for. We will tell you what we know, and where the answer depends on your local feed, we will say so.

Questions farmers ask