can older birds become egg bound?

[SammyRouen]

I have a duck who is 10 years old. And surprisingly she is still laying eggs once a week. Today she layed an egg that was MASSIVE! it also had extra calcium build up on the shell plus it was misshapen. I have been growing increasenly worried about her becoming egg bound because of the eggs coming out misshappen and her being so old. She's a pet and I got her when I was a kid. Is there anything I can do to make sure she doesn't become egg bound or even something I can do to prevent her from laying all together?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Any bird actively producing eggs can become egg bound. Prevention of lay is tricky business - most of the things that can cause a bird to have an interruption in laying are not necessarily things one would want to intentionally do to their beloved bird (nutritional deficiency, poor keeping, stressful environment, etc). The least unpleasant thing to change that can impact laying/not laying would be hours of light the bird is exposed to, but that is not always one that works and can be a bit of a hassle to enact, especially through the long light seasons when you would be looking at keeping the bird "in the dark" for a good part of the day.
I think your best bet is just to provide her the great care you have clearly been giving and keep a close eye on her so that IF she does become egg bound you can respond as quickly as possible to give her the best chance of it being resolved successfully.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

One thing that might give you some relief to your worries - with older birds when you start seeing those wonky eggs it can be a signal that their system is starting to give it up - so perhaps she won't be in production too much longer. How long has it been since she started laying the eggs that are concerning you?