The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Alex_ on November 06, 2017, 11:24:20 am
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So for the first time this year I bred Muscovy ducks. It went well and I got some little ones that ended up in my freezer.
Next year I am looking at reducing costs (this is a hobby/lifestyle choice and not a living). I have been feeding my birds the smallholder range pellets which is fairly expensive when you go from 3 birds to 23 birds.
I don't live near any farm shops that sell poultry feed so I mostly buy online.
I wondered what you fed your meat birds and how it has worked out for you?
Thanks
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At the moment I don't feed muscovies much at all.
I let them out in the morning an just before dark feed them some rolled oats. Will start giving them layers pellets in February or late January.
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Next year I am looking at reducing costs (this is a hobby/lifestyle choice and not a living). I have been feeding my birds the smallholder range pellets which is fairly expensive when you go from 3 birds to 23 birds.
I don't live near any farm shops that sell poultry feed so I mostly buy online.
I wondered what you fed your meat birds and how it has worked out for you?
Thanks
You surely can't be so far away from farm shops that you need to buy online, which is by far the most expensive way of getting feed. :o
I feed my ducks on a mixture of wheat and layers/growers pellets. The cheapest place to get corn is from a local farmer, or from Home Bargains - sold as wild bird seed but 99% wheat at £3.99/12.5kg.
You don't even have to go to a farm store. Any pet shop should be able to get you bags of poultry feed. It's surely worth finding somewhere, going a few miles further, and stocking up with a few months' supply. :thinking: [size=78%] [/size]
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I buy 20kg of pure wheat for £5 from the pound shop. 20kg of Heygates layers pellets for £6.90. 20kg of rolled oats for £3
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This was my second year of muscovies, The first year we fed them a mix of black oats, barley, (both bought locally) Alfalfa pellets, boiled potatos and pumpkin, worked out to be 16% protein, they also free ranged. They all lived and grew. Slaughtering was a disappointment however, at 20 weeks they were struggling to hit 1kg dressed weight for the boys. This year they got barley (locally bought) and organic Pig grower, which if you read the label is also for fattening ducks. They were slaughtered at 14 weeks and were 1.5 kg dressed for the boys. (I think I have pretty light muscovies dad isn't over 4kg standing. Again they were free-range so I would expect faster growth if they were caged. Ducklings should NOT get layers ration, it contains way too much calcium for them and can damage their kidneys.
I keep my hens and ducks together and they all get the same food, this means the hens are also on pig food, they have free choice grit and shell, small ducklings can't get the shells but after about 2 weeks I expect they can make it up there.
Grain direct from a farmer is the way to go. I can buy it from the feed merchant at 50p a kg or direct from the farmer for 10p. (I'm not in the UK so those are just to show the difference!) Get yourself some big bags, I use hessian potato sacks and check the free adds.