The Khaki Campbell is kept for one standout reason: eggs, in remarkable numbers for a duck. Its monthly budget therefore reads like a small laying operation, with feed, calcium, water, and bedding flowing in and eggs flowing out. Campbells are active, alert foragers, but foraging supplements a laying ration rather than replacing it, and a bird expected to lay near daily needs consistent nutrition to do it. Tracking inputs against eggs collected is the only way to know whether a prolific Campbell is genuinely economical or simply busy, and the record also exposes problems while they are still small.
Layer feed, calcium, and the forage credit
Budget for a quality waterfowl or layer ration as the staple line, logged by bag and by how many days a bag lasts the flock. Laying Campbells need supplemental calcium available separately, typically crushed shell in its own dish, so each bird takes what she needs without the whole ration being over-fortified for non-layers. Grit belongs on the list for birds ranging on ground where natural grit is scarce. Credit the forage honestly: a Campbell ranging a garden or pasture eats slugs, insects, and greens that reduce feed use, so note ranging hours and watch whether feed consumption drops in the months the birds range widest. A sudden feed rise with no egg rise is a finding, not just a bill.
Water and bedding, the two fast-moving costs
Ducks do not need a pond, but they need water deep enough to dip their whole heads, and they splash enthusiastically, so water hauling, dump-and-refill labor, and drainage fixes are recurring costs of time and sometimes plumbing. Bedding is the other fast line: Campbell pens soil quickly, wet litter packs down, and the remedy is frequent topping up or full changes with straw or shavings. Track how often you change bedding each month and what you use, because a pen that suddenly needs twice the bedding usually has a drainage or stocking problem to solve rather than a bedding bill to accept. Note bill and nostril cleanliness during your checks, since head-dipping water that stays filthy shows up as dirty faces and irritated eyes.
Housing, security, and egg handling
Campbells are light, active birds and capable fliers when startled, so budget for secure fencing, a solid night house, and hardware that raccoons cannot reach through. Night housing is where laying ducks are most vulnerable, and one breach can erase a season's egg savings in a night, which makes latch and mesh repairs a budget line with real weight. Egg handling adds small recurring costs: collection baskets, cleaning supplies for soiled eggs, cartons if you sell or share, and a spare refrigerator shelf's worth of storage in peak lay. Log eggs collected, eggs cracked or discarded, and eggs sold or given away separately, because the gap between laid and usable is part of the breed's true monthly return.
Health watching for a hard-working layer
Routine spending is modest, mainly observation time, occasional veterinary advice, and supplies for foot care on wet ground. Watch for a Campbell that stops laying abruptly, strains, walks stiffly, isolates from the flock, or loses condition despite eating, and contact an avian or farm veterinarian promptly if a bird appears to strain without producing an egg, breathes with effort, or cannot bear weight, since laying ducks can decline quickly. Track laying pauses by individual bird where leg bands make that possible, because one aging hen quietly eating layer feed for months changes the flock average everyone else is judged by.
The Campbell cost-per-egg review
End the month by dividing the story into three numbers you actually logged: feed and bedding used, eggs collected, and eggs usable. When those three move together sensibly, the flock is earning its keep, and when they drift apart, the records show whether light, age, feed, or housing is the lever to pull. Keeping those egg and feed tallies together in a KinsLe Pet Passport makes each Campbell's laying history clear at a glance when culling, breeding, or buying decisions come around.