Dumor makes an egg laying mixture, get that and you won't have the problem anymore. I had the two elements separated at first, and the tiny little shell fragments by themselves aside from the food is not going to make them want to eat it. My ducks didn't even bother trying to eat the shell pieces. They would eat the food around the shell mix and leave it alone. Dumor takes the shells and turns it into a powder so it blends in with the food and they eat it regardless. And they love it, youll see a big change in their interest to eat. The shells in the food that the specific manufacturer produces were so tough i had to pry them open after the whole egg was cracked all over. The membrane on the inside of the egg had to be torn through it was so well made. Theres not much else to say other than to use that feed. All ducks were laying eggs of that quality. They also need tons of water to produce them but it sounds like you have that covered. The food is formulated specifically for Ducks and Chickens. Other Full flock feeds contain a broad range of grains that Ducks sometimes don't need as its not what they eat naturally, but its food nevertheless and its in front of them so they eat it. Or parts of it. You also have to give them worms every now and then which contain protein. They go absolutely crazy over them. But youll have super healthy Ducks with this feed. Good luck with it/them...

Nice pictures, Sherry! He/she is absolutely beautiful. Zebras are my favorite butterfly. I've always loved red and black together. The red on the butterfly really sets it off. I also love the extra long tails on that kind of butterfly. Ever since I've seen pictures of it online and in my butterfly guides, I've wanted to get the Zebra Swallowtail here. As I said in another thread, several years ago I had ordered two paw paw trees online. I don't think they ever were alive from the time I got them. I had the same thing happen again with more that I ordered, so I gave up on buying them from people. I think small ones in pots would be okay, but I'm leery about the bareroot ones. I had also tried to start them from seed a few years ago, but I hadn't done my homework and didn't know that they needed shade the first couple of years. They came up and were a few inches high but then died. After I found out that they should have been in shade, I knew that's what killed them. A friend saw that someone had seeds for sale online last year and so I decided to give it another shot and planted some that I can plant out in the backyard. They're about half a foot tall, and they're getting planted next month. I've never seen a Zebra Swallowtail here or anywhere else as far as I know (unless I saw one before I got into butterflies and just didn't know what it was at the time). None have been reported for my county. I was told that they hang out around the river several counties away. If only I could make a trail of paw paw trees from there to here! I sure hope that I'll be able to attract them here sometime. We live fairly close to a creek, so I'm hoping that will help. Do you have a body of water right near where you are? I think you mentioned that you only have one or two paw paw trees, didn't you? You said you're going to try to raise them again. Do you have any type of strategy? I didn't know if you'd try a different method. I'm still baffled over why I have so many GSTs die when I feed them rue. The eggs get laid on those plants, so it's not like I switched them from one kind of host plant to another. I want to try raising them on wafer ash some year. Right now my couple of trees are in flower pots and are only a few inches high, so I think it will be quite some time before I can feed them wafer ash leaves. I even thought about moving them to a more open location instead of keeping them in small storage containers. If I had potted plants of rue, I could sit them in my butterfly cage and see if that makes a difference. Rue has a pungent odor, and so I was thinking maybe they can't stand that in a pretty tight space. I figure it's worth a try to raise them in a more open space. So I didn't know if you were going to try something different with your Zebras. I certainly hope that they do well this year for you. Cathy

Received and opened today a cute card for eggs-ceptional luck that says Happy St. Patrick's Day inside My eggs-ceptional ladies a pink egg a blue egg a green egg First lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), the U.S. president from 1933 to 1945, was a leader in her own right and involved in numerous humanitarian causes throughout her life. The niece of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), Eleanor was born into a wealthy New York family. She married Franklin Roosevelt, her fifth cousin once removed, in 1905. By the 1920s, Roosevelt, who raised five children, was involved in Democratic Party politics and numerous social reform organizations. In the White House, she was one of the most active first ladies in history and worked for political, racial and social justice. After President Roosevelt’s death, Eleanor was a delegate to the United Nations and continued to serve as an advocate for a wide range of human rights issues. She remained active in Democratic causes and was a prolific writer until her death at age 78. Unwin’s Striped Sweet pea seeds inside Born on Feb. 15, 1820, in Adams, Mass., Susan B. Anthony was a pioneer crusader for the woman suffrage movement in the United States and president (1892-1900) of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Her work helped pave the way for the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Scarlet Runner Bean seeds inside Pocahontas contributed significantly to the early survival of the Jamestown colony and played a brief but dramatic role in English imperial propaganda. Her untimely death in 1617 cut short her successful mediation between the Powhatan Indians and the colony. Both before her intercession and long after her death, Jamestown--the first permanent English outpost in North America--was precarious, largely because of Indian hostility to the colony and its expansion. Mini Red Turban squash seeds inside 4 packs of extra seeds Queen mix cleome convolvulus Enchantment Mix Buttercrunch lettuce Nantes carrots and a sweet treat - Russell stover chocolate mini bunnies Thank you so much JayeAnne for a sweet and thoughtful package

Northern Mockingbird...catbirds have blue eggs, no spots if I remember correctly. BN