Can you buy feed that is made specifically for waterfowl? Probably not. Most of our customers cannot and they are not sure which chicken, game bird or general poultry feed to use. We are going to help solve your problem but we first need your help.
We are contacting feed manufacturers throughout the US and Canada and collecting the nutritional breakdown of each different sacked poultry feed they make. From this information, we will recommend which feed to use, for each feed company, for the different phases in the life of your waterfowl.
However, we want to make sure we have information from as many feed manufacturers as possible. Below is a list of those companies we have contacted. These are not feed stores, but rather the names of the companies that make and sack the feed. If the manufacturer of your feed is not listed, please send us the name of the manufacturer and method to contact them - phone number, website or mailing address.
Once we are satisfied we have most feed companies represented, we will put a page on our website with our recommendations. But first we need your help to make sure we have all the major sacked poultry feed companies represented.
The feed manufacturers we have, updated March 2015:
- Ace High
- ADM
- Bartlett
- Belstra
- Big V Feeds
- BlueBonnet Feeds
- Blue Seal
- Co-op Feeds
- Diamond
- Evergreen
- Farmers Best
- Flint River
- Ful-O-Pep
- Hiland
- Homestead
- Intermountain Farmers
- Kalmbach Feeds
- Kelley's Feed
- Kent Feed
- LA Hearne
- Lone Star
- Manna Pro
- Martindale Feed Mills
- Mazuri
- McGreary
- MFA Inc.
- Modesto Milling
- Nutrena
- OH Kruse
- Payback
- Pennfield - Nature's Nutrition
- Poulin
- Purina
- Ranch Way Feeds
- Scratch & Peck Feeds
- Southern States
- Stillwater Milling
- Union Grove
- United Suppliers
- X-Cel Poultry
We are starting our chicks on DuMor Chick Starter/Grower tomorrow morning. It is distributed by Tractor Supply Company and is formulated for them exclusively by a bid process as far as I can tell.
ReplyDeleteIt has:
Crude Protein min 20.0%
Lysine min 1.0%
Methionine min 0.5%
Crude fat min 2.5%
Crude fiber max 4.5%
Calcium min 0.7% max 1.2%
Phosphorous min 0.65%
Salt min 0.25% max 0.5%
Sodium min 0.1% max 0.4%
Selenium min 0.3ppm
I appreciate your efforts with regards to the feed nutrients and look forward to your results.
Thanks,
Scott Graham
I have four ducklings from metzer (cayuga and khaki campbell) and I have had them on layer mash and I heard this was wrong. I am switching them to nutrena unmedicated feed, and was wondering if that is the appropriate feed for three week old ducklings? I also would like to know what feed to switch them to after and when to switch the feed ( I am NOT planning on eating them when they grow up, so is that considered a "layer"?) thanks for the help, Liana
ReplyDeletePlease add Homestead Feeds to your list:
ReplyDeleteHubbard Feeds
P.O. Box 8500
424 N. Riverfront Drive
Mankato, MN 56002
Phone # 1-800-869-7219
http://www.homesteadfeeds.com/
You might want to add CHS payback waterfowl food. It is 20% protein so I mix with rolled oats after a couple weeks of age. Analysis is available online and waterfowl feed is listed under game birds. Would be interested in your recommendations.
ReplyDeleteHiland Naturals 3878 County Road 135. Millersburg, Ohio 44654 (330) 893-2016
ReplyDeleteI started out feeding manna pro gamebird feed, then started feeding purina flock starter and one of my ducklings died shortly after and one duckling has legs that he can not walk on and is not growing. now I have switched back to manna pro gamebird feed.
ReplyDeleteI am currently feeding ADM (Pen Pals)poultry feed because we have not been able to get their game bird feed in our area. I am having problems with the ducks choking with the crumbles. Their pellets are a nice small size but not for the younger ducks. I would love to know if the game bird is a good feed.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.admani.com/AllianceGameBird/Game%20bird%20feed%20products.htm
The other company that is coming to our area is Kalmbach and they have a line of game bird products also.
http://www.kalmbachfeeds.com/Game-Birds.html
Thank you for your interest and your help,
We like to have a minimum of 21% protein in a starter feed for waterfowl. Oftentimes gamebird feed is the only available feed with this level of protein. I have visited the ADM and Kalmbach websites and I see no problem in using either of their gamebird starter feeds.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that your ducklings are choking on the crumbles. They must be exceedingly large crumbles.
Have you seen the organic soy-free laying ration from Countryside Organics?
ReplyDeleteThey are at
801 2nd Street, Waynesboro, VA 22980
countrysideorganics.com
Thank you for information on the feed mill we did not have in our list.
ReplyDeleteI have been feeding Nutrena Naturewise all-flock to my ducks, a mixed bevy of pekin, swedish, runners, rouen and cuyuga. They have good healthy looking bodies and lay fairly well. We feed them organic veggie scraps from our kitchen. What else do they need for the winter?
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a perfect diet to me!
ReplyDeleteWhen will you be posting your recommendations for sacked poultry feed on your web site and where will we find the list on your web site once it's posted? Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteWe hope to complete it by the end of the month. Go to
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metzerfarms.com/feedmills.cfm to find it. You can go now but we do not have recommendations for all feed mills yet.
Star Milling Co.
ReplyDeletePO Box 1987
Perris, CA 92572
www.starmilling.com
x-cell feeds inc.
ReplyDelete5436 S Washington St
Tacoma, WA,
98409-2708
phone# 253-474-0531
I have never bought this line of feed but I seen at the store they had a feed sack labled duck&goose feed.
My ducks run as they please during the day, feeding on snails worms and who knows what, I buy crack corn and feed them every evening, this corn is what is available at the little store I go to, is it not enough? I am concerned now after reading about mixing feed and all, my ducks roam and come home every evening for shelter. Please reply.
ReplyDeleteCorn is a major ingredient in any mixed feed. So it depends how many nutrients they get from foraging and how much from the corn. If they eat over .3-.35 pounds of corn per duck per day, then I would go to a mixed feed. Otherwise, that is about how much corn they would get each day in a mixed feed. Enjoy your ducks!
ReplyDeleteApologize, for digging up an old post but recommendations for Canadians? despite having some brands as the US products vary considerably, causing much confusion when trying to sort feeds out.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input!
No, we couldn't dig up much info on Canadian feed manufacturers. Sorry. If you want to scan the feed sack tag or nutrient breakdown and email it to us along with a description of the birds you want to feed, we can make a recommendation.
DeleteI certainly can! thank you!
DeleteI'm having trouble locating the "list" of recommended feeds. Has it been compiled yet? If so, can you please post a link in a prominent location? Thank you for doing this. It is a great service.
ReplyDeleteWe have not yet compiled this list. We hope to this spring.
DeleteRanch-Way Feeds • 546 Willow Street • Fort Collins, Colorado 80524 • 1.800.333.7929 http://www.ranch-way.com/
ReplyDeleteI wanted to start my baby ducks out on certified organic food so I got Nature Smart Organic Chick Starter/Grower 20%. Here is the guaranteed analysis and ingredients:
ReplyDeleteCrude Protein… Min 20%
Lysine …………Min 1.0%
Methionine ……Min .0.32%
Crude Fat ……..Min 2.5%
Crude Fiber …..Max 6.0%
Phosphorus …..Min 0.55%
Salt ……………Min 0.25% Max 0.6%
Sodium ……….Min 0.18% Max 0.24%
Ingredients:
Organic Ground Wheat, Organic Soybean Meal, Organic Wheat Middlings, Organic Ground Corn, Calcium carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Salt, Dried Penicillium funiculosum Fermentation Extract, Sodium Bicarbonate, Choline Chloride, DL-Methnionine, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex (source of vitamin K activity(, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Chloride, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Sulfate, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Sodium Selenite.
MFG Contact information:
Mailing address:
Agway Brand
C/O Cargill Animal Nutrition
8 Southwoods Blvd
Albany, NY 12211
Phone Number:
518-465-2481
Since most starter feed isn't quite high enough in protein, can their diet be supplemented with snails and slugs? If so, how old do the ducks need to be before they can eat them?
ReplyDeleteYes, they would love snails, slugs, worms, insects, etc. Age of consumption depends on the size of the morsel. They will eat them as soon as they can swallow them. Small worm pieces by several days. Large slugs by 10-14 days.
DeleteI fed Manna Pro Organic Non-medicated Starter crumbles until my duckings were 5 weeks. That became hard to get, now I am feeding a GMO and soy free crumble from KING (LA Hearne). In a couple of weeks I need to change to a layer/maintainer feed so far I have been happy with the prior two feeds and might look into King for a comparable feed for the next phase.
ReplyDeleteMy guys also eat lots of flies, gnats, and other bugs which wander past, and grass and shredded greens.
I am another person who uses Kalmbach feeds. I provide their 20% starter-grower pellets to all my poultry: chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys. All birds are also loose in fenced pasture every day but locked inside in the evening in separate pens. The ducks and geese do not have food and water when they are inside, the chickens and turkeys do. This effectively limit feeds the waterfowl so nobody is overweight, and they are all very active outside, going to the farthest corners of their 3.5 acre pasture (better foragers than most of the chickens). Also their pen floor has not rotted away from playing in the waterers! The geese eat a lot of grass, and I see the ducks chasing and eating a lot of bugs all day. All have access to minerals when outside. Just fyi, the little buggers did get inside my vegetable garden fence last year, and they immediately ate all of my potato plants, which I always thought were poison, right down to the roots! I wouldn't trust my ducks anywhere near my garden--chomp chomp!
ReplyDeleteCountry Life is a Costco Item chicken feed:
ReplyDeleteCountry Life
PO Box 5614
Minneapolis, MN 55440
phone 800-367-4894
The bags at Costco are the Country Life Organic Layer 16 Crumble (BW).