From left to right, the duck egg, last week's pheasant egg, and a store purchased chicken egg © 2009 . All rights reserved.

True Grit -and- The World is My Oyster (shell)

From left to right, the duck egg, last week's pheasant egg, and a store purchased chicken egg
From left to right, the duck egg, last week's pheasant egg, and a store purchased chicken egg

I shared the discovery of the first pheasant egg, and Sunday, I found the first duck egg.  It was broken and was on the wood platform the duck swimming pool rests on.

Whether the duck egg broke on the wood, was stepped on by one of the ducks, or had a soft shell due to it being the first egg and the warm weather?  I don’t know.  But it’s time to think about nutrition. Tuesday night, I found an intact duck egg.  smaller than what they will be in time and with the grey color described in early cayuga ducks.

I’ve been feeding a general flock raiser blended feed that has about 18 percent protein to both the  pheasants and the ducks.   The youngest pheasants are on a 27% protein feed through their 6th week, then tape to the lower protein.

The ducks eat from a dog bowl, and the grit and oyster shell is in the green container
The ducks eat from a dog bowl, and the grit and oyster shell is in the green container

The calcium in this feed is too low for laying birds , Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health suggests 3 – 4 percent, so its time to add calcium to their diet in the form of oyster shell.  At the same time, even though the ducks eat on the pond a lot, I don’t know for sure they are getting enough grit for their gizzards, so I added a container of grit for them to free choice from.

The chickens will also need calcium, they are still on a grower ration of about 20 percent protein and I’ll add calcium to the feeder for them to free choice as well.  The roosters eat the same feed, so the hens can ge the oyster shell as they choose.  I’ll  move the hens to a 16 percent layer ration in a month or when I see the first hen egg, which ever comes first.

I also removed the wood platform from the duck run and spread more wood chips around the pool to reduce the mud and make a softer area in case someone else decided to lay an egg or two there.  And sure enough, that’s where Tuesday’s egg was found.

Related posts:

  1. The duck house
  2. M R Ducks
  3. Duck :30

One Comment

  1. Billi
    August 9, 2009 at 10:31 pm

    With 8 non-laying hens (due to hot weather?), and the beautiful chocolate Indian Runner mix duck I just rescued laying non-stop, I have decided ducks are great! Commercial layer crumble is inferior in taste and quality to home-mixed food. I seived and removed the crushed corn and sunflower seeds from Hartz cockatiel food, and the duck went for the remaining vitamin-enriched seed mix like gangbusters. It is now mixed 50:50 with the layena, in order to get her the proper laying ingredients. I am looking for a source of wheat and oat groats in bulk , since the cockatiel mix is pricey. And I am looking for more ducks. The Thai woman who runs the local newstand was happy to get real duck eggs here in the US.
    I purchased cheap, beige outdoor fake-grass, soft carpet and cut it into 2′ X 6′ pieces which I lay around the pool. At the end of the day, I hang over my garden and hose them off. The duck likes the texture under her feet, and it doesn’t get too hot.