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.
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| 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.
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| (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.