Ducks are often kept on private backyards. The bird grows quickly and is easy to care for. Sometimes chicks are taken in the spring, and the grown-up flock is slaughtered in early autumn, without leaving it for the winter. Beginning poultry farmers are wondering what to feed their birds, especially since ducks are very voracious. What types of cereals do they prefer, should birds be offered cereals, can ducks be given pearl barley - these are questions that beginners can easily get detailed answers to.
Is it possible to feed ducks pearl barley?
Pearl barley is a cereal known to almost everyone, but not very popular among consumers.To understand whether it can be fed to ducks, you need to figure out what kind of grain it is made from. Pearl barley is peeled and polished barley, so it is possible and even beneficial to feed ducks with it; only very small ducklings should not give it to them.
Benefits and harms of the product
Pearl barley is a source of energy and essential vitamins and minerals for birds. Birds cannot be fed exclusively with barley; it is mixed with wheat, oats, and legumes. Of course, birds are rarely fed grain; barley grain is more often used. Pearl barley contains:
- A complex of essential amino acids: methionine, lysine, valine, cystine, phenylalanine, isoleucine.
- Minerals: potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, sulfur, zinc, iodine, cobalt.
- Vitamins: groups B, A, E, D.
It contains starch, sugar, protein, and is rich in fiber. The bird is given crushed grain and shreds. Among the disadvantages of pearl barley:
- whole grains are heavy on a bird's stomach;
- high fiber content in the product.
Often the cereal is lightly boiled or soaked in water (for at least 10 hours), then mixed with other grains or given as part of mash.
In dry form, the cereal is mixed with oats, wheat, legumes and given as part of the feed mixture, no more than 20% of the total feed. Birds receiving dry feed mixtures must have clean water freely available. It is more beneficial to feed birds with sprouted barley, as the amount of B vitamins increases significantly.
Introduction to diet
For up to 10 days, ducklings receive hard-boiled eggs, cottage cheese, juicy finely chopped greens (nettle, onion feathers).From the 11th day, grains can be introduced into the ducklings' diet. First, they are boiled and introduced into the chicks’ diet in the form of crumbly porridge. This porridge can be cooked from a mixture of wheat and barley, adding a little oats.
Important: the porridge should not be viscous, otherwise it will clog the ducklings’ esophagus and may cause their death. You can feed your babies pearl barley cooked in meat broth; it will be tasty and protein-rich food for ducklings.
Adult ducks can be given pearl barley as part of a dry feed mixture; it is steamed by pouring boiling water over it and left to steep for 2-3 hours, or simply filled with water. You can add finely chopped vegetables and herbs to it. Adult birds are no longer fed pearl barley, but ground barley; the stomach of an adult bird is able to digest unrefined grain.
Of course, it is too expensive to feed your domestic birds with pearl barley, but you can take the cereal, cooked in broth and cooled, with you to the park and feed the ducks with your child. This food is much healthier for birds than bread or rolls.
Previously, pearl barley often appeared on family tables; Peter I loved it very much. The abundance of products practically replaced it from the diet, but barley will never lose its agricultural importance. It is fed not only to ducks; chickens also happily consume feed mixtures with barley.