Duck Feed Cost Calculator

Duck feed basics

The single fact that surprises people coming to ducks from chickens: ducks eat significantly more than chickens of similar size. A Pekin at 9 lbs eats about 8.5 oz of feed per day. A Plymouth Rock at 7.5 lbs eats roughly 4 oz. That is not a small gap.

The reason is metabolic. Ducks run higher metabolic rates and use feed less efficiently than chickens, so more of what they eat goes to keeping the bird running rather than into eggs or growth. The flip side is that good layers like the Khaki Campbell convert that feed into a lot of eggs, so the cost per egg stays reasonable even though the bird eats more.

One rule overrides everything else: do not use chicken layer feed. The calcium level is formulated for laying hens and damages duck kidneys over time. This applies even to laying ducks, which get their extra calcium from a free-choice supplement instead.

A note on where these figures come from. The feed-type, medicated-feed, and niacin guidance follows Poultry Extension and the Merck Veterinary Manual (both linked in Sources below). The per-duck intake figures, the egg counts, and the price figures are our own backyard estimates. On intake specifically, Poultry Extension puts a laying duck at about 120 g (4.2 oz) a day; our figures run higher — a light layer at 6.5 oz — because that is a managed laying-flock number, while a free-fed backyard flock has feed in front of it all day, wastes some, and includes non-laying maintenance rather than just peak lay. Since this tool exists to tell you how much feed to buy, we would rather reflect the fuller backyard figure. If you weigh your own feed and your numbers differ, the contact page is at the top of the site.

What feed to use for ducks

• Waterfowl pellets are ideal because they are formulated specifically for ducks.
• All-flock crumble or pellets at 16-18% protein are widely available and acceptable in most situations.
• No medicated chicken feed, at any age. Medicated chicken feed can be toxic to waterfowl: the drug is added at a level that doses a chicken based on how much a chicken eats, and because ducks eat more feed than chickens they take in too high a dose (Poultry Extension). Use unmedicated starter for ducklings and unmedicated all-flock or waterfowl feed thereafter.
• Enough niacin. Ducks need about twice the niacin (vitamin B3) of chickens. Waterfowl feeds include it; with plain all-flock or chick starter, add brewer\u2019s or nutritional yeast so ducklings do not develop the bowed legs and weak hocks of a niacin shortfall.
• A separate free-choice calcium supplement for laying females, offered on the side rather than mixed into the main feed.

Foraging and feed reduction

Ducks are excellent foragers. On good pasture they eat slugs, insects, weeds, and fallen fruit, and they are particularly good at slug control, which makes them a favorite among gardeners tired of losing seedlings overnight. The calculator trims commercial feed by 10 percent for partial foraging (a few hours of yard or pasture a day) and 20 percent for heavy foraging (most of the day on good pasture).

Those are the same reductions we use for chickens, and we set them there deliberately. No duck-specific research puts a number on how much foraging saves — Poultry Extension says only that ducks “can forage to meet some of their nutritional requirements.” Keepers widely report that ducks forage more effectively than chickens, and they may well be right; the biology is plausible. But our chicken figure is backed by an extension range and a peer-reviewed study, and the duck evidence is weaker than that, so we have not gone higher. The error here is not symmetric: overestimate foraging and a keeper buys too little feed and the birds go short. So we keep the conservative number — and if your ducks are visibly eating less commercial feed than the tool predicts, trust what you see over the calculator.

The catch is seasonal. Whatever the reduction, it largely disappears in winter when pasture quality drops, so budget for full commercial feed during the cold months even if your summer feed bill is low.

Cost comparison (ducks vs chickens)

• 4 Khaki Campbell ducks: roughly $20 to $25 per month in feed.
• 6 standard hens: roughly $20 to $25 per month in feed.
• Similar monthly cost, but each Khaki Campbell can lay around 275 to 300 eggs per year, more than most chickens.

So while ducks eat more per bird, a small flock of good layers lands at about the same total feed bill as a slightly larger flock of hens while producing a comparable or larger number of eggs.

Where to go next

Feed cost is one input into the bigger picture:

• The Duck Housing Size Calculator sets how many ducks your space can hold, which drives the total feed bill.
• The Duck Egg Production Calculator turns this feed cost into egg value and cost per dozen.
• The Feed Consumption Calculator shows what the same spend looks like for a flock of chickens.
• The First-Year Cost Calculator rolls feed into the full cost of getting started.

Sources

• Medicated-feed toxicity, duck-vs-chicken feed use, and foraging: Poultry Extension — “Feeding Ducks for Egg Production in Small Flocks.” Medicated chicken feed “can be toxic to waterfowl” because ducks eat more feed than chickens and so take too high a dose; ducks use “20-30% more feed per dozen eggs” than chickens; and they can forage to meet part of their needs.
• Meat-duck feed consumption: Poultry Extension — “Feeding Ducks Intended for Consumption.” Pekin ducklings reach 6–7 lb at seven to nine weeks having eaten 20–25 lb of feed.
• Niacin requirement: Merck Veterinary Manual — “Vitamin Deficiencies in Poultry.” An allowance of 55–70 mg/kg of feed suits ducks; ducks are “much more severely affected” by niacin deficiency than chickens, owing to less efficient tryptophan-to-niacin conversion, showing as severe bowing of the legs and enlarged hocks.

Some figures here are our own backyard estimates, not published numbers: the per-duck intake figures (duckling, juvenile, and adult), the egg counts (275 / 163 / 120 per year for light / heavy / Muscovy), the foraging reductions, the brewer’s-yeast dose (about one tablespoon per cup of feed), and all price figures.