j-megirl563,

I start my duckling on organic starter mash. (unmedicated). Then at two weeks switch over to organic layer mash with brewers yeast added. The yeast is for Niacin. Niacin deficiency is crippling. Have clean water all the time for drinking and keeping the nasal passage clear.

Eric

Try looking/searching for a farm/feed store. We started our ducks on gamebird crumbles and avoided medicated feed. Ducklings grow very fast and should really be on a well balanced food. While the egg is a good quick fix you should really try to find a better food for him. Be very careful w/the heater set up, depending on your air temp. you may not need it very long. If you see him panting that would mean he is too hot.

-Sheila

ps. if you tell us where you are located maybe we could try and help you find a place to buy feed or feel free to e-mail me privately.

Thanks for answering me back so quickly.I live in Cleveland Ga.Ive been to farmers exchange and everything they have is medicated and they dont carry game bird crumbles.Im desperate. I keep tring all these different stores but noone has what I need.he ate fly's and meal worms last night,but I really need a staple food for him. Any other suggestions? Thanx
Jayme

if you are just looking for some basic easy to find food that i know mine loves...grass and dirt in the yard, canned corn (LOVES IT), canned carrots (again, loves it), and of course bugs which maybe yours doesn't like yet? mine loves grasshoppers, wasps, crickets, whatever it is that flies into his kiddie swimming pool and can't escape. his favorite way to eat is to sieve the water through his beak and get the tiny pieces. so, if i offered him grass or hay he wouldn't eat it from my hand (though canned corn and canned carrots he would) but if i just dumped a bunch of torn up weeds and what not in the pool or water bowl, he would eventually wind up eating it. maybe that will help til you feel a little less worried once you've had him longer. he will get an appetite soon enough. don't worry.

ps

you could put various crumbled up things in his water bowl since if he's young, probably not swimming yet. mine will eat what is crumbled up in water that would not normally eat.

Have you tried:
Pence Habersham Feed & Farm
(706) 754-3939
6637 Highway 115
Clarkesville, GA 30523

The other thing you could do is buy game bird pellets if that's all you can find and grind/crush them up yourself?

-Sheila

What's the major difference in medicated and non-medicated?The people at the feed shops keep telling me that medicated is to keep them from getting diseases,not to fatten them up for eating.They say there immune system isnt strong enough to fight off illnesses when there this young so they need medicated.Everyone on here says its's bad for them.Why?Should I get him some medicated chic starter or game bird crumble for now,and get him the unmedicated when I can?Should I stick with canned corn & carrots?Also,alot of other people are telling me that baby mallards are very illegal to have as a pet.Even if you rescued it.They said I will be fined for takeing it out of it's natural habitat.True?

DO NOT FEED A DUCKLING MEDICATED CHICK FOOD!!! Sorry for the yelling but the medicine in it can and has killed ducklings. For chicks it does help them but ducklings eat alot more than the chicks and it can kill them. Ducklings, or I have been told buy lots of knowledgable people, eat and eat so they will often eat to much and overdose on the medicine.

Do you know what breed the duck is? Here is a great site to look at. They have pics of all the different ones as adults and ducklings.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/BRKDucks.html

To get alot of duck info and talk to people who resuce ducks very often and know alot there is a good place to go. Unfortuanly this site has blocked me from posting the name of the place because there has been alot of spam about this place. Go here:

http://www.thegoosesmother.com/id15.html

scroll down to the category just after Health, Home Remedy, medicine sources. This next heading is what you look at. The very first one listed is what I am talking about. Sorry to have to be so vague, it's the sites policy that I cannot mention what I have told you to go too.

This is a good page for info:

http://www.thegoosesmother.com/id27.html

I will tell you my ducks love cat food, the dry bits. For a little one you may need to dampen it.

Lastly, if the baby is a mallard, it is more than likly illeagal to raise them. It is in alot of places. You must apply for a permit or run the risk of it being taken away from you and you getting fined or going to jail in the future. Rouens look exactly like mallards when they are babies except they have two black stripes around their eyes.

Hi I work at a feed store and we don't give medicated feed to anything. In ag it is the thing to do but we found 20% organic feed when young then 16% layer feed with the brewers yeast, works best we have faster growing fowl, they are healther, and we have fewer dead ones.

Thankyou everyone for helping me.Sadly my Howard died today.My family is devastated,especialy, my 4 year old son.I've been crying all day.I had no idea how attached you could get to a duck.We all loved him sooo much already.If anyone knows where I can get a new baby duck please let me know.It wont be the same because Howard had such an awesome personality,but we want another one.I would like one with the same personality traits as my mallard.If another mallard isnt possible.Thanks again for all of everyone's help. Jayme

I'm so sorry about Howard...it is possible he had something wrong with him, which could be how he got away from mama in the first place...you never know with nature. You tried, and you did the best you could.
Ducks can be a blast, and your family would love it. I'd suggest checking out or buying a few books on ducks, get a good duck-friendly set up ready, then next spring go to the feed store or a breeder and get a few domestic babies.

The only feed I can get in these here parts, except just plain grain like corn or oats or soybean meal is stuff like broiler or chick starter, grower, layer mash or broiler finisher.

Here is the list of ingredients from the broiler finisher label (I noticed that it's exactly the same list as for the chick starter only fat content on chick starter is shown smaller):

Crude protein 18.0%
Crude fat 4.0%
Crude fiber 3.2%

Ingredients:
ground yellow corn
plant protein products
animal protein products
forage products
animal fat preserved with BHA
ethoxyquin (preservative)
DL methionine
vitamin B12 supplement
riboflavin supplement
D activated animal sterol
menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfate (source of vitamin K activity)
vitamin E supplement
folic acid
niacin
calcium pantothenate
choline chloride
defluorinated phosphate
calcium carbonate
salt
sodium selenite
calcium iodate
manganous oxide
copper oxide
zinc oxide

Is this a "medicated" feed? It doesn't say "medicated" anywhere on the label. Would it be safe to feed it do ducklings?

I'm so sorry about your Howard.If you do get another duckling, you may want to get more than one. It's better for them to have some buddies and they need a way to keep warm when they are babies. Also, I read that if you only have one duck and it's a drake, it will try to mate with the one they are closest to if there are no other ducks around.
We fed our ducklings a game bird crumble, but you have to look at the protein percent. The wrong food may cause something called 'angel wing' and it can be crippling to your duck. We fed them the crumbles in the morning and evening and gave them chopped green beans, green peas, carrots,and diced stewed tomatoes. They LOVE these canned veggies. Now that they are bigger we feed them the crumbles, but in the mornings and evenings we give them clean cracked corn and they love it so much that they will waddle up the hill from our pond quacking away when they are hungry. It's really funny. They will eat the corn right out of our hands! We feed them their veggies in the evenings followed by the corn. Never feed your duck things like bread, it's like junk food to them and it keeps them from eating the healthy and appropriate foods they need. Oh, also, make sure you feed them close to the water. They like to take frequent drinks while they eat. They will eat bugs, snails, grass...almost amything that will crawl. They love earthworms too.
Hope this helps with your future ducks! Good luck!

I live in the Dallas Tx. area and we now have 8 baby ducks in our pool. My husband has gone to the pet store to find food for baby ducks, but they seem to only carry food for grown ducks. Where can I find food for the babies. They are SO CUTE. Mom seems to find a lot of food and she does eat the corn we put out, but the babies don't. We want them to be healthy. Please help me.