If you have backyard chickens and ducks, you may wonder if you can feed them the same diet. After all, it would be more convenient to have one feeding regimen for all of your feathered friends.
Can chickens and ducks eat the same things? As it turns out, chickens and ducks have some overlap in their nutritional needs and what they can safely eat, but there are also some key differences you’ll want to keep in mind.
In this blog post, we’ll take a deep dive into chicken and duck diets, including what they can and cannot share. We’ll also provide some tips on how to optimize their feed, treat them for maximum health benefits, and avoid any dangerous mismatches that could make them sick.
The Basics: What Chickens Need in Their Diet
As omnivores, chickens need a balanced diet of seeds/grains, veggies, fruits, protein from bugs or feed, calcium from their grit, and access to fresh, clean water at all times. Here is a quick checklist of chicken diet necessities:
- Whole grains and/or commercial feed: This makes up 50-70% of their daily calories. Examples include corn, wheat, barley, millet, and oats.
- Protein: Supply 10-15% of their diet from cooked eggs, mealworms, bugs, seeds, or commercial feed blends. This aids egg production.
- Fruits and veggies: Offer choppable produce like kale, berries, melon, broccoli, spinach, squash, and fresh sprouts. This should make up around 20-40% of their food intake.
- Calcium: Their grit contains calcium from oyster shells, limestone, or dirt/sand. Free-choice grit should always be available.
- Treats in moderation: Examples are cracked corn, birdseed, pumpkin seeds, grapes, peas, yogurt, cheese, fresh sprouts, and leafy greens. Don’t overdo it.
- Clean water: This should be available at all times. Refresh it daily.
What Do Ducks Need for Balanced Nutrition?
Like chickens, ducks are omnivorous and need a mixture of grains, protein sources, produce, grit for digestion, and fresh water. Here are the basics:
- Pellets and grain: Offer a base diet of waterfowl feed, mixed corn, wheat, barley, oats, etc. This should total around 75% of their food.
- Produce with variety: Chopped kale, chard, lettuce greens, squash, berries, and other fresh fruits and veggies should make up about 15-20% of their intake.
- Protein: Ducks gobble up grubs, bugs, slugs, and worms naturally, but you can also feed mealworms, grasshoppers, soldier fly larvae, crickets, minnows, tadpoles or commercial duck feed blends with protein built in. This makes up 5-10% of their diet.
- Grit: Offer insoluble “flint” grit that helps them grind and digest fibrous foods.
- Clean, fresh water: Ducks use more water than chickens thanks to their wetland roots and tendency to splash, play and dunk their entire heads. Give them a tub, trough or other large container to swim and wash their eyes, nostrils and feathers. Change it daily.
Never feed ducks bread!
Overlaps in Chicken and Duck Dietary Needs
As you can see, chickens and ducks have a good bit of overlap when it comes to their dietary needs. Here are some of the key similarities:
- Both are omnivores that enjoy a diverse diet.
- Neither species strictly needs animal protein, but they benefit from the addition of bugs, larvae, or feed blends to support egg production.
- Grains, seeds and pelleted feed make up the bulk of both diets. Corn, wheat, milo, barley and oats are great choices.
- Fresh fruits and chopped veggies add valuable vitamins, minerals and fiber. Offer a diverse mix.
- Calcium-rich grit helps both species grind and digest foods. It should be available for free choice.
- Treats are fine in moderation but shouldn’t replace balanced nutrition sources.
When it comes to these components, chickens and ducks can eat almost identically. The key is to ensure their overall diet meets the approximate ratio of carbs to proteins to produce, as outlined above.
Where Chicken and Duck Dietary Needs Differ
On the flip side, chickens and ducks also have some distinct differences when it comes to their nutritional needs. Here’s what you need to know:
- Protein levels: Ducks need less overall protein than chickens, for whom protein is key for egg production. Meat bird species like Pekins only need 5-10% protein versus 10-15% protein needed by most chicken breeds.
- Produce proportions: Ducks have a higher tolerance and even preference for fibrous veggies like kale, chard and lettuce greens versus chickens that do best with more chopped fruit or tender greens.
- Feed type: Chickens need a 20-21% protein commercial feed versus ducks that do better on a 16% protein, medicated starter ration like waterfowl starter/grower.
- Treat focus: Chickens go crazy for treats like fresh sprouts, berries, pumpkin seeds and mealworms, while ducks are happiest foraging for slugs, grubs, tadpoles, frogs, small fish and insects, which chickens may ignore.
- Grit composition: Chickens need calcium-rich oyster shell grit, while insoluble granite or flint grit is safer for ducks.
The takeaway? While chickens and ducks enjoy many of the same dietary components, the proportions matter greatly, and some specialized feed or grit suited to their species is ideal.
Tips on Feeding Chickens and Ducks Together
If you want the convenience of one mixed flock, here are some tips on meeting both chicken and duck needs:
- Offer a base diet of commercial waterfowl or game bird feed, which has 16-18% protein, versus layer feed designed for chickens. This suits ducks better.
- Free feed mixed thin-hulled grains like wheat, barley or cracked corn so chickens get carbs while ducks can forage for bugs.
- Provide a separate tub of calcium-rich oyster shell grit for chickens and insoluble granite grit for ducks. Offer free choice.
- Rotate fruits and veggies favoring leafy greens, berries and melons for chickens 2-3 days a week and fibrous greens like kale, chard and lettuce for ducks the other days.
- On the veggie days for ducks, offer chickens cooked eggs or mealworms for added protein.
- Every few days, sprinkle special treats suited to chickens (berries, sprouts) and ducks (slugs, grubs) in separate areas.
- Ensure adequate space and supervision at feedings. Chickens may outcompete ducks, especially for protein-rich foods and treats. Keep an eye out for bullying.
By tweaking proportions, offering some separate grit and treat stations, and planning feedings carefully with their different beaks and behaviors in mind, you absolutely can keep chickens and ducks together. It just takes more effort and vigilance than feeding uniform flocks of one species. Their nutritional needs have enough key contrasts that you must compensate accordingly.
Health Troubles to Watch Out For
Getting the diet right means avoiding health issues in both species. Here are some to be aware of:
Chickensface increased risk of:
- Egg production drops or loss due to inadequate protein. Supplement with cooked eggs, mealworms or 16-20% layer feed.
- Egg shell and bone density troubles if lacking oyster shell calcium grit.
- Feather pecking and aggression if bored or underfed.
Ducks are more prone to:
- Angel wing: A wing deformity exacerbated by rapid growth and high protein. Keep protein around 5% for most domestic ducks.
- Metabolic bone disease: Caused by inadequate calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus and grit.
- Competition injuries: Ducks are generally more docile, so can get picked on by assertive chickens at group feedings if space is tight.
By separating some foods and minerals (like species-specific grit) while monitoring proportions of carbs, proteins and nutritional add-ins, you can avoid the most likely health issues. Just plan ahead and tweak the diet until both species seem satisfied and healthy.
The Verdict: Consider Differences, But Collaboration is Possible
In conclusion, chickens and ducks can successfully share space and enjoy some of the same treats, grains and produce. Nonetheless, there are definite differences in protein needs, ideal feed format, treat priorities, and more that require extra thought and planning if housing them together.
As long as you feed a base diet suitable for ducks, offer separate free access grit with calcium reserved for the chickens, look out for bullying, rotate various fruits and veggies, feed special treats in separate spaces, provide adequate supervision, and remain vigilant for signs of malnutrition or injury, your ducks and chickens can comingle in peace while meeting their unique nutritional demands. With a little care taken at feeding time, it just might be the perfect poultry pairing!
The main takeaway: chickens and ducks have significant dietary overlap, with a similar taste for grains, fruits and some vegetables, along with slight protein and grit differences to accommodate. Pay attention to the contrasts, and you can successfully mix these species for great backyard fun, varied eggs, pest control and ample homegrown manure for your garden!
