How to feed wild ducks

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Wild ducks are the most common birds that are massively settled on the shores of urban and natural reservoirs. Entrepreneurial poultry farmers managed to domesticate some species. These birds are unpretentious and picky to eat, but for normal development their diet should be enriched with useful substances and they can be fed additionally.

What do wild ducks eat in nature?

Wild duck creatures omnivores. In the natural environment, they themselves feed themselves, which includes:

• grass and roots;
• small mollusks, invertebrates and crustaceans;
• small fish;
• tadpoles and small frogs;
• plankton;
• mosquito larvae;
• algae;
• insects;
• berries;
• plants' seeds.

Dwelling on the shores of calm waters extract food from sludge and water. They filter the water through the beak and catch small animals. In shallow water, birds collect food from the bottom. To do this, they immerse their heads in water, leaving only the tail on the surface, and pick up the sludge.

In the summer, birds do not lack food and eat a varied diet. And in winter they feed more on vegetation: fruits and seeds of plants and berries.

Why feed

Birds pick up everything that falls into the water from the hands of men. They often eat baked goods, cookies, corn, seeds, chips, and even popcorn, so their instincts are dulled, and they are increasingly settled next to people. Once migratory birds, began to lead a sedentary life and winter in cities.

In the warm season, ducks need a lure only in special conditions:

• related to the environmental problems of water bodies;
• with a large number feathered on a small pond;
• if the birds are injured and are unable to independently feed.

In winter, ducks find it harder to find food, especially if the temperature drops below 15 degrees and the water bodies freeze completely. And to help ducks survive the cold, they need to be fed. But you need to do it right so as not to harm health feathered.

Ducks can be fed with the following foods:

• cottage cheese mixture with the addition of cereals and chopped herbs;
• oatmeal;
• fresh berries and fruits;
• boiled vegetables;
• grated cheese;
• feed that can be cooked at home or buy.

All products must be crushed and leave food should be on the shore, so as not to litter the pond.

Is it possible to feed

Ornithologists strongly against feeding wild birds, especially in the warm season. Instinctive nature impliesthat wild animals should feed themselves on their own.

Therefore, feeding the ducks leads to the fact that they have dulled natural instincts. They stop looking for food and are waiting for a new portion from a person. And with the arrival of winter, the ducks are not ready to fly to the south and remain in the lured place. And to survive without the help of a man feathered is very difficult.

Harmful to them bread with mold, which causes the development of aspergillosis - a deadly disease of birds.

What are the feed for ducks

In the diet of ducks must be present feed. animal and vegetable originas well as chalk, coarse sand and small seashells.

All bird feed can be divided into several main types:

• vitamin or green;
• cereal or cereal;
• animal feed;
• mineral supplements.

Each of them must be present in the diet of birds for full development.

Vitamin or green

In the summer, it is easy to provide such feed for domesticated wild ducks, and for the winter ration green fodder should be harvested.

For these purposes, the preparation is suitable:

1. Large green leaves and herbs that need to dry properly. Bundles of herbs and leaves should be hung in blown places.
2. Aquatic plants: duckweed, choir, hornpole, algae. Such greens are caught from the reservoirs and dried.
3. Vegetables: carrots, pumpkins, potatoes, swede, beets. Vegetables give raw or boiled, and carrots can also be salted.

Cereal or cereal

Such feeds form the basis of the diet of birds. It can be whole grain or crushed, therefore suitable for birds of any age.

The composition of such feed include:

• corn;
• millet;
• barley;
• grain waste;
• legumes;
• peas.

Cereal mixes are rich in carbohydrates, which essential for stable growth and development. The grain is well digested and does not clog the goiter, so the birds are always energetic and mobile.

Animal feed

it protein sourcewild ducks get by eating insects, small amphibians and fry fish. At home, supplements can help fill the lack of such food:

1. Fermented milk products: whey, cottage cheese, cheese.
2. Fishmeal, from which they prepare mixers and boil broths.
3. Meat and bone meal, which contains a lot of fat.
4. Fish meat - small fish, boneless fillet and fish waste.

Mineral Supplements

Minerals are needed by ducks for the formation of hard shell eggs, and solid particles help grind food. Therefore, feed should be enriched with chalk, crushed eggshell, shells, gravel, coarse sand and salt, which is given in small quantities.

Features cooking homemade feed

Compound feed, cooked at home, must be balanced in the right proportions.

One hundred grams of feed have to:

• 25 g of corn and wheat;
• 5 g peas;
• 20 g of barley;
• 5 g wheat bran;
• 8 g of sunflower trim;
• 2 g of fodder yeast;
• 2 g of fish and meat and bone meal;
• 5 g of chalk or seashells;
• 0.8 g of salt;
• 2 g of feed fat.

When calculating a large amount of feed, the weight of the ingredients increases proportionally. Adults are fed three times a day, in the form of wet mash. In the evening, you can give whole or germinated grain.

Feeding in summer

The rate of dry concentrated feed in the diet of ducks in the summer is 40%and green fodder 60%.

When driven, ducks are fed 4 times a day: twice with dry feed and twice with wet mash, to which aquatic plants and fresh greens are added. Mushrooms should be given in such quantity that they are completely eaten by birds, otherwise the food will deteriorate quickly.

The bird must have access to clean water and gravel.

Feeding in winter

In winter, ducks need to be fed only in the morning and in the evening. In the morning, give wet mash and combined silage, and in the evening - dry grain-mining feed.In the mixtures must be fish and meat and bone meal, boiled or raw vegetables, steamed dry grass.

Wild ducks are omnivores. They quickly become accustomed to regular feeding from human hands and stop caring for food. As a result, they get the wrong food, which leads to indigestion.

And in winter, birds cannot live without human help. And if a decision is made to feed wild ducks in the winter, to help them survive, it must be done properly - balanced feed. Improper diet will inevitably lead to death.

For domesticated birds, they also prepare complex grain mixtures with the addition of the necessary trace elements.