Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Ranging and Foraging
As my ducks become fully feathered, I maintain the ration's protein level at 15 percent,
but also provide them with the opportunity to forage and find insects and greens. My
pasture is fenced to fend off foxes and the like, and my ducks spend the entire day there.
I'm here to tell you that a duck on pasture is a happy duck, and they will search a wider
and wider area each day searching for greens and “goodies.”
Ducks love slugs, snails, worms, and old garden produce — basically anything some-
what edible that they can get into their mouths. It is great to turn them into a garden in
the fall after harvest and let them stick their little shovel bills into the dirt to pick up all
kinds of larvae, pests, and rotting harvest residue. While they are cleaning the garden
of unwanted pests and rotting produce, they are actively fertilizing the soil with their
waste.
Foraging Dangers
Don't let your waterfowl range day and night. I recommend installing a good fence to
help protect them, as they will be quickly poached by stealthy predators — especially
dogs, foxes, and coyotes — if you don't. Your fence height and strength depend largely
upon the predators living in your area. Foxes are capable of finding small holes and
jumping over short fences. I recommend a good sturdy welded wire fence at least 4 feet
(1.2 m) tall; 5 feet (1.5 m) tall is better. Hog, cattle, or field fence is strong enough, but
the gaps between the panels of the fence are so large that predators, and the ducks, can
get through them. Welded wire fence typically has either 2 inch by 2 inch (5×5 cm) pan-
els or 2 by 4 inch (5 × 10 cm) panels. Even the smallest ducks can't get through these
panels.
EXCESS PROTEIN = ANGEL WING
Two trains of thought regarding angel wing are ever-circulating: Some say the con-
dition is genetic; others feel it is a result of birds fed too much protein and forced to
grow too fast. There may well be cases where it can be both, but I don't think so.
I've bred pairs of birds with severe cases of angel wing, and raised their young on
pasture with controlled feed. None of the off-spring showed signs of angel wing. In
more than 20 years of raising waterfowl, I've never had a case that could be traced
to genetics. Goslings and ducklings allowed to graze on green pasture rarely contract
this condition; those raised in confinement will almost always get some form of it.
