Duck Laying Soft Eggs No Matter What I've Changed

[DuckyDonna]

Is the picture what you buy at Walmart? That's what pops up when I do a search. Also can you recommend a calcium gluconate brand? I see a lot of different bottles pop up on google shopping. Also, should I separate her out when I feed the calcium citrate or is it okay for me to just put it in the group feed? I am using a feed right now with the oyster shell crushed and mixed into the pellets.

Thank you so much for the reply. It really is so helpful to have so new things I could look up and research in helping my little friend. I'll give both methods a try as soon as I can get some.

this is what I buy from walmart. I can't see the mg on your bottle

and this is the calcium gluconate from TSC

 

[austroberta]

sorry, I got busy unloading a trailer full of mulch and just now saw this.

It doesn't seem like she's egg bound as much as it's a soft egg issue. But it also seems like she gets uncomfortable because of it. You could try giving her 1 ml of calcium gluconate and see if that helps her lay. I believe it acts more like Pitocin that is given women to start contractions. I don't know if it helps with the soft-shelled eggs though.

When I get soft-shelled eggs I use calcium citrate. I found the pills at walmart so I have to crush them up and put the crushed pills right on top of the oyster shells in their little container.

Maybe try both but start with the calcium gluconate to see if that makes her more comfortable and then add the calcium citrate maybe to treats that only she will get. If you've got a coffee bean grinder it works well with those pills.

Do you have to crush them? Maybe that's what I have been doing wrong. I was just popping the pill down her crop (which is what I prefer to do.)

 

[DuckyDonna]

Do you have to crush them? Maybe that's what I have been doing wrong. I was just popping the pill down her crop (which is what I prefer to do.)

Oh, sorry, it never occurred to me that you were doing that! I've yet to try that but I hear it's kinda easy once you get the hang of it. Seems like that would be better with no waste at all.

I never know who's laying the soft eggs so I have to put it in the oyster shell bucket where everyone can get at it.

 

[austroberta]

Oh, sorry, it never occurred to me that you were doing that! I've yet to try that but I hear it's kinda easy once you get the hang of it. Seems like that would be better with no waste at all.

I never know who's laying the soft eggs so I have to put it in the oyster shell bucket where everyone can get at it.

Crushing stuff has never worked for me. My ducks seem to know somehow. It's really irritating. I've found that putting a pill in the crop is so much easier.

How many pills should I give before I realize it's not a calcium issue, but rather something else?

 

[austroberta]

Thank you. I"ll look into calcium gluconate or calcium citrate. I don't know anything about either but I haven't tried them so it might be worth getting some.

You can always take the pills yourself if they don't work for the duck! Calcium citrate has vitamin D too, which helps boost your immune system.

 

[nao57]

Is this duck with the soft eggs really young?

One one Youtube video that I saw, one guy was saying sometimes the really young hens sometimes do it.

But I don't know if he's right or wrong. And he was I think mostly talking about quail.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Crushing stuff has never worked for me. My ducks seem to know somehow. It's really irritating. I've found that putting a pill in the crop is so much easier.

How many pills should I give before I realize it's not a calcium issue, but rather something else?

Honestly, I have no idea. I have dealt a lot more with the "egg bound" issue than soft shells. My old girls never really quit laying last winter and their shells were getting so thin that I had to give the pills crushed to all 6 of them. I just put it on top of their oyster shells and didn't tell them. I've never had the 2 issues with the same duck at the same time as @marxrab has been experiencing.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Is this duck with the soft eggs really young?

One one Youtube video that I saw, one guy was saying sometimes the really young hens sometimes do it.

But I don't know if he's right or wrong. And he was I think mostly talking about quail.

That is true. I noticed that this year when my 2 young girls started laying we got a few soft ones! It all worked itself out pretty quick. Just a glitch in the egg machine I guess.

 

[CoriM]

@marxrab How did it turn out with your soft-shell situation? Did you find a solution that worked?

 

[marxrab]

@marxrab How did it turn out with your soft-shell situation? Did you find a solution that worked?

Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been on here in a while. It's winter now and my girl stopped laying for the winter. She was still laying soft eggs at the end of the summer though. I tried everything. Every tip I could find about soft egg laying I tried and nothing helped. She's nice and healthy in every way I can tell right now so I've got my fingers crossed hoping she'll be fine in spring. I'll update again once spring arrives.