Is the food demand for ducks becoming too much for you to handle?
We all know they just don’t stop eating, which can massively increase your overall expenditure of raising ducks. But, growing some duck friendly plants can be a good idea. We’ll tell you why.
Growing some duck friendly plants will serve as their food, on the one hand, and provide them adequate ecological conditions, on the other.
Also, plants mostly attract insects and worms around them, so ducks will have more fun cleaning those insects and slug around them. Ducks usually keep their pitter-patter on all the time. Thus, keeping them engaged in some activities will not only entertain you but also relax them.
If you are raising ducks for dual-purpose, then feeding them with the premium-quality of food becomes necessary. You will only want to have healthy ducks instead of some skinny ones.
Planting highly nutritious plants will not only keep you engaged, but you will be able to produce some delicious and healthy food for your flocks.
10 Duck Friendly Plants for A Homesteader’s Garden
So here, we have listed down some of the highly nutritious duck friendly plants that you will love to grow in your homesteader garden. These plants will not require a lot of space but will turn out to be highly productive duck food.
1. Lettuce
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Lettuce is like the full-course meal for ducks that they want to eat all the time. Ducks are searchers and love to eat worms and insects. But worms alone are not sufficient to provide adequate nutrients to ducks.
In such a case, greens like lettuce become the savior. Ducks become a lettuce fan right after tasting it. Along with this, the moreover are very healthy for their growth as well.
Ducks love to have a bowl full of lettuce, making it one of the best duck friendly plants. Ducks and other flock animals are pretty prone to disease. And thus, Lettuce is a great option to boost the immune system of ducks, keeping them healthy.
Pros:
- Although ducks avoid most of the veggies, lettuce is irresistible for them.
- Lettuce is a green and leafy vegetable that is nutrient-rich and helps in the overall growth of ducks.
Cons:
- Ducks may destroy all your lettuce, if not controlled.
2. Millet Grains
Millets are known as the primary food for poultry animals. Right from chickens to ducks, all poultry animals found millets delicious. Being rich in nutrients, you can serve millet as the perfect food for ducks.
Although available at a very unreasonable price at the stores, Millets are very easy to grow. Sown in moist soil and warm climate, you can stock up a full batch of millets every year.
Ducks especially love the yum millets. They can forage behind the millets all day until they disappear the whole lot.
Pros:
- Protein and mineral-rich food, perfect for the growth of ducks.
- Easy to grow food.
- Ducks love to feed on millets.
Cons:
- They don’t grow in cold and dry places.
Read Also: Why Is My Duck Losing Feathers? Causes & Solutions
3. Duckweed
If you own a pool or some water reservoir in your backyard, then Duckweed will be the perfect duck friendly plant you can grow.
They not only become a potential source of food for ducks but also provide the perfect home-like environment to ducks.
Although duckweeds require warm weather mainly, they also survive through the cold winters. Although in springs, they grow rapidly.
You can leave the ducks in the water reservoir with a rich food supply and perfect niche.
Pros:
- Provides a perfect niche to ducks.
- Becomes a rich source of nutrients for ducks.
- Perfectly grows in springs and summers, but becomes considerably dormant in winters.
Cons:
- Although rich in nutrients, with excessive growth, the pond’s water will become unsuitable for ducks and other aqueous animals.
4. Peas
Now, who doesn’t love peas? Peas fall under the category of delicious veggies and even more delicious food for flocks.
Most of the poultry animals, especially ducks, love the yum taste of peas. Peas are an abundant source of protein that your flock may want.
Although getting peas from the market can be quite expensive. Why not grow them if you have plenty of space in your homesteader? Peas are easy to grow plants and require minimal care. As they support all the weather conditions, peas can become the ultimate duck friendly plant.
Pros:
- Peas are a potential candidate for duck friendly plants, because of its great taste that all ducks admire.
- Peas are an all-rounder plant and a rich source of nutrients for ducks.
- With peas, ducks get to eat more and more insects around the pea yard.
Cons:
- Keep the ducks away from the pea plants, as it won’t take them more than a few minutes to destroy your hard work.
5. Wild rice
If you are looking for a duck friendly plant for your homesteader that doesn’t require extra care at all, you must consider wild rice in your list.
Being wild it requires minimal care to grow wild rice. The only shortcoming of wild rice is that they can destroy other plants around them if they mature fully. Thus, feed wild rice to your ducks before they mature.
Ducks love roaming around wild rice fields, searching for insects that they will find in bulk there.
It grows quickly producing, lots of duck food in a single season. Once you start growing them, they seem to disappear in winter and then appear again in spring on their own.
Pros:
- Ducks will get a lot of feed in the form of rice and worms.
- They automatically grow after one iteration and don’t require much care.
- Nutritious for ducks.
Cons:
- After attaining maximum height, it starts to kill other plants growing around it.
You also love to read: 10 Friendliest Duck Breeds to Keep as Pets
6. Water Hyacinth
For aqueous ducks, Water hyacinth is the friendliest plant that your duck wants. It has a similar amount of protein that your duck will get after eating Soyabean.
Being a rapidly growing plant, water Hyacinth becomes triple in size in just a week or ten days. But you can dry it up and then store as future stock for your ducks.
Ducks get a perfect niche when surrounded by water Hyacinth. They get a permanent food source that they can eat whenever they want to.
Fun fact about water Hyacinth is that they grow well even in hard water containing phosphorus and nitrogenous compounds, yet they die in cold weather.
Pros:
- Fulfills the ecological requirement of ducks.
- Whether fresh or dried, water Hyacinth is a rich source of protein and other nutrients that will provide perfect growth to your flocks.
- It has high-speed productivity.
Cons:
- It can’t resist even slightly cold temperatures. It requires a minimum of 40 degrees for its survival.
7. Corns
It is a well-known fact that corn is the favorite food of foragers like a duck. Ducks always like chasing behind the small corn seeds and gulping them.
Although corn seeds are available in the market, you can grow corn if you have plenty of area in your homesteader. It is effortless to grow corn.
You might need to take care of them until they are fully grown. But you will not have to worry about the duck food for the whole year because of the very high yield.
Ducks specifically enjoy roaming in the cornfield to eat more and more insects. Moreover, corn is rich in nutrients making it one of the friendliest duck plants.
Pros:
- Corns are the most common food to feed ducks.
- Corns are a rich source of fat and help your ducks to get some calories.
- With a single harvest, you will need not to worry about the duck food throughout the year.
Cons:
- Ducks might overeat corn, so keep an eye on the quantity of corn you are feeding them.
Read More: 11 Best Egg Laying Ducks (Breed Guide)
8. Kale
Kale growing up on the top and chickweeds growing below them are sufficient to intensify the hunger and excitement of ducks and other flocks.
Although ducks love to eat all kinds of Kale, our research shows that they individually show interest in extra frilly leafed kale.
It is pretty simple to grow and develop kale on your farm. Additionally, chickweeds, most of the time, occupy the nearby spaces of kale on their own.
These plants are perfect for duck food and thus fall under the category of duck friendly plants.
Green leafy Kale is nutritious for ducks as well. They boost the immune system of ducks keeping them far away from disease.
Pros:
- Being green and leafy, kale provides all the essential nutrients to ducks that are not fulfilled eating worms only.
- It makes them healthy and robust as well.
- They soon become my favorite duck food.
Cons:
- Kale is too short in height, and thus, ducks can quickly destroy them.
9. Mache
Mache is a complete food package for flocks as all of its parts right from root to flowers are edible.
Mache is a pretty looking plant that blooms with tiny white and green flowers that are edible. Ducks usually enjoy eating Mache and chasing the insects around the Mache field.
Surprisingly, Mache is a hot resistant plant, which means they are good to grow in the cold season but disappear as soon as summer reaches.
With a nutty taste, its flowers and seeds are as nutritious as nuts are. With very agile productive speed, they grow to double in the time of a week or so.
Mache can be a perfect plant falling under the category of duck friendly plants.
Pros:
- They, unlike other plants, grow in the winter season mainly.
- They are full of nutrition and have a great nutty flavor.
Cons:
- They can’t be grown in hot weather conditions and require moreover humid air.
Also Read: 9 Best Meat Ducks (Breed Guide)
10. Tomatoes
Tomatoes are quite a favorite of anyone. However, it isn’t apparent to specify tomato as a fruit or a vegetable. Yet, it becomes an essential part of our day to day lives.
And ducks are not unaware of the taste of tomatoes too. Ducks love the sweet and sour taste of tomato. Mostly during summers, ducks try to grab some tomatoes and change their preference slightly a bit.
Although served for many purposes, Tomatoes becomes the favorite of ducks as soon as ducks get to have one. Ducks can also feed on the leaves of tomatoes.
Tomato plants are most prone to worms and insects, making it appealing for our insect controllers to have some more food to gulp in.
Pros:
- Matt wild cherry is one the smallest breed of tomato and perfect for ducks to gulp in.
- Ducks found tomatoes delicious.
- They are quite nutritious as well for ducks.
Cons:
- Ducks might get shocked if they eat a large tomato.
Verdict
Gardening is so much fun when you have the company of your favorite crime partner beside you. Taking care of ducks is not a challenging task at all, but you might need to do some hard work to keep ducks away from your plants.
Although ducks find it exciting and exciting to be surrounded by food all the time yet, they can show their anger on the innocent plants sometimes.
The duck-friendly plants you will grow in your homesteader will become a crucial source of protein and mineral-rich food for ducks throughout the year. And thus, you should decide to grow perfect duck friendly plants very thoughtfully.