I’m sharing my story in hopes that it will help someone else if they have something similar happen. I don’t know the ending yet, but I have some things that I’ve learned along the way that I wish I’d known early on.
Our Khaki Campbell, Goldie started having trouble a little over a month ago. She seemed to be slowing down and spending a lot of time in the pool.
The next day, she was very lethargic and moving slow. I catch her and check her belly and vent. Her vent was covered in a layer of poop that had been stuck on, covering a large area of her bum. I immediately get her in an epsom salt bath. Once she soaked for a while, I checked inside her vent and felt an egg with some sand and bits of egg shell around it.
I called my vet friend to get an idea of what to do. He said to do the soak and get mineral oil inside her and also feed it to her to aid in getting things moving. I followed this process for a few days, but nothing was moving. At one point, I decided to test to see if the egg blocking her vent was already broken. I tapped on it and it broke easily and felt hollow. I broke it up as much as I could to make it easier for her to pass, only to discover another two eggs behind it. The next day one of them had also broken, leaving two broken and one whole egg inside her, none of which could come out.
With much hesitation, I set up a vet appointment. I ride the line between our ducks being pets and being poultry, so this wasn’t easy for me. They did an x-ray on her to confirm that she had a solid egg and two broken eggs inside her. Amazingly, because she wasn’t a certified avian vet, she didn’t charge for her services and wrote it off as an education opportunity. I only paid for the medications used. The vet gave her a shot and prescribed anti-inflammatory meds to hopefully help her body relax enough to pass the eggs. When she didn’t pass them a couple days later, I brought her in for another shot and we set a date for egg extraction if she didn’t pass them on her own.
We waited a few days, continuing with baths and regular care. I attempted at one point to assist Goldie in removing her eggs by having her stand vertical and putting pressure outside her body surrounding the egg. She didn’t like it at all and thrashed during the process. As a result, she got tears on her vent. I felt so bad! I realized there was no way I was going to get the eggs out on my own. I brought her in at our appointment and the vet put her under to extract the eggs. She was unable to without breaking the one blocking the way. I felt so grateful that, again, she wrote off the procedure and only charged me for medication. We were sent home with an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic. The vet said to make her bedding from blankets or towels to limit dust, which I’ve done, changing out a sheet every day. The other thing the vet recommended was probiotics. If you don’t have your ducks on probiotics, go get them NOW!!! I had no idea how awesome these are. Everyone has improved in our flock from them. The poop doesn’t stink so bad and looks more healthy and solid. Even Goldie seemed to improve from them.
I kept her isolated with limited light. My son said he found an egg in her pen at one point, but I couldn’t confirm it was hers. One of the days, I let her stay out later as she seemed to be improving (big mistake). The next day, she was egg bound. I treated here with a epsom salt bath with no luck. The next morning there were two eggs inside her. I treated her again and checked her in the evening to find that there was a third egg and one of the eggs was broken. I was able to remove the broken egg without injuring her, so I decided to try to do the same to the other two. I was able to get one more, but the third wouldn’t break and it wouldn’t come out. I decided to let her rest, as it had been a traumatic event for her (and me).
Two days later, she was egg bound again with a soft egg that had bypassed the solid one. I popped it and removed it, she was very much relieved about that one and gave me soft nibbles in gratitude.
Two days after that, she still hadn’t passed the solid egg. I used the butt of a spoon to get inside her vent to break and extract the 4 day old egg. It had definitely started to rot. Like all the other times, I made sure to rinse her out with mineral oil and allow her to bathe for a good long while after (a turkey baster is an EXCELLENT tool in getting the mineral oil far enough inside to actually get around the egg). Also, making sure all of the egg shells were out was a big deal. Any that are left can prevent another egg from coming out and cause inflammation or cuts inside the oviduct. Removing the broken pieces carefully is so important to prevent cuts as well.
So far she’s produced 12 eggs in the last month, only being able to pass one on her own (if it was indeed hers). The eggs come to the vent and she struggles for a time, only for her body to give up and draw the egg back in. Through all this, she’s been hating her soak baths, biting me every time I treat her. Each time she has become egg bound I’ve given her a few days before extracting, in hopes that she will pass them on her own. I’ve been treating her for vent gleet through all this as well, applying anti fungal to her vent after each soak. So far, the white callous around her vent seems to be going away, but each time she gets egg bound, she gets tears in her vent, causing a lot of pain. It’s been a month of the same problem happening over and over again. I’ve been considering putting her down so many times and it’s been an emotional rollercoaster. It’s hard to see her go through so much pain, but she’s been energetic enough to give me hope that she can recover.
Through all this, I’ve been considering the hormone implant to stop egg production long enough for her to heal. The vet told me that it may not work for persistent egg producers and is quite costly. Even if it works this year, we may run the risk of her getting egg bound again next year.
I suspect she became egg bound when she was trying to lay a very large egg. My guess is that it wouldn’t pass and her body drew it back in and began to rot. I think it broke inside her, causing the vent gleet infection. So it’s become a compounding problem. I’ve also been worried that bathing her morning and night every day for too long would cause issues with her oil gland, especially when I’ve had to use Dawn dish soap to help clean things. I don’t know if that happens, but I’ve been concerned about it just the same.
Four days ago, I had an epiphany. There IS a natural, safe, and inexpensive way to have a duck stop laying eggs. If she would just go broody! I looked up some information about how to make it happen and found a super helpful article. https://www.tyrantfarms.com/why-and-how-to-make-a-duck-go-broody/
She was already isolated from most of her friends, so adding a few eggs is not such a bad idea. I immediately borrowed some eggs from the other girls and placed them in the duck hospital. I made some fake eggs by blowing out, cleaning, and putting Plaster of Paris in some of our own and traded them out for the real ones. I’ve had to adjust things so she has more light during the day as that helps the process. Knowing that an egg will last at least 4 days in her before breaking (no idea how long it really is), I have also stopped doing the soak baths for a time, allowing her to bathe herself only. The article I read says that touching them too much can engage hormones for producing eggs.
It’s been scary not to treat her as she always gets a layer of poop stuck around her vent. Any time I’ve checked, it hasn’t covered the vent. At this point, I’m truly hoping broodiness works and can be a sustainable way for her to avoid producing eggs, at least for a time. So far, it’s fairly promising as she has been sitting on the nest a lot. She’s definitely not hormonal yet, but I’m hoping it’s not far off. I know right now she has at least one egg inside her that I plan to extract in the next couple days if she doesn’t pass it on her own. I’m waiting to ensure that the broody hormones have time to kick in. I’ll keep updating as the process goes on. Please send good thoughts and prayers for Goldie.
Things I’ve learned:
Probiotics are awesome!
Turkey baster for putting KY jelly or mineral oil in vent
Check your ducks for vent gleet regularly
Have a duck prone to egg binding go broody
Our Khaki Campbell, Goldie started having trouble a little over a month ago. She seemed to be slowing down and spending a lot of time in the pool.
The next day, she was very lethargic and moving slow. I catch her and check her belly and vent. Her vent was covered in a layer of poop that had been stuck on, covering a large area of her bum. I immediately get her in an epsom salt bath. Once she soaked for a while, I checked inside her vent and felt an egg with some sand and bits of egg shell around it.
I called my vet friend to get an idea of what to do. He said to do the soak and get mineral oil inside her and also feed it to her to aid in getting things moving. I followed this process for a few days, but nothing was moving. At one point, I decided to test to see if the egg blocking her vent was already broken. I tapped on it and it broke easily and felt hollow. I broke it up as much as I could to make it easier for her to pass, only to discover another two eggs behind it. The next day one of them had also broken, leaving two broken and one whole egg inside her, none of which could come out.
With much hesitation, I set up a vet appointment. I ride the line between our ducks being pets and being poultry, so this wasn’t easy for me. They did an x-ray on her to confirm that she had a solid egg and two broken eggs inside her. Amazingly, because she wasn’t a certified avian vet, she didn’t charge for her services and wrote it off as an education opportunity. I only paid for the medications used. The vet gave her a shot and prescribed anti-inflammatory meds to hopefully help her body relax enough to pass the eggs. When she didn’t pass them a couple days later, I brought her in for another shot and we set a date for egg extraction if she didn’t pass them on her own.
We waited a few days, continuing with baths and regular care. I attempted at one point to assist Goldie in removing her eggs by having her stand vertical and putting pressure outside her body surrounding the egg. She didn’t like it at all and thrashed during the process. As a result, she got tears on her vent. I felt so bad! I realized there was no way I was going to get the eggs out on my own. I brought her in at our appointment and the vet put her under to extract the eggs. She was unable to without breaking the one blocking the way. I felt so grateful that, again, she wrote off the procedure and only charged me for medication. We were sent home with an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic. The vet said to make her bedding from blankets or towels to limit dust, which I’ve done, changing out a sheet every day. The other thing the vet recommended was probiotics. If you don’t have your ducks on probiotics, go get them NOW!!! I had no idea how awesome these are. Everyone has improved in our flock from them. The poop doesn’t stink so bad and looks more healthy and solid. Even Goldie seemed to improve from them.
I kept her isolated with limited light. My son said he found an egg in her pen at one point, but I couldn’t confirm it was hers. One of the days, I let her stay out later as she seemed to be improving (big mistake). The next day, she was egg bound. I treated here with a epsom salt bath with no luck. The next morning there were two eggs inside her. I treated her again and checked her in the evening to find that there was a third egg and one of the eggs was broken. I was able to remove the broken egg without injuring her, so I decided to try to do the same to the other two. I was able to get one more, but the third wouldn’t break and it wouldn’t come out. I decided to let her rest, as it had been a traumatic event for her (and me).
Two days later, she was egg bound again with a soft egg that had bypassed the solid one. I popped it and removed it, she was very much relieved about that one and gave me soft nibbles in gratitude.
Two days after that, she still hadn’t passed the solid egg. I used the butt of a spoon to get inside her vent to break and extract the 4 day old egg. It had definitely started to rot. Like all the other times, I made sure to rinse her out with mineral oil and allow her to bathe for a good long while after (a turkey baster is an EXCELLENT tool in getting the mineral oil far enough inside to actually get around the egg). Also, making sure all of the egg shells were out was a big deal. Any that are left can prevent another egg from coming out and cause inflammation or cuts inside the oviduct. Removing the broken pieces carefully is so important to prevent cuts as well.
So far she’s produced 12 eggs in the last month, only being able to pass one on her own (if it was indeed hers). The eggs come to the vent and she struggles for a time, only for her body to give up and draw the egg back in. Through all this, she’s been hating her soak baths, biting me every time I treat her. Each time she has become egg bound I’ve given her a few days before extracting, in hopes that she will pass them on her own. I’ve been treating her for vent gleet through all this as well, applying anti fungal to her vent after each soak. So far, the white callous around her vent seems to be going away, but each time she gets egg bound, she gets tears in her vent, causing a lot of pain. It’s been a month of the same problem happening over and over again. I’ve been considering putting her down so many times and it’s been an emotional rollercoaster. It’s hard to see her go through so much pain, but she’s been energetic enough to give me hope that she can recover.
Through all this, I’ve been considering the hormone implant to stop egg production long enough for her to heal. The vet told me that it may not work for persistent egg producers and is quite costly. Even if it works this year, we may run the risk of her getting egg bound again next year.
I suspect she became egg bound when she was trying to lay a very large egg. My guess is that it wouldn’t pass and her body drew it back in and began to rot. I think it broke inside her, causing the vent gleet infection. So it’s become a compounding problem. I’ve also been worried that bathing her morning and night every day for too long would cause issues with her oil gland, especially when I’ve had to use Dawn dish soap to help clean things. I don’t know if that happens, but I’ve been concerned about it just the same.
Four days ago, I had an epiphany. There IS a natural, safe, and inexpensive way to have a duck stop laying eggs. If she would just go broody! I looked up some information about how to make it happen and found a super helpful article. https://www.tyrantfarms.com/why-and-how-to-make-a-duck-go-broody/
She was already isolated from most of her friends, so adding a few eggs is not such a bad idea. I immediately borrowed some eggs from the other girls and placed them in the duck hospital. I made some fake eggs by blowing out, cleaning, and putting Plaster of Paris in some of our own and traded them out for the real ones. I’ve had to adjust things so she has more light during the day as that helps the process. Knowing that an egg will last at least 4 days in her before breaking (no idea how long it really is), I have also stopped doing the soak baths for a time, allowing her to bathe herself only. The article I read says that touching them too much can engage hormones for producing eggs.
It’s been scary not to treat her as she always gets a layer of poop stuck around her vent. Any time I’ve checked, it hasn’t covered the vent. At this point, I’m truly hoping broodiness works and can be a sustainable way for her to avoid producing eggs, at least for a time. So far, it’s fairly promising as she has been sitting on the nest a lot. She’s definitely not hormonal yet, but I’m hoping it’s not far off. I know right now she has at least one egg inside her that I plan to extract in the next couple days if she doesn’t pass it on her own. I’m waiting to ensure that the broody hormones have time to kick in. I’ll keep updating as the process goes on. Please send good thoughts and prayers for Goldie.
Things I’ve learned:
Probiotics are awesome!
Turkey baster for putting KY jelly or mineral oil in vent
Check your ducks for vent gleet regularly
Have a duck prone to egg binding go broody
