Duck not eating oyster shell

[cfko0531]

I have a 4 year old khaki campbell I got 2 months ago . She is laying soft and liquid eggs. I supply oyster shell and i feed duck food. Previous owner fed chicken food with oyster shell in it. My other ducks eggs are fine. I assume she isn't eating oyster shell. I can't feed chicken food because i have a drake and I understand they can't have all the calcium. Her belly is soft. Vent looks fine. She is acting normal except when she can't get the mushy egg all the way out. I had to pull it out yesterday. Any ideas on how to get calcium in her?

 

[Isadora]

Oyster shell is best to have on the side at all times but it's more of a preventative. In a case like this where she's already laying soft eggs you need to get some liquid calcium or calcium tablets for her.

 

[DukesDucks]

I have my oyster shell in a separate bowl and always available. At first my young ducks weren't interested in it. I crushed up some chicken and ducks eggs shells and added that which got them more interested.

 

[cfko0531]

Oyster shell is best to have on the side at all times but it's more of a preventative. In a case like this where she's already laying soft eggs you need to get some liquid calcium or calcium tablets for her.

I read its ok to crush up calcium citrate for her. Did this for 3 days and still soft shells. Anyone know how long I should do this?

 

[cfko0531]

I read its ok to crush up calcium citrate for her. Did this for 3 days and still soft shells. Anyone know how long I should do this? Thanks for any advise.

 

[cfko0531]

I have my oyster shell in a separate bowl and always available. At first my young ducks weren't interested in it. I crushed up some chicken and ducks eggs shells and added that which got them more interested.

She won't even eat shells powdered and mixed with peas.

 

[BillyCocoaJaffa]

One of my ducks is similar, and has been laying fewer/fragile eggs, otherwise healthy. I started her on liquid calcium/vitamin D that I add 2 ml of onto a small bowl of peas, she eats that up in a flash. It seems to be working - no broken eggs for a few days!

 

[BelovedBirds]

I read its ok to crush up calcium citrate for her. Did this for 3 days and still soft shells. Anyone know how long I should do this?

I would give her calcium daily for at least a week, maybe longer. Until shes laying proper shells.
I'd give calcium gluconate a try, seems to work very well for our ducks. The brand is Durvert and its available from Tractor Supply- 1ml over a treat daily.

What kind of oyster shells do you use? Are they large pieces or small flakes? You may want to change the brand for finer pieces, my girls seem to prefer that to the larger variety of crushed oyster shells.
Do you also supply grit? They need grit to be able to digest the shells well.
What feed are they on?

If you have other hens who are laying, try feeding the shells back to them, that could act as a nice little boost.

 

[cfko0531]

I just started calcium gluconate 2 days ago and I bought flaked oyster shell to see if she will eat that. I normally use the bigger stuff. I do supply grit. I also separated my drake yesterday to give the girls a little break. Thanks for your advice. Anyone know how long I need to keep my drake separated? I have 2 females and 1 drake. He was getting rough and chasing them everywhere.

 

[cfko0531]

Oyster shell is best to have on the side at all times but it's more of a preventative. In a case like this where she's already laying soft eggs you need to get some liquid calcium or calcium tablets for her.

Thanks so much. Just started that since nothing else was helping.