Grit??!?!

[shahtir101]

do my ducks need grit if I'm giving them all flock pellets? I don't have any yet but want to know for the future.

 

[Hawkesy]

If I were you then I would try them with some. Grit simply adds to the calcium intake of the birds and helps them digest which is never a bad thing.

If allowed to forage the ground, your ducks will find grit (in the form of small stones etc) in the dirt as well. There is no harm in trying them with it and testing it out.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

do my ducks need grit if I'm giving them all flock pellets? I don't have any yet but want to know for the future.

What you feed doesn't have anything to do with whether they need grit. They have to have grit for digestion. Like Hawkesy said, ducks that are allowed to forage at least part time will pick up some amount of insoluble grit during foraging, but they should always have grit available anyway. It should be offered free-choice in a separate dish so they can eat as much or as little as they want. If you're going to be getting babies, you can give them chick grit while they're small, which is the same as poultry grit but crushed so it's in smaller pieces.

Insoluble grit, which is usually labled poultry grit, doesn't contain calcium, nor would you want it to. Hawkesy might have been thinking of soluble grit, which is labled oyster shell. Oyster shell shouldn't be offered outside laying season since poultry feed already contains calcium. Too much calcium given to ducks that don't need it for egg production will cause health problems over time.