Can Ducks eat eggshell?

[newbyduckmom]

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Thanks, CT. Hadn't thought of mortar and pestle...think I have one in the cupboard.

Never ceases to amaze me what I do for my spoiled ducks, started doing slug hunting expeditions very soon after getting the ducks. I hate slugs. For the most part, they 'hunt' their own, but since the love making them visibly so happy to have such treats, if I see a few slugs on the way back to the duck house, I usually have a container in hand to scoop them up (ewwwww!) and bring the ducks a treat. Makes the ducks and my garden happy! Makes the gardener happy to know I will have many fewer slugs next year - since the ducks get out to free range at least once a day.

The spoiled ducks also get a substantial portion of frozen peas.....this humans favorite veggies next to fresh....feed them more peas than I eat anymore. Like I say, spoiled ducks! Silly human!

 

[FarmrGirl]

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They don't need to be small at all. In fact, when I'm collecting eggs and find one cracked or broken I just toss it on the ground and step on it. Just to squish it up so that it doesn't look like an egg anymore... you don't want them to become egg eaters. When I have cracked eggs, they're already washed because I do that right before I use them, I toss them out in the barnyard and just step on any that are still rounded. They run over and gobble them right up! I've seen some of my girls get one that still has a lot of shell attached to a long length of membrane and they eat them the same way they do a big slug: gulp it down one inch at a time - LOL!

 

[Agdketo]

Okay, so maybe someone can help me. I have my chickens, my ducks and my geese all together in the same run. I had chickens before, and I let them free range, but i want these guys to know that this is where they need to come in and sleep at night. I'm gonna let them out on friday so they can start exploring the farm. Anyways, I had a hen laying some eggs, and the last couple of days there haven't been any. I looked in the nest box and there was a small piece of an egg shall in the straw. Could my geese or ducks be eating them? They definately don't have a shortage of feed. I have oats, layer feed and oyster shell mixed up in a hog feeder that they all have access to. Any ideas?

 

[Moments]

How small do the eggshells need to be? Washed I assume? Any best practices on how to break them up? Suitable substitute for oyster shell? Will chicken eggs work as well? Do you give it to them preferably separately as with oyster shell?

Rinse and take the membrane out of the center and let air dry. Then stick in a ziploc bag and crush. I try to get them as small as I can. Looking online though all I've never seen a size mentioned, only to give them crushed egg shells.