Owners who have just acquired such birds as ducks often wonder about the diet for feathered pets: what vegetables can be fed and in what quantity. One of these vegetables is zucchini. From this article you will find out what the benefits of this vegetable are for birds, in what form it is necessary to include it in the diet, and also at what age you can include the fruit in the diet of feathered pets.
Is it possible to give zucchini to ducks and ducklings?
Zucchini is one of the fruits that are recommended for feeding ducks along with carrots and beets. The only difference is that this vegetable does not need heat treatment, and zucchini is quite suitable for feeding birds and raw.
In addition, the diet of birds can include not only the fruit itself, but also its leaves.
Useful properties of zucchini
As in any other vegetable, zucchini contains nutrients that have beneficial effects on the health of birds. In particular, the use of duck squash improves the productive qualities of ducks, as it contains vitamins, minerals, as well as nutrients and amino acids.
Did you know? Zucchini is one of the lowest allergenic foods.
The inclusion in the diet of ducks of these vegetables helps to strengthen the immune system, increases their resistance to disease in the cold season.
At what age can zucchini be fed?
Ducks can eat zucchini from the first week of life, but it is better to wait until the ducklings are 21 days old - at this age, their body is more likely to receive all the nutrients that are contained in the fetus and will not harm the body of the chicks. Up to three weeks of age, ducklings are better served with cottage cheese, as well as greens and grated boiled eggs.
From the moment the birds are three weeks old, it is advisable to include this fruit in the diet as a constant food.
How much to give a vegetable?
Despite the fact that zucchini has a lot of useful properties, do not forget that everything is good in moderation. Including feeding feathered pets with useful products.
Important! Frequent use of the fetus by birds can contribute to the removal of calcium from the body, which will negatively affect the condition of bones, feathers, and the general health of the duck.
The thing is that this fetus has another effect on the body: it has a laxative effect, and its excess in the diet can lead to food poisoning in both chicks and adults.
To avoid such incidents and not to harm feathered pets, include this product in their diet in small quantities, but daily, or alternate it with other vegetables.
How to give and in what form?
The difference between zucchini and other fruits is that this vegetable can be given to raw birds. Thus, you will save all the useful substances in the product, and your feathered pet will get the maximum benefit from such a feeding.
There are several options for including zucchini in the diet of ducks.
You can grate the fruit on a coarse grater and mix it with the main food - oats, wheat or bran. This method of feeding is suitable for you if you are ready to include zucchini in the diet of birds as a constant food product. In addition, it is this method that is used for fattening poultry for meat.
Important! If you decide to add this product to the diet of ducks, you need to be careful and ensure that, together with the vegetable, its bones do not get into the feed - birds can choke on them. Therefore, we recommend that you first clean the vegetable from seeds.
You can also cut the product lengthwise into two or four parts and in this form give it to the birds. The peculiarity of this method of feeding is that it is not suitable for daily use: zucchini can be given to ducks in this form only if this vegetable is not a constant food product of birds. In addition, it is advisable to choose young fruits, since they are softer and it will be more convenient for ducks to peck.
Video: Feeding ducks with zucchini
Another way to incorporate zucchini into the duck diet is to make silage. To prepare it, you will need vegetables growing in your area: pumpkin, beets, carrots and zucchini itself. You can also add some bean herbs to the silo - alfalfa, corn stalks, clover. Vegetables should be cut into cubes, about 5-7 mm thick, mixed and left to silage for 1.5 months. After the expiration date, silage can be included in the diet of adult birds and ducklings that are 11 days old.
Chicks that are 11 to 20 days old should receive silage per 10 g of feed per head, from 20 to 30 days - 20 g.
Important! It is categorically impossible to include zucchini in the diet of birds in the form of monocorm: waterfowl need the presence of mineral fertilizing and green feed, which will provide a more balanced diet.
As for feeding ducks with leaves of zucchini, they need to be cut into medium-sized pieces and then added to the mixers. You can add vegetable leaves to the silo.
To summarize, we can confidently say that it is possible and necessary to feed ducks with zucchini. However, one should not forget that squash mono-diet is harmful to birds, as well as its large number in their diet. To maintain bird health in order, include zucchini in their diet in the same amount as other vegetables, and do not forget about mineral nutrition.
