Is there any way to tell which duck laid an egg?

[Miss Lydia]

Never put food coloring inside.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Never put food coloring inside.

I won't, thanks! I wouldn't know how to get "inside" anyway which is a good thing

 

[Loopeend]

Thank you for your advice. You have a lot of knowledge for sure! I will try to do what you say.

You give them egg/clam-shells (don't know the English word..that molusc/clam-shell grind) you say; and they eat it. Ducks eat it; when they need it. My males don't ever eat that stuff No feather on their head that they are going to eat that weird stuff. Females start to eat it when beginning to laying (when all the snails are already devoured)
If they all eat it they are all probably laying. The one that is 6 months can be late. She can even start next year, when she was a late duckling this the year. 6 months here is late for the year, resulting in that, but I'm on the other side of the world.

2 out of 4 is not bad Have patience. Do they look good and act healthy? Do their bums look good? Then there is little to worry

Good luck!

 

[DuckyDonna]

You give them egg-shells you say; and they eat it. Ducks eat it; when they need it. My males don't ever eat that stuff No feather on their head that they are going to eat that weird stuff. Females start to eat it when beginning to laying (when all the snails are already devoured)
If they all eat it they are all probably laying. The one that is 6 months can be late. She can even start next year, when she was a late duckling this the year. 6 months here is late for the year, resulting in that, but I'm on the other side of the world.

2 out of 4 is not bad Have patience. Do they look good and act healthy? Do their bums look good? Then there is little to worry

Good luck!

I think they look good. I don't know what their "bums" are supposed to look like. My 3 older girls didn't lay until over 8 months old. The reason I thought the 6 month girls laid an egg is because of the tiny fairy eggs I got. Others have responded and now I think the tiny eggs may have come from one of the older ducks. Nobody is acting weird except the old girl with the shaky legs. That poor duck sometimes has a hard time walking and then will suddenly spread her wings and will flop down on the ground. Then I can pick her up without much of a fuss but she is not used to me touching her because she has never imprinted on a human. I hold and talk softly to her and keep her warm with my coat or a towel and she calms down and relaxes. Then most of the time she acts normal like the rest. I just don't know what to think about who's doing what in my tiny duck kingdom!

 

[Loopeend]

I think they look good. I don't know what their "bums" are supposed to look like. My 3 older girls didn't lay until over 8 months old. The reason I thought the 6 month girls laid an egg is because of the tiny fairy eggs I got. Others have responded and now I think the tiny eggs may have come from one of the older ducks. Nobody is acting weird except the old girl with the shaky legs. That poor duck sometimes has a hard time walking and then will suddenly spread her wings and will flop down on the ground. Then I can pick her up without much of a fuss but she is not used to me touching her because she has never imprinted on a human. I hold and talk softly to her and keep her warm with my coat or a towel and she calms down and relaxes. Then most of the time she acts normal like the rest. I just don't know what to think about who's doing what in my tiny duck kingdom!

Weird bums;
Too pink or too brown or too red. You are not supposed to really see their bums. In a white bum; there can be some dirt around it. But a bum does not have to stick out, you don't have to see something pink, red around the feathers, or allways see the bum because there is brown around it.
The older duck, I thought you said it was 1,5 years old? (I might be mistaken). If that is the case it is too young to be old, and have shaky legs. She is like 20 now. She might suffer from something. Since you all feed them the same it might not be the diët. But it can be a worm. You can try to de-worm her if you never did(de-worming too often is bad). If this not helps, or you already de-worm her regularly, take her to a vet. If she is actually old and not only 1,5 years; well, she might unfortunately just be old. :'(

Edit; you said 1,5 years. That is very young. VERY young. They live 8-10 years. De-worm her with stuff for ducks; and if you have the money, skip this step and directly go to the vet.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Weird bums;
Too pink or too brown or too red. You are not supposed to really see their bums. In a white bum; there can be some dirt around it. But a bum does not have to stick out, you don't have to see something pink, red around the feathers, or allways see the bum because there is brown around it.
The older duck, I thought you said it was 1,5 years old? (I might be mistaken). If that is the case it is too young to be old, and have shaky legs. She is like 20 now. She might suffer from something. Since you all feed them the same it might not be the diët. But it can be a worm. You can try to de-worm her if you never did(de-worming too often is bad). If this not helps, or you already de-worm her regularly, take her to a vet. If she is actually old and not only 1,5 years; well, she might unfortunately just be old. :'(

Edit; you said 1,5 years. That is very young. VERY young. They live 8-10 years. De-worm her with stuff for ducks; and if you have the money, skip this step and directly go to the vet.

Miss Lydia told me to give her B-complex vitamens which I've been doing for just a few days now. Her legs seem to be better. Yes, my 3 oldest are only 1 1/2 yrs old. born May 15th 2017. My youngest girl born May 30th 2018. She is the daughter of one of the 3 old girls

 

[Loopeend]

Ducks can have Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinae, Capillaria, Raillietinae, Davainea proglottina and Syngamus trachea. Which are latin words for different kinds of worms, since I don't know the English ones. One is the tapeworm, and the rest I don't know in English.

They can slowly suffer from them. If you had ducklings I would say lack of minerals due to what you feed them. But they are 1,5 years. The signs are the same when a young duckling lacks minerals. Since the worms eats the food that they are supposed to eat, inside them. so they lack nutritions, allthough they eat normally. Since you all feed them the same; this can be a good possibillity. Since the worms prevent them from absorbing nutrition they weaken (and do not lay eggs due to his, and even some worms can actually block the hole where an egg comes out). They become slowly fatigue, shaky leggs, slow, falling over and they don't have to look thin because of it. Since A. a healthy Indian runner looks thin. B. The feathers can hide a lot. C. Some worms fill them up with being worm/or block eggs from coming out and egg-stuff just heaps up.

 

[Loopeend]

I have great respect for Lydia and her awesome advice. But I get suspicious when it is not about ducklings and only óne adult duck in a group that gets the same feed as the rest from the same age for 1,5 years. Vitamin B can't hurt, but you can take her to a vet to let him/her examine her doodoo for worms and let him/her look in her throat for the syngamus trachea. If you have the money. If not; might de-worm her just in case.

 

[Cayuga momma]

If you don't have money for a vet, but are worried about worms, some vets will let you just bring in their feces for a fecal float test to see what worms they have an overload in and then you will know what to treat for without breaking the bank.

 

[Loopeend]

If you don't have money for a vet, but are worried about worms, some vets will let you just bring in their feces for a fecal float test to see what worms they have an overload in and then you will know what to treat for without breaking the bank.

True that!