Help!!! What Does It Mean When A Duck Lays A Soft Shell Egg?

[ellenb06]

Hi My Peking is about 8 months old she lays regularly but all her eggs are soft shell rubber like I feed her and the mal laying crumble and corn also put out cracked oyster shells but eggs still soft there was a time when she did lay hard shell eggs but very short itme and mstly now all soft read needs calcium but what type food do I need to get the amount of calcium she needs. Would love to have her eggs to hatch out as know peking do not set

 

[LadyIsadora]

Virtually all of my 12 ducklings laid soft eggs first. I freaked out regularly for months. Even though they were all the same age, they were different breeds, They did not start laying at the same time. Not even close. It was two or so, months apart, Some of them laid soft eggs several times, a week apart, before they got regular. Some laid those quarter sized eggs that were perfectly hard, in-between soft eggs. I freaked out and did a LOT of research. (Needless to say, this was my first year with ducks)

My conclusion: Ducks are weird.

I knew they were getting ample vitamins & minerals & protein. But, because I was paranoid, I would sometimes mix some of the oyster shell, or egg shell right in with their food to make them intake more than they were eating. I don't think that was a great idea, but there ya go. I think they would have been fine without that addition, but it made me feel like I was doing what I could to get calcium into them. It probably does more damage than good.
Some of my research, at the time, indicated that ducks can have a genetic predisposition toward laying soft eggs and there is nothing you can do about that. Sorry I did not keep the references, but google knows, ask it to provide enlightenment if you feel that could be the problem.

Don't feel bad. Its is most likely not personal ;-) If you are feeding them a good quality feed and offering them calcium on the side, it is likely just an individual bird thing that will work itself out, or a genetic thing you can't do anything about anyway.

PS: for a great deal on oyster-shell calcium ask your feed store about the bulk bags. I think it's marketed for pidgins or something like that. I picked up a 50lb bag of premium shell, for under 20 bucks, where I was paying 12 bucks for one of those little bags by the fowl products on the shelf. It is not too bad to store it in a bucket along side their feed.

 

[Rusti26]

My 6 month old khaki is now starting to lay eggs. I am finding random eggs almost every day around the coop. 1 egg a day. Now I found 3 eggs in the bottom of their pool which I thought was very odd. What should I do with these eggs I found in the pool? I don't know how long they have been in there. And why is she laying them in the pool?

 

[Miss Lydia]

When they first begin to lay they seem to just lay where they get the urge, if you have soft bedding inside their house place an egg there and maybe they will take the hint. Soft shell is pretty normal with new layers their bodies are getting the kinks worked out, my Runners lay a light blue egg and they are usually the ones that still on occasion will drop an egg out by the pool or drinking bucket they are going on 3 yrs old. If soft shell become to frequent you might want to add some calcium citrate or calcium gluconate to some yummy thawed peas for 2-3 days and that should help.