muscovys general diet

[animal mad]

Hi I have a pair of 14 week old lavender muscovy and they are brilliant. the only problem i seem to be having is with their diet they came having been free ranged and being feed mixed corn with a bit of bread. i have been told they should be on breeders pellets the only problem is they wont eat it. i guess they get a lot of their diet free ranging the garden and were only eating a handful of corn twice a day, for the last couples of days they wont eat unless i mix corn with pellets.

The boy has nipped the girl once or twice over a period of 3 weeks, i was told this was feather pecking due to a poor diet or i was also told the male needs another female. 99 % of the time they are happy together and their is no problem, jst not sure what to do, any help would be great.

[Kats]

Where are you? I'm in upstate NY and I let mine get 90% of their food by free ranging during the spring, summer, fall, but they need feed during the winter. I would just put a little feed out every day and as food gets harder to find outdoors, I think you'll find they will eat more and more. Mine love dried dog food! I use it to lure them into their shed at night.

Nipping each other's feathers can be affectionate/sexual. I wouldn't worry about it unless one of them is being pecked bald.

[animal mad]

thanks, i am in somerset uk, i dont think muscovy are a big think here.

[Cathy]

It very well could be that they're just not familiar with what you're trying to feed them.  The problem with pellets is that they've been made by grinding up the grain being used (not necessarily the best that can be found, either, usually just the cheapest!) and then a protein source is added to reach the desired protein, then a binder is added along with various minerals and vitamins & the pellets are formed based on this little mix-mox of stuff.  As soon as a grain is cracked the quality begins degrading, so a lot of times you're getting a product that isn't the freshest.  I personally prefer to feed whole & cracked grains, but thankfully I can get just about everything I feed somewhat locally and in bulk, but I also have a feedmill that works with me.  I add a poultry premix & BOSS and have a pretty good ration.  I have started just feeding chick starter to ducklings because I don't have enough anymore to justify the custom ration I used to have made in bulk.  It might just take some getting used to for the ducks to begin eating the pellet you're giving, but don't feel guilty about choosing to feed grains.  They'll always be a little low on protein unless you supplement that somehow, but they're a perfectly good foodstuff plus it never hurts if they're able to forage and supplement what you're feeding.