concerning pattern of strange soft-shelled eggs

[Isaac 0]

Give 0.2ml per pound. That is using the 100mg/kg dose you will find in most drug books for poultry. 1ml is just an average dose for a five-pound duck.

 

[KaleIAm]

Give 0.2ml per pound. That is using the 100mg/kg dose you will find in most drug books for poultry. 1ml is just an average dose for a five-pound duck.

Thank you!

 

[CoriM]

Thank you both! I will get her started on that

BTW, my welsh harlequin Mable, who was doing the weird head shaking, seems to be doing better. I vaporized her with Oxine AH a couple times a day for 5 days, and have been giving garlic in her food every few days. I wouldn't say she's 100 percent, but I haven't seen her shake her head for at least a week and a half, and her quack seems like it might be a little bit better. She's definitely back to herself energy-wise and almost everyday flies down to the pond to beat the other ducks there. After really observing her closely this past month I've noticed that when the ducks are out foraging, she's usually off doing her own thing and comes to get a drink much less than my other ducks, who hover pretty close to the water bucket I tote around for them. So not sure if that has something to do with her throat issue or what. I did talk to my vet, but opted not to take her in, as it seemed like it was likely to go down a path of a surgical intervention and I wasn't up for that.

 

[schrammie]

Until a week or so ago I had been keeping my ducks out in their run until 8:30-9 with low-light Christmas lights outside. Then I started putting them to bed and turning off all lights by 6:30, as I didn't realize that keeping them up later than daylight might be harmful for their reproductive system. I'm sure the timing has to be a coincidence, but ever since I made the change my 20 month old pekin has laid three softshell eggs with this weird thing at the end, and laid them mid-day, which is unusual, though it's happened on occasion before with one duck or another. She also laid a cracked egg - not sure if that was soft-shelled, and a tiny egg, pictured below. I'm concerned about what's going on with her. She has constant access to oyster shells, and I just ordered Grublies for extra calcium, and have offered those a couple days - they don't really take to them yet. How worried should I be about this? Any suggestions?

I’m so interested in what you said about keeping them up past daylight being harmful to their reproductive systems!
We are currently going through a similar issue with our female, she had a few soft eggs about a month ago (did calcium and all was well) but then just started up again. I’m always worried she’ll get egg bound, but we started calcium again and offer grit.
Anyway, we also have been letting them forage until about 8:30/9pm, and actually did this all winter (we live in California so milder winters), and now I’m wondering if that just messed with her internal body clock.

 

[CoriM]

Do you offer oyster shells? I don't think grit has calcium, but oyster shells do. I think that the idea is they should be in bed when it gets dark. But I'm doing that now, and giving calcium, and still having occasional soft-shelled eggs. I'm feeding them a high-quality feed and offering oyster shells, so not sure what else I can do. Before I started my duck on calcium I could see she was visibly struggling to lay, and at least I haven't observed that for a few weeks, but really wondering how long I have to keep giving calcium!

 

[schrammie]

Do you offer oyster shells? I don't think grit has calcium, but oyster shells do. I think that the idea is they should be in bed when it gets dark. But I'm doing that now, and giving calcium, and still having occasional soft-shelled eggs. I'm feeding them a high-quality feed and offering oyster shells, so not sure what else I can do. Before I started my duck on calcium I could see she was visibly struggling to lay, and at least I haven't observed that for a few weeks, but really wondering how long I have to keep giving calcium!

We have oyster shell that she occasionally nibbles on, but it was sort of like a fad that she got over within a week. I found some grit that has calcium on Chewy.
Yes the darkness thing really interests me, we were just talking about that yesterday wondering if the “routine” we set for them just messed up her internal body clock. I wouldn’t be as worried if we only had one soft shelled egg here and there, but usually it goes on for a few days to several days before we see a good one. Our vet said to give calcium until we saw a normal egg, which we did when we had this issue a month and a half ago, but it’s popped up again so wondering if she needs a regular dose or supplement. Frustrating, we do all the same you do too but still end up with wonky eggs!

 

[CoriM]

I’ve been giving calcium citrate petite tablets 2-3 times a day. My ducks are about 9 and 11 pounds. I think I’ve been doing that for at least 6 weeks now, and like I said, still getting occasional soft shelled eggs, but regular ones too. Of course the duck who was struggling the most also breaks her eggs and eats them, so I’m not totally sure what she’s laying. I’m going to keep the calcium going for now. I hope you find a solution to your problem. Yikes, ducks have so many issues!