Egg-bound duck!

[betsycam]

Well, she's still with me, strong and loud! Other than not eating far as I can tell, she acts fairly normal, hops in her tub and floats around. Tube feeding her, not sure what to give her that way. Still fishing bits of shell out of her with the 2nd egg sitting there. Thinking I'm going to have to try to drain the second egg and recover the shell like the first one. Her cloaca is so tight, won't expand beyond my index finger width.

 

[nightowl223]

I'm crossing my fingers for her, and you. Wishing you both all the best.

 

[betsycam]

Thank you. I haven't gone after the egg, yet. Was going to yesterday but need help, was alone. She spent the day with her buddies acting like a normal duck, but that egg is still in there. I felt the cloaca of a healthy girl and it is much more open and pliable than this girl's, which is cinched tight. I wish I could find out why that is!

 

[nightowl223]

Thank you. I haven't gone after the egg, yet. Was going to yesterday but need help, was alone. She spent the day with her buddies acting like a normal duck, but that egg is still in there. I felt the cloaca of a healthy girl and it is much more open and pliable than this girl's, which is cinched tight. I wish I could find out why that is!

Sounds to me, the more I think about it, like some scar tissue from some previous injury could be what is causing the cloaca not to have the proper flexibility.

 

[Skipper81]

Is there a way to get her to stop laying is what I'm wondering? It seems to me like she's going to have these problems more than not

 

[Skipper81]

Let us know how she is doing.
You have had your hands full with this for 2 weeks now I praise you for taking such good care of her

 

[nightowl223]

The best way to stop a bird from laying that I am aware of is to keep them in a low-light situation, enough darkness a day to have her body think it's winter. I've seen that advice in this kind of situation for chickens, but never saw if it was successful, long-term, or not.

I suppose surgery could be done to give her the equivalent of a hysterectomy, but that would be expensive, I'm sure. There might be some sort of hormonal therapy possible, but that might be expensive, too.

I've seen where people start up collections for all kinds of different things, on places like GoFundMe. Maybe you could start one up for your featherbaby? Just a thought.

 

[betsycam]

I wondered about the scar tissue or something along those lines. If she can't open up to let eggs pass then that's pretty much it for her. I could keep her in the hospital cage for the night and keep it covered so she comes into light later than the others, see if that works.

 

[nightowl223]

@betsycam , I just ran across a thread on here that could help you. Well, your featherbaby, anyway. IF you can find a vet that will try it, and IF you can raise the funds for it, there's a thing called a Suprelorin implant (Virbac), that has been used successfully with chickens. For hens with Egg Yolk Peritonitis, and for internal layers, both. It's basically a hormonal treatment that can shut down their laying cycle, sort of like a chemical hysterectomy. It's not permanent, and must be replaced regularly, but has saved many lives.

Here's the thread about the Virbac:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-with-egg-peritonitis-laying-anymore.643985/

I hope you can manage to use this info, to successfully take care of your girl.

 

[betsycam]

Just wanted to follow up. I put the duck back with the flock since her attitude was good. It took about a month but she finally started laying eggs again! Then she disappeared and I thought she was dead! She reappeared to eat and take a bath, so had been hiding out, and she's been at that for about 6 weeks, going off to bed down at some hidden spot and then coming back to take baths and eat periodically. I thought she was sitting on a nest but incubation time came and went and she is still at it. But, she's happy and quacking when she rejoins the flock at these times. I'd force her to go to bed with the rest in their run at night but if she's working on a nest I don't want to disrupt that. Thankfully, we seem to be pretty free of predators.

Anyway, the weird stricture seemed to resolve, and though she had that egg stuck in her for quite some time, she began laying again! She was squirting diarrhea, though, and I could always tell which egg was hers because it had diarrhea on it! Strangest thing.