How to break duck of egg-laying?

[DuckDuckJuice]

Hi, again. I have a new question, this time about our Khaki Campbell. She has laid an egg every single day for over a year, even during molts. Her first molt was incomplete and she looked terrible for the bulk of this year. She has been in her current molt for over two months now and it doesn’t look much better than before. Could this be due to her constant laying? If so, how do I break her of that to let her body rest? I’ve read other threads on here and a very informative post from Tyrant Farms on how to do it, but they’ve all be about ducks breeds that tend to go broody, which seems to be a requirement. Since Derpy is a Khaki Campbell, I don’t know how I could possibly get her to go broody. I’ve also read about using hormones, but there isn’t an avian vet around that treats ducks and it wouldn’t really be an option for us right now anyway, as money is pretty tight. I’m mostly concerned about her not having adequate protection from the elements if she doesn’t complete her molt. Winters here can be pretty miserable. I’ve included pictures of her after her first molt and how she looks right now. Also included are our Silver Appleyards. One of them has not regrown her speculum feathers since her first molt. She’s molted twice since and nothing. I originally thought it was because of how much she stressed her body prior to her first molt (she was so broody, she refused to eat or drink and we had to break her of it to keep her from killing herself), but she hasn’t done that since and her speculum feathers have just continued to dull and break, even though every other feather has been replaced. Ideas?

Derpy now

Derpy after first molt

Boots with full, new speculum feathers

Cookie with sparse, faded, fragile speculum feathers

 

[HollowOfWisps]

What feed are you feeding her? I'm assuming her diet is low in particularly methionine which is critical for keratin development in feathers.

Edit: I just wanted to add that I have hens who lay year round without breaks. Earlier this year I switched them to Mazuri. My ducks have access to large stock tanks, pools, oversized pens at night and free range during the day with 24/7 access to food. All of my drakes looked beautiful, but some of my hens weren't as vibrant and one in particular looked like she was developing wet feather. I decided to dig into what was causing this and came across methionine and it's role in feather development. I compared the methionine levels in Mazuri to that of my old feed and found that my old feed had had much higher levels of methionine. I switched my hens back to their old feed this past month and they are already starting to look so much better. My husband even commented on how my hen in particular is starting to look so much better.

 

[DuckDuckJuice]

What feed are you feeding her? I'm assuming her diet is low in particularly methionine which is critical for keratin development in feathers.

They are fed Purina duck pellets, as well as oyster shell, kitchen scraps, and whatever they forage. We also supplement with dry cat food during molts to increase their protein.

 

[DuckDuckJuice]

Also, the pictures were taken in a sparse area of the yard where our grass seed didn’t take. The rest of the yard has thick grass, bushes, etc. that they forage in extensively.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

They are fed Purina duck pellets, as well as oyster shell, kitchen scraps, and whatever they forage. We also supplement with dry cat food during molts to increase their protein.

Purina is a complete feed and adding kitchen scraps and cat food is taking away from valuable nutrients that are crucial for your ducks needs. I would highly recommend cutting out both completely. If you want to feed higher protein switch to a higher protein feed.

 

[DuckDuckJuice]

Purina is a complete feed and adding kitchen scraps and cat food is taking away from valuable nutrients that are crucial for your ducks needs. I would highly recommend cutting out both completely. If you want to feed higher protein switch to a higher protein feed.

Thanks for the suggestions! The kitchen scraps are once or twice a week, only things like shavings from a carrot or a handful of cherry tomatoes. It’s no more than a mouthful per duck, when split amongst the five. The cat food is a small handful per day, only for the ducks who seem to be having a difficult molt. Our SA, Boots, always has hard molts and the cat food seems to help. We will sometimes do scrambled eggs instead of cat food, depending on what we have on hand. I’ve never heard of methionine, but will definitely look into it. I wonder if it’s something that can be added to their current feed, rather than switching the feed out entirely?

 

[Knighstar679]

I have had ducks that lay eggs constantly for a while by the end of the year I had one that looked pretty bad. Your little duck looks similar to how she did. What I did was I did the Nutrena Feather Fixer 4 cups, with approximately one cup cat food, then another of black oil seeds. It took about 4 weeks but her feathers started turning around.

While I know that the Purina is supposed to be a complete feed some ducks might need more of one nutrient because their body uses more of it than the average duck. We can see this in some ducklings when there is one duckling with leg problems but the others are fine.

The feather fixer should have what she is looking for to help with that half molt plus a little extra calcium, but it shouldn't be something that will hurt any drakes you have when using in the short turn 4-8 weeks.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I first want to add that when I say Purina is a complete feed I mean that any complete in that it should not be accompanied by excess of other foods to fill in the diet gaps. Poultry supplements are a whole other ball game. I'm actually not a fan of Purina, but when feeding a poultry feed adding fruits, veggies, cat food will take away from the nutrients. Even a handful of cat food a day is too much. My ducks have done best on Kalmbach overall. I'm
personally not a fan of adding in temporary protein options for constant layers. They're meant to be supplements use temporarily and when you have constantly laying hens they need more then just supplementation here and there, but rather consistent nutrients to meet their dietary needs.

 

[DuckDuckJuice]

I have had ducks that lay eggs constantly for a while by the end of the year I had one that looked pretty bad. Your little duck looks similar to how she did. What I did was I did the Nutrena Feather Fixer 4 cups, with approximately one cup cat food, then another of black oil seeds. It took about 4 weeks but her feathers started turning around.

While I know that the Purina is supposed to be a complete feed some ducks might need more of one nutrient because their body uses more of it than the average duck. We can see this in some ducklings when there is one duckling with leg problems but the others are fine.

The feather fixer should have what she is looking for to help with that half molt plus a little extra calcium, but it shouldn't be something that will hurt any drakes you have when using in the short turn 4-8 weeks.

I’ll check that out. Thank you! I threw some black oil sunflower seeds out to them today, since we had some already.

 

[DuckDuckJuice]

I first want to add that when I say Purina is a complete feed I mean that any complete in that it should not be accompanied by excess of other foods to fill in the diet gaps. Poultry supplements are a whole other ball game. I'm actually not a fan of Purina, but when feeding a poultry feed adding fruits, veggies, cat food will take away from the nutrients. Even a handful of cat food a day is too much. My ducks have done best on Kalmbach overall. I'm
personally not a fan of adding in temporary protein options for constant layers. They're meant to be supplements use temporarily and when you have constantly laying hens they need more then just supplementation here and there, but rather consistent nutrients to meet their dietary needs.

I understand. Personally, I feel that supplementation is sometimes necessary when the regular feed isn’t quite meeting their needs. Their bodies and dietary requirements change throughout the year, depending on season, molting, laying, etc. I look at it the same way I do our dogs and cats. Their food is all their body should technically require, but we supplement with salmon oil and eggs to help their skin and coats look and feel their best. One of our dogs gets supplemental glucosamine because of arthritis and one of the cats gets Zyrtec during certain times of the year because of bad allergies, as well as an immune-boosting complex. In our experience, the purina is a good all-around feed that works for the average duck, in our case 4/5 of them, but not all ducks are average and some may occasionally need a little extra help.