Do Ducks Eat Tradescantia Purple Heart?

 

    Things are so expensive. A bag of plain chicken food without the additives to promote egg laying is about $20. When you factor in the cost of the baby duck food I have already given them, at this time I have spent about $40 in nothing but feed for these ducks. That makes them kinda expensive if I was owning them for meat. So any supplementation that I can give them from my plants would be a good thing.

     Between the corn sprouts and the water hyacinth, I have learned that they will eat Spanish Needle, but they won't eat Papyrus. And today I covered their splash ponds in Tradescantia Purple Heart, also called Moses in a Boat. It's a lovely succulent that grows in deep shade and is used often around here as a groundcover. Previously I had determined that the rabbits do indeed like it.

     Covered the splash ponds in Purple Heart, and then went on to do the next chore. By the time I turned around they were eating everything in sight, including the Purple Heart.

     That day they didn't finish their chicken crumble food or the corn sprouts because they filled up on healthy plants.

     Ducks love water hyacinth.

Alternative Duck Feeds

      You may have seen that I have been trying to sprout seeds to feed the ducks in order to feed them as naturally as possible and as cheaply as possible. I am a strong person, and I did carry 50 pounds of chicken crumble from the road to my house in order to make sure I had something for the ducks, but it wasn't fun. As awesome as having the ducks are, buying food isn't one of the things that I prefer to do for them.

     You may also know that my rabbits, when not breeding, eat a diet of alfalfa pellet and things I grow and harvest for them. I buy about two bags of alfalfa pellet a year. During the spring summer and fall, they eat water hyacinth, grass, and perennials. I always have them mulching things that I am trying to clean up in different areas of the yard. And they help in the kitchen too by eating banana peels and orange rinds and other waste.

Both of my dishes covered with Spanish Needle and Water Hyacinth

     When I first got the ducks I started them off with a bag of duck starter food, because I heard that it was wise. I heard that they need the niacin that is added, that if they don't get enough niacin it causes developmental problems. I also heard you could add brewers yeast for niacin, but when I looked up the cost of brewers yeast I discovered that it was cheaper to just buy the duck feed for the two chicks. And easier.

     Now that they are almost full grown, I have been researching as much as possible how and what to feed them. Most sources say regular chicken feed is fine with no supplementation needed until they start laying, and then you give them chicken layer feed.

     I watched a few YouTube videos about what they like to eat, of which there are not too many. Most people suggested pond plants, sprouted grains, and not much else. I bought some cheap dent corn, $9.00 a bag. At first they weren't interested in it at all, so I fed a bunch to the rabbits. Now they eat the sprouted corn if they are hungry, so win win. When I blow through this bag of corn I am going to get a bag of black oil sunflower seeds or birdseed and try sprouting that for them.

(Eats all the Spanish Needle)

     As for growies, so far their favorite food appears to be water hyacinth. It's very nutritious as well, some sources citing it at up to 60% protein. I eat it as well and so do the rabbits. It has a strange mouth feel but tastes just like green beans. Their next favorite food so far appears to be Spanish Needle, my good friend Bidens alba. I cut the leaves into bite sized pieces and throw it right into their water. The only other plant that I know for sure that they will eat are squash leaves, which were growing on a volunteer pumpkin in their enclosure. And they didn't want to eat that I think, they were just hungry that day and mad about the corn sprout situation, because at first they wouldn't eat them. Maybe tomorrow I will chop up some papyrus into the water and see if they will go for that.

Can you make Popcorn from Dent Corn in the Microwave?

      It turns out that the ducks don't seem to like corn sprouts very much, even though I think they are pretty good, and so do the rabbits. 

So what am I going to do with 40 pounds of whole 🌽? I guess I will slowly sprout it for the rabbits, since they seem to enjoy it so much, and I decided to try to pop it in the microwave like I pop regular popcorn for the kids, simply, plain with no butter or oil. 

     It turns out that whole corn from a bag from the feed store doesn't pop all that well. I now have a whole plate full of burned corn and about 5 pieces of popped corn.

     Sigh. Worth a try though. 

     Corn sprouts are good.

Sprouting Corn for the Ducks and Rabbits Part 1

 

    After doing much research, I have decided that I would rather sprout grains for the ducks than feed them prepared chicken feed. I will also give them prepared chicken feed, but I think it would be pretty cool to sprout corn or black oil sunflower seeds or really any grain, and be able to feed it to the ducks and rabbits. That being said, right now the ducks eat baby duck food, Water Hyacinth, and some leaves from Spanish Needle. Right now the rabbits eat Alfalfa pellets, water hyacinth, and plants from the yard primarily grasses and African Honeysuckle.

     There isn't that much information available about sprouting 🌽 for ducks. I chose corn because it was nine dollars for a fifty pound bag from the feed store. The black oil sunflower seeds are twenty dollars for a fifty pound bag. Or it may have been a forty pound bag. Much more expensive, but possibly more nutritious.

 

First overnight soak

   This particular brand had a lot of broken pieces of corn for a bag labeled whole corn. I may not get this brand again.