My Love Affair With Ducks...

[Mimi13]

Wow! You have your own private waterfall in front of your house!
You could use some drainage ditches to lead the water away from your house.

Oh how well I know. Finding someone to dig the ditches is a different story.

That area actually does drain, or it used to prior to the ducks. They dabble around and rearrange the flow of the land!

Anytime we get that much rain in such a short time the waterfalls start. That particular day (3/25) we received 5.5” of rain and another 2.5” yesterday. Luckily we will be DRY for a week, but COLD for three days.

 

[Mimi13]

Kind of wet down there, and despite the wetness, I could not help but notice what a perfect gentleman RalphieDux was.

He was only ‘perfect’ because he was satisfying another of his pleasures - playing in the water. RalphieDux IS all about himself! Can a duck be a narcissist?

 

[Mimi13]

Still that pink color hurts my eyes!

The blue pool is still underneath the pink one. I’ve got to get something different for this summer. But I don’t think I want to dig the hole to put a bigger pool in the ground if I’m not certain I want to keep ducks the rest of my life. However, I am committed to these five until they croak of natural causes so I might as well go ahead and make the setup easier for me to take care of. Amiright?

 

[KaleIAm]

Alabama has been having some terrible weather lately, but all that rain has made perfect areas for the ducks to play. I was trying to film this through the rain-splattered glass door so it’s not the best. Also, please disregard the the weather worn chair cushions. They are nearly rotted through and I must get new ones this summer!

Wow! We live near Seattle and my ducks are jealous of that rain.

 

[Mimi13]

I took this picture to hopefully document the fact I’m not completely losing it. The morning before I only got two duck eggs. This was strange only because Petey always lays an egg and hers was one of the ones missing. Anyway, I picked up the two eggs and didn’t think a lot more about it...until the next morning, that is. Now bear in mind, I lay fresh straw down every night, so I know for sure that NO MORE eggs were laid during the day.

The next morning I was shocked to find six eggs in two little nests. Two Petey eggs, two Hershey eggs, and one each of Peaches and Quinny. How and why would the ducks have NOT laid and egg on one day, but produced IT and another one the next day? It completely baffled me. All of the eggs were in good shape.

 

[Mimi13]

Wow! We live near Seattle and my ducks are jealous of that rain.

You can have it. Doesn’t it rain up there a whole lot?

 

[Mimi13]

Here’s my biggest concern that’s been a few months coming. I have noticed that Peaches, my Buff, has been laying increasingly thin shelled eggs. I’m talking thin as in paper thin. And a few months ago I thought I even had an egg eater as there was evidence in the nest of yolk. The last several days there has been the remnants of an almost shell-less egg in the nest and I found a ‘membrane only’ egg in the pool a couple of days ago.

I have fed an All Flock to all my chickens for several years now with no problems. I have always provided oyster shell on the side. Once the ducks came along I just continued to feed them the same, however, I don’t think they were eating oyster shell like they should have been. Because of these thin shelled eggs I decided to switch to a 16% layer feed. (I do have the two roosters and one drake, but I don’t have any little chicks.) And I have started sprinkling some oyster shell over the ducks feed hoping that would help. After 250 lbs of layer feed I haven’t noticed any change in Peaches’ egg shells. <no Ralphie, Peaches has not eaten all 250 lbs.> Here was what I found this morning and this thin egg shell is what is normal for her. It makes me wonder if ducks are susceptible to reproductive problems as chickens are. Any thought?

Zoom in and look at that paper thin shell.

 

[KaleIAm]

You can have it. Doesn’t it rain up there a whole lot?

It does rain. So much rain. But it is more of a regular light misty rain for 40 days in a row, with occasional actual rain drops. So we just never dry out.

 

[KaleIAm]

Here’s my biggest concern that’s been a few months coming. I have noticed that Peaches, my Buff, has been laying increasingly thin shelled eggs. I’m talking thin as in paper thin. And a few months ago I thought I even had an egg eater as there was evidence in the nest of yolk. The last several days there has been the remnants of an almost shell-less egg in the nest and I found a ‘membrane only’ egg in the pool a couple of days ago.

I have fed an All Flock to all my chickens for several years now with no problems. I have always provided oyster shell on the side. Once the ducks came along I just continued to feed them the same, however, I don’t think they were eating oyster shell like they should have been. Because of these thin shelled eggs I decided to switch to a 16% layer feed. (I do have the two roosters and one drake, but I don’t have any little chicks.) And I have started sprinkling some oyster shell over the ducks feed hoping that would help. After 250 lbs of layer feed I haven’t noticed any change in Peaches’ egg shells. <no Ralphie, Peaches has not eaten all 250 lbs.> Here was what I found this morning and this thin egg shell is what is normal for her. It makes me wonder if ducks are susceptible to reproductive problems as chickens are. Any thought?View attachment 2594823

Zoom in and look at that paper thin shell.
View attachment 2594821

Sorry to invade your thread suddenly. I feel compelled to reply as I've had a lot of reproductive issues with my ducks over the last 6 years.

One of the first problems I was having was my ducks barely eating oyster shells and one duck in particular having paper thin shells. I even took her to the vet and had her calcium levels checked. After months of me forcing calcium gluconate down her throat with a syringe I ran out of the white oyster shells I had been using. The store only had grey oyster shells, so I got those and put them out. All six of my ducks quickly gobbled up the grey oyster shells. The thin shell issue disappeared, and the other eggs got even stronger.

Other ducks seem to like the white kind, but I have spoken with other BYC members who have had similar experiences to mine.

So, what color are your oyster shells?

 

[SolarDuck]

Good info from Kale, definitely worth trying a different oyster shell color. Your duck also could maybe just have a calcium deficiency. When my girl Pigeon had egg laying issues for a few weeks I ended up bringing her to the vet, and the vet told me she has a calcium deficiency and needs calcium supplements every day for the rest of her life. I've been giving her calcium citrate + D3 pills every day and I have not had any problems since.