What do you feed your ducks, I seem to be having a calcium problem with mine

[suellen123]

I have been feeding my ducks Mazuri floating pond food. Its quite expensive 48 dollars for 50 lbs compared to the egg layer food we feed the chickens 18 dollars for 50 lbs. I recently lost one of my ducks to Rectal Prolapse, which was from a lack of calcium, egg bound problems. This morning my other female did not lay and egg and I am really concerned that my girls are not getting enough calcium. I gave them some powder calcium with their food this morning but would prefer for them to get their calcium in their feed. I know oyster shells are a form of calcium, but does anyone have any feed suggestions that have all the nutrients they need. I also feed them a head of romaine lettuce a day for some additional greens. If oyster shells are enough how do you feed them to your ducks? I mostly hand feed my ducks the floating pond food by a bucket of water. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am worried about my other female today and I need to do something different.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I don't have a lot of choices here (City of about 35K, next city that size around 100 miles away.) No duck food that's for sure. I feed my flock Nutrena All flock pellets $18 / 50 lb. I have 2 young drakes 7 young ducks (not laying yet) and two ducks that are currently laying (Rouens). They have a medium dog feeder of oyster shell available at all times and they do eat it (I chose such a large container so that when I get down to half full, I can got to the feed store, get another bag and pour it in then forget it. So far one bag lasts forever (we will see when the other girls start laying) Oyster shell won't mold or get soggy so it can sit a while plus nothing else seems to eat it. They also get a couple heads of romaine and all the grass and bugs they can free range. So far all of their eggs have had good strong shells on them with the exception of one "bonus" egg that was laid one time around noon (4-5 hours after the first egg). I am guessing this wasn't a lack of calcium, it just didn't wait around for a hard shell. A normal egg was laid the next morning. If you went this way, you could feed the same to your chickens too. Plus you don't need to change their food in the off season

 

[Learningstill]

You can buy oyster shell and black oil sunflower seeds for calcium supplement and/or you can throw their eggs onto the ground and they will eat everything including the shell which is a healthy calcium supplement. We do all three and never have egg problems. They get eggs and BOSS the most regular.

 

[suellen123]

Thanks for your response. I got a bag of that today and am going to make sure my females mostly eat this. The floating pond food I have is perfect for my drake as the protein and calcium levels are low and I hear that is good for males as to much can be bad for their kidneys. I also got some oyster shells and put them in a bowl in the females house so they have access to it at night if they want it. When I initially went to my feed store they sold me the Mazuri floating pond food for 48 dollars for 50 lbs. Its not only a relief to find something with higher protein and calcium levels its a relief to pay 17.11 for 50 lbs instead of 48 dollars as that was a lot for a bag of kibble. Honestly, the ducks do

n't seem to care what they are eating in lieu of the kibble, they went right for it. Thank you again.