Enlarged Testicles in Male Mallard x Saxony

[Amalthea666]

Hi All,
I've just had my 3 year old Male Mallard x Saxony at the Vet. He was short stepping when he walked, more so on concrete.
Vet did x-rays and found that his testicles were enlarged. The Vet suggested an implant to control his testosterone levels.
He is quite a randy boy and he does have a girlfriend - 3 year old Female Muscovy.
My question is: Is this common and does it mean something nasty?
I'd love to get people's feedback.
Thanx, Peta.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe @casportpony would be able to help she is pretty knowledgeable about just about everything to do with our waterfowl.

I will say this do all the research you can on what this implant is and what side effects it can have. A member on here had an implant given to her female duck and she has had many problems ever since.
@New duck mommy 2021

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Mine was Lupron injections to stop my girl from laying eggs till they got her aspergillosis cured
My avian vet told me it’s safe and no side effects
What she didn’t tell me was there was zero info on ducks with Lupron so of course there was no side effects listed
My girl had 2 shots a few weeks apart
She didn’t stop laying eggs
But it did change her eggs from beautiful hard shells ( perfect eggs ) to thin shelled that break very easy
She now gets issues with soft shell eggs as well ( started in winter when the sun is very little )
I have contacted my avian vet several times over the past 10 months
Each time being told her Lupron shots were not the cause of her egg issues
That it’s my duck
Well she laid for 12 months straight (no winter break her first year) with Perfect eggs
The issues started a week after the first shot we are now 10 months later and her eggs are still not normal
Twice sift shells have broke inside her causing infections in the last 4-6 weeks ( since winter )
My girl is going on 22 months of egg laying straight with no break
Yet the shots were to stop her
I’m beyond frustrated that I was not told there was no studies done. Therefore no info on this shot with my bird
What I have come up with after reviewing that shot with humans is caused D deficiency
Hmm so you can’t absorb calcium with low d
This makes sense now
My regular vet has finally listened to me
Unfortunately the treatment had to take a backseat while we treat the infection from the last broken egg in her
Tomorrow is last day for meds
Then we will start a Calcium / D3 supplement that goes in water
3 days a week for 2 weeks. My fingers are crossed this helps
I’m well over 4000 in vet bills with this duck
Please do research as much as you can before making the decision
Some things can’t be reversed
This shot we got leaves the system but damage it causes while in it can be for life

 

[CoriM]

Mine was Lupron injections to stop my girl from laying eggs till they got her aspergillosis cured
My avian vet told me it’s safe and no side effects
What she didn’t tell me was there was zero info on ducks with Lupron so of course there was no side effects listed
My girl had 2 shots a few weeks apart
She didn’t stop laying eggs
But it did change her eggs from beautiful hard shells ( perfect eggs ) to thin shelled that break very easy
She now gets issues with soft shell eggs as well ( started in winter when the sun is very little )
I have contacted my avian vet several times over the past 10 months
Each time being told her Lupron shots were not the cause of her egg issues
That it’s my duck
Well she laid for 12 months straight (no winter break her first year) with Perfect eggs
The issues started a week after the first shot we are now 10 months later and her eggs are still not normal
Twice sift shells have broke inside her causing infections in the last 4-6 weeks ( since winter )
My girl is going on 22 months of egg laying straight with no break
Yet the shots were to stop her
I’m beyond frustrated that I was not told there was no studies done. Therefore no info on this shot with my bird
What I have come up with after reviewing that shot with humans is caused D deficiency
Hmm so you can’t absorb calcium with low d
This makes sense now
My regular vet has finally listened to me
Unfortunately the treatment had to take a backseat while we treat the infection from the last broken egg in her
Tomorrow is last day for meds
Then we will start a Calcium / D3 supplement that goes in water
3 days a week for 2 weeks. My fingers are crossed this helps
I’m well over 4000 in vet bills with this duck
Please do research as much as you can before making the decision
Some things can’t be reversed
This shot we got leaves the system but damage it causes while in it can be for life

How's your girl doing now? I adopted a couple of call ducks in March and they were not in the best condition. One persisted on agonizing over soft-shelled eggs and I felt just terrible for her - they are huge too considering she is only 1 pound. No one where I live is willing to give the suprelorin implant - we had one vet that did but he retired - so I tried a Lupron injection. The vet told me there were no side effects generally. My girl has not stopped laying eggs however and it's been a week and a half. Ironically, her eggs were soft-shelled and became hard, except one. I think that was just coincidence. She's only 10 months old and this is her first season laying. Now I see some negative post on Lupron and it is scaring me that maybe I did something that actually could harm her. Although I was trying to help - she was spending 5-6 hours in misery trying to push out the soft-shelled eggs and I just couldn't stand to see her suffering.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

How's your girl doing now? I adopted a couple of call ducks in March and they were not in the best condition. One persisted on agonizing over soft-shelled eggs and I felt just terrible for her - they are huge too considering she is only 1 pound. No one where I live is willing to give the suprelorin implant - we had one vet that did but he retired - so I tried a Lupron injection. The vet told me there were no side effects generally. My girl has not stopped laying eggs however and it's been a week and a half. Ironically, her eggs were soft-shelled and became hard, except one. I think that was just coincidence. She's only 10 months old and this is her first season laying. Now I see some negative post on Lupron and it is scaring me that maybe I did something that actually could harm her. Although I was trying to help - she was spending 5-6 hours in misery trying to push out the soft-shelled eggs and I just couldn't stand to see her suffering.

My girl passed away
She never stopped laying eggs either but she went from beautiful hard normal eggs to soft shells that often broke inside her
This caused infections many times
The last time I missed it somehow and she died in my arms
Was the worst decision I ever made was getting her those shots
There is dude affects
It causing a D deficiency this stops them from absorbing calcium
Took me a long time to figure that all out
I wish I had sooner I could have saved her
My suggestion is making sure any bird with soft shell is getting vitamin D3
I really hope your bird doesn’t have the same side affects dasher did
She passed 16 months after her shots

 

[CoriM]

I'm so sorry - that is heartbreaking. We do the best we can for these sweet animals and we just can't always fix them. I have been through that heart-break with pekins, which were my very first ducks and had so many health complications. You gave your girl a good life and she was loved!

My vet offered me another shot but I will turn it down. I am making sure she gets in the sunshine as much as possible - I'm from WA so that's tricky! Thanks for sharing your story!

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

My girl passed away
She never stopped laying eggs either but she went from beautiful hard normal eggs to soft shells that often broke inside her
This caused infections many times
The last time I missed it somehow and she died in my arms
Was the worst decision I ever made was getting her those shots
There is dude affects
It causing a D deficiency this stops them from absorbing calcium
Took me a long time to figure that all out
I wish I had sooner I could have saved her
My suggestion is making sure any bird with soft shell is getting vitamin D3
I really hope your bird doesn’t have the same side affects dasher did
She passed 16 months after her shots

I should add this shot in humans also causes D deficiency
That’s where my journey began finding out what I did
Not enough studies done with ducks and the shot unfortunately
So the vets tell us it’s safe and effective
They have zero data to go by
In Canada there is a smaller company that makes this healthy egg vitamins that go in water
I keep this on hand now
Winters our birds don’t see as much sun so when they get back to laying eggs I make sure they have a boost of D3 to help them have strong eggs
Also many birds kept in runs for not get enough direct sun light like free ranging ones

 

[CoriM]

Great, thanks for the tip. I will order some of that! I'm so over the vets....the only really useful trip I've had there is the one where I was able to get the implant for another duck.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Great, thanks for the tip. I will order some of that! I'm so over the vets....the only really useful trip I've had there is the one where I was able to get the implant for another duck.

I agree 100%