Duck laying bad eggs often

[Daisy and Daffy]

Hi. I have a 1 year, 4 mo pekin duck who started laying in late august of last year but stopped almost completely this early july. Now, she lays maybe an egg every 3-4 days at most, and a lot of the time it's thin shell, soft shell, or broken, or I just see yolk and egg white in the coop. She gets 24 hour free range of oyster shell, and about 2 cups of food a day. How do I help this?

 

[nuthatched]

Hmm, it could be genetic. What type of food? Not every bird is keen on eating her oyster shell as she should.

 

[ruthhope]

Hi. I have a 1 year, 4 mo pekin duck who started laying in late august of last year but stopped almost completely this early july. Now, she lays maybe an egg every 3-4 days at most, and a lot of the time it's thin shell, soft shell, or broken, or I just see yolk and egg white in the coop. She gets 24 hour free range of oyster shell, and about 2 cups of food a day. How do I help this?

My son has laying pekins of the same age a yours. They, too , started laying in August last year. One has not ceased to lay an egg daily since but has been laying v thin shell eggs for 2 months now. They are on organic layer feed, and have 24/7 access to oystershell which the prolific layer has never been seen to eat. My son's other laying pekin, ceased laying in January and restarted end March -- two eggs over three-four days on average. She ate a lot of oyster shell when it was first offered, and has never had thin shelled eggs.

We are now trying oral calcium gluconate from Tractor Supply. The first attemp with it soaked in to a treat was unsuccessful as the two females hardly ate any of the medicated worms!! The treat was soldier fly worms as there were no meal worms at Tractor Supply when they were bought. The ducks don't relish the soldier fly worms so much. We are going to have a second attempt tomorrow with meal worms that I will take over from my ducks' supply. They really love meal worms.

The other difficulty is keeping the drake away. He wants treats too, but he doesn't want a separate dish from his two girls. He will be confined to the coop with his treats while the girls will be fed and dosed outside near the back steps where they like to hang out.

 

[CoriM]

I have had three pekins and though they started out as awesome layers, after the second year they started laying some strange eggs - odd shapes and soft-shelled eggs, then it's dwindled down to where they don't lay very often. I'm sure you're not doing anything wrong, I think they are just bred for meat and keeping them as pets or egg-layers means you will encounter problems regarding their health, sadly, since they are such awesome ducks personality-wise.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I had a Khaki Campbell who went through this. I tried calcium gluconate with only a little success. I cut out peas as treats (they are high in an element that causes problems, phosphorus maybe?). Still little success. I finally switched my feed to Purina duck. After several months on it she molted and took a few months off of laying during the winter. When she resumed in the spring her eggs were back to normal and have stayed that way. So, are you feeding duck specific feed? If yes, it may just be that her body is running low on something which she needs for proper egg shell production. If she takes a break for the winter she might be fine.

 

[ruthhope]

I had a Khaki Campbell who went through this. I tried calcium gluconate with only a little success. I cut out peas as treats (they are high in an element that causes problems, phosphorus maybe?). Still little success. I finally switched my feed to Purina duck. After several months on it she molted and took a few months off of laying during the winter. When she resumed in the spring her eggs were back to normal and have stayed that way. So, are you feeding duck specific feed? If yes, it may just be that her body is running low on something which she needs for proper egg shell production. If she takes a break for the winter she might be fine.

That could be true for my son's pekins. He feeds his organic layer feed and that is formulated for chickens. He supplements it with brewer's yeast, rooster booster in the water, and oyster shell on the side. But it is formulated for laying chickens

 

[cheezenkwackers]

That could be true for my son's pekins. He feeds his organic layer feed and that is formulated for chickens. He supplements it with brewer's yeast, rooster booster in the water, and oyster shell on the side. But it is formulated for laying chickens

Before I switched to Purina Duck I tried Purina Omega Layer for chickens because the guy at the feed store swore by it. It did not seem to help me. I just think that they have slightly different needs. My oldest duck is the one who had issues. She is 6 years old now. She has been on the Purina duck for over two years. She looks, acts, and lays better now than 3 years ago.

 

[Daisy and Daffy]

They eat mazuri duck meed mixed with scratch and peck mills layer feed. However, Daisy (the pekin) has actually passed away today in a freak accident with a predator. Thanks for the help so far though

 

[cheezenkwackers]

They eat mazuri duck meed mixed with scratch and peck mills layer feed. However, Daisy (the pekin) has actually passed away today in a freak accident with a predator. Thanks for the help so far though

Oh no, so sorry!

 

[CoriM]

Sad! So sorry.