Duck eggs laid tonight and thin shell I am scared something is wrong w my babies !!

[Bduckhappy]

I just got home from work and went to check on my ducks and I seen an egg on the bricks and one egg in their Quackhows . I have already gathered the eggs this morning and checked again at noon today to make sure they were all ok . When I got home a thin shelled egg was out in their yard on a brick and one thin shelled egg was in a nest in their house ... I have never seen an egg like this and I don’t know if something is wrong w my ducks . Please tell me how to check my ducks to see if something is wrong w the three of them to find out why these eggs were laid at night and what is wrong w them because the shell was so thin. I can push on the egg and it doesn’t break but both of them are so thin . I don’t want any thing to happen to my babies so anything y’all can help me to help them will be so greatly appreciated. Y’all are the greatest family to always be so helpful and so nice to me no matter what i need and I adore all of y’all , thank you all so much !
Beth

 

[Bridger Davis]

I am not 100% sure on this, but I had something with my chickens happen like this when they started laying. As far as I know, they just need some extra calcium for their eggs to be strong. Try providing the directed amount of oyster shell (found in poultry section at feed store) in their feed. If you have all females, you can give the oyster shell just in their feed, but if you have drakes, you will need to provide it in a separate container because the drakes do not need the extra calcium. Hope this helps!

 

[Duckworth]

We provide oyster shell in a separate small dish near their regular feed so that they can take it as they need it. It helps make up for the calcium they use to form eggshells. We have occasional soft-shelled eggs, even with the oyster shell available. Sometimes an egg is laid before it is fully hardened. This can be true especially if they are laying more than one egg per day. So far, nothing has been wrong and it’s been an unusual occurrence.

If you are not offering oyster shell, consider starting. If you are, but are mixing it into the feed, I would consider offering it separately, free choice, instead, so they can easily get the extra they need when they need it and not when they don’t. Too much calcium has a downside for ducks, though I’m not well-informed about the specifics, and free choice allows them to self-regulate their intake.

I hope these soft eggs will turn out to be an aberration in an otherwise healthy egg-laying life for your ducks. Our soft shelled eggs seem to come early in the egg-laying part of the year when their systems are reregulating after a winter break.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Even if all female I’d still provide a separate container for oyster shell since each duck hen has individual needs for calcium and will use the oyster shell as they need it. Trying to figure that out to put into feed would be hard. Just keep it where it will stay dry.

 

[Cayuga momma]

A ducks body takes longer to absorb oyster shell, but it absorbs more of it.
For a quick solution Calcuim Citrate will absorb faster in the body, but not as much will absorb. Calcium citrate also doesn't have as much Calcium as Calcium gluconate, but Calcium gluconate has been know to cause constipation.

So you can give them Calcuim Citrate for immediate help and keep the free oyster shell on the side.

 

[DuckyDonna]

All these ideas are pretty simple and good. I took a smallish coke bottle, cut it and 1/2, drilled holes in the bottom for drainage and wired it to my duck run fence that way they can get it when they need it. Apparently they seem to know when they need it. I tired putting it in a bowl but they just kept knocking it over.

I've gone the calcium citrate route too. Got the 600mg pills at Walmart but if you can find it with D3 that's even better. Anyway, I ground up the pills in my coffee grinder and sprinkled it over their cut up tomato treats and it was devoured in seconds.

 

[Bduckhappy]

All awesome ideas . I have big bowl of oyster shells out there so I just threw it away and put out fresh bowl . I also have had them covered w tarp til I could get the things to make the netting better . So I took that off during day in case it was lack of sunlight . And eggs all hard and beautiful , my security camera picked up one of my girls that hasn’t been laying as the layer of soft shelled eggs . So let’s see if she lays more . Thank y’all so much ‘ y’all are all amazing