Am I taking care of my ducks properly?

[Number1Sticky]

I just want to make sure I’m taking care of my ducks properly. I have two ducks. One is a Cayuga (female) and the other one is a Cayuga/Indian Runner mix (male). I feed them two cups of food each day. Not each. They get one cup in the morning and one in the evening. I rinse out their bowls each time. I fill up their water before I feed them.

Is that enough food for two of them? I’ve tried looking online but all I can find is what to feed them and not how much.

I also use pine woodchips. Every time I clean their cage out (which is every other day) I put them in my bathtub so they do get to swim often. Also it “cleans” them off.

If anybody knows of anything else I should be doing please let me know. I really just want the best care for my ducks and I’ve never had experience with ducks before.

If you want to hear the whole story about why I’m not prepared to take care of them you can read my other posting or ask me I’d be happy to tell you.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12949

[Number1Sticky]

Also if you can please answer on my other post.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12964

[millipede]

just replied to your other topic... You could have put them both in one topic by the way.

I'm not sure exactly how much food they need each day. Do they clean the dish out pretty quickly each time? Is there any left between feedings? Are the birds continuing to gain weight? To they look or feel thin? These are things to consider. If they're eating ALL their food pretty greedily, you might try adding a little and see if they continue to eat it all. Some people provide food ALL day, some don't. Some birds will overeat, some wont.
I would think if... when you feed them, they go crazy as if they're starving, they could use a little more food each day. But if a few hours after feeding them their dish isn't clean, or there's even any left at the next feeding, then I'd say they're getting plenty. I guess what I'm saying is test things out a little and use your best judgment.

Depending on how gross their food dish gets, you might not need to clean it out each time. But you do want to keep their water dish clean as often as possible. Clean water is good. But if their food dish is getting muddy like... then it sure doesn't hurt to clean it out so it doesn't get moldy.
You might try keeping the food and water on different sides of the cage. This helps prevent some of the mess... keeps more of the water on one side and more of the food on one side. If they're right next to each other you end up with a big mess. They kind of like eating a little, drinking a little, eating a little, drinking a little... etc... and you end up with food in the water and water in the food.

[Number1Sticky]

just replied to your other topic... You could have put them both in one topic by the way.

I'm not sure exactly how much food they need each day. Do they clean the dish out pretty quickly each time? Is there any left between feedings? Are the birds continuing to gain weight? To they look or feel thin? These are things to consider. If they're eating ALL their food pretty greedily, you might try adding a little and see if they continue to eat it all. Some people provide food ALL day, some don't. Some birds will overeat, some wont.
I would think if... when you feed them, they go crazy as if they're starving, they could use a little more food each day. But if a few hours after feeding them their dish isn't clean, or there's even any left at the next feeding, then I'd say they're getting plenty. I guess what I'm saying is test things out a little and use your best judgment.

Depending on how gross their food dish gets, you might not need to clean it out each time. But you do want to keep their water dish clean as often as possible. Clean water is good. But if their food dish is getting muddy like... then it sure doesn't hurt to clean it out so it doesn't get moldy.
You might try keeping the food and water on different sides of the cage. This helps prevent some of the mess... keeps more of the water on one side and more of the food on one side. If they're right next to each other you end up with a big mess. They kind of like eating a little, drinking a little, eating a little, drinking a little... etc... and you end up with food in the water and water in the food.

I was going to put it in one but I didn't want it to be a novel. I thought people might stop reading.

Well every time I put their food in there they attack it, but pretty much every time I go and check on them about an hour later there is still food in there. But when I feed them at night it’s almost always all gone. They don’t look like that are gaining or losing weight. It’s hard to tell with my male because pretty much the whole time I’ve had him he’s still been growing. Also it’s hard to tell when you watch them every day how big they are getting. But like I said they seem a healthy weight to me. But I’m not that experienced with ducks. Sorry.

The reason I don’t give them food all day is because they get tons of water in there so the food just goes bad after a little while and then they just don’t eat it. But I’ll give them a little more now each time and see what happens.

The food bowl and waterier definitely need to be cleaned out every time. They are VERY messy eaters. But I don’t mind it’s not that hard to do. I use a toothbrush. They get fresh water twice a day. I am going to get them a bigger water thing. The one I have was just a semi-small temporary one that I got because I wasn’t expecting to bring home two ducks. So I ran out the day after I got them (I brought them home late so everything was closed) and bought the stuff. I didn’t have much time to shop around.

I keep the water and food right next to each other because I’ve read that they need water to wash their food down because they don’t have teeth.

Again thanks for all your help.