Egg Bound Pekin

[DuckLadyOH]

Seeking creative ideas or wisdom here…. I’m at my wits end trying to win the war over this egg bound duck. Pekin duck, been about two weeks now of being egg bound.
We have her 90% better except we can’t get this darn egg out. Her swelling is down, her tummy feathers are growing back in. She’s eating and pooping; keeping herself clean, enjoys her daily swim, etc. She remains secluded from the flock in our brooder.
Feeding our regular layer feed, plus oyster shells. Has had multiple doses of calcium gluconate. So many Epsom salt baths.
We can very clearly palpate the eggs. When we try to manipulate it out it moves around but never comes to the sphincter (like the dozens of videos we’ve watched). We’ve tried to manipulate it with a gloved finger. Zero luck on all accounts. If she were acting poorly I’d have taken her to the vet long ago but she’s acting so fine minus the egg remaining. HELP! Do I need to give in and call the vet?

 

[Squawkers]

Seeking creative ideas or wisdom here…. I’m at my wits end trying to win the war over this egg bound duck. Pekin duck, been about two weeks now of being egg bound.
We have her 90% better except we can’t get this darn egg out. Her swelling is down, her tummy feathers are growing back in. She’s eating and pooping; keeping herself clean, enjoys her daily swim, etc. She remains secluded from the flock in our brooder.
Feeding our regular layer feed, plus oyster shells. Has had multiple doses of calcium gluconate. So many Epsom salt baths.
We can very clearly palpate the eggs. When we try to manipulate it out it moves around but never comes to the sphincter (like the dozens of videos we’ve watched). We’ve tried to manipulate it with a gloved finger. Zero luck on all accounts. If she were acting poorly I’d have taken her to the vet long ago but she’s acting so fine minus the egg remaining. HELP! Do I need to give in and call the vet?

If you can afford it, I’d call the vet. One thing that I’ve heard you can do with chickens (I’m assuming it works with ducks too) is to use a syringe with a needle to suck the egg contents out, then VERY carefully use your fingers to collapse the eggshell and pull it out. This, of course, has risks. You have to be very careful to get all the eggshell out and not cut her with the eggshell shards. I honestly don’t know if I’d feel comfortable doing this (I never have, just heard about it) but if there is no other hope, I’d do it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Seeking creative ideas or wisdom here…. I’m at my wits end trying to win the war over this egg bound duck. Pekin duck, been about two weeks now of being egg bound.
We have her 90% better except we can’t get this darn egg out. Her swelling is down, her tummy feathers are growing back in. She’s eating and pooping; keeping herself clean, enjoys her daily swim, etc. She remains secluded from the flock in our brooder.
Feeding our regular layer feed, plus oyster shells. Has had multiple doses of calcium gluconate. So many Epsom salt baths.
We can very clearly palpate the eggs. When we try to manipulate it out it moves around but never comes to the sphincter (like the dozens of videos we’ve watched). We’ve tried to manipulate it with a gloved finger. Zero luck on all accounts. If she were acting poorly I’d have taken her to the vet long ago but she’s acting so fine minus the egg remaining. HELP! Do I need to give in and call the vet?

@DuckLadyOH How is your duck?

 

[DuckLadyOH]

@DuckLadyOH How is your duck?

She’s the same. Just hanging out in the brooder. I just don’t know what to do with her. She’s not sickly aside from the bulgy belly and inability to really walk around.

 

[Squawkers]

She’s the same. Just hanging out in the brooder. I just don’t know what to do with her. She’s not sickly aside from the bulgy belly and inability to really walk around.

If there is nothing else you can do, I’d try what I suggested earlier. while there are risks, I believe it’s better than nothing.

 

[Squawkers]

Can you take her to the vet?

 

[DuckLadyOH]

Can you take her to the vet?

Yes, we *can* and we will if we really can’t get this resolved. I would have taken her right away if she didn’t seem so otherwise unphased. I am hesitant to try to crack it because when I examine with my finger it’s like I can feel it but it’s not right there, like I’m feeling it through tissue. Not leaning toward that being a safe option based on what I feel on exam

 

[Squawkers]

Yes, we *can* and we will if we really can’t get this resolved. I would have taken her right away if she didn’t seem so otherwise unphased. I am hesitant to try to crack it because when I examine with my finger it’s like I can feel it but it’s not right there, like I’m feeling it through tissue. Not leaning toward that being a safe option based on what I feel on exam

Interesting, yeah I wouldn’t do that if it’s through tissue.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If you can take her to the vet leaving an egg in for so long can cause infection especially if more are getting backed up.
Usually the calcium Gluconate helps get it moving but that can take many doses before it helps. Depends on where the egg is stuck.

 

[DuckLadyOH]

Seeking creative ideas or wisdom here…. I’m at my wits end trying to win the war over this egg bound duck. Pekin duck, been about two weeks now of being egg bound.
We have her 90% better except we can’t get this darn egg out. Her swelling is down, her tummy feathers are growing back in. She’s eating and pooping; keeping herself clean, enjoys her daily swim, etc. She remains secluded from the flock in our brooder.
Feeding our regular layer feed, plus oyster shells. Has had multiple doses of calcium gluconate. So many Epsom salt baths.
We can very clearly palpate the eggs. When we try to manipulate it out it moves around but never comes to the sphincter (like the dozens of videos we’ve watched). We’ve tried to manipulate it with a gloved finger. Zero luck on all accounts. If she were acting poorly I’d have taken her to the vet long ago but she’s acting so fine minus the egg remaining. HELP! Do I need to give in and call the vet?

Wanted to come back and update here. After 3 weeks of nursing this duck at home and many attempts to extract this egg, I was pretty confident she was not egg bound (because she would have died already) so we headed to the vet. She confirmed my suspicion- this duck has an ectopic egg. It’s basically floating in her abdomen and won’t come out. She did not recommend surgery for several reasons but did say that unless she’s poorly she could live like this for some time.
We brought her home and are working on a set up to give her the best ducky life possible. She does need to gain some weight but otherwise is in good health. We need to be careful she doesn’t rupture the egg- it would create an infection in her peritoneum and kill her. Outside of that, there’s even a chance she may lay more eggs in the future.