Not again 😣

[BelovedBirds]

We have a shell!
I was correct in my instinct, it was Dougie who laid overnight. Sprightly went into the coop this morning, and lay in the nest looking comfortable. I went to check on her at a distance, she looked okay. Then had fast contractions and laid an egg!
I checked and it was another thin shell....but it wasn't *that* thin. I was able to break it with my nail but it took a bit of force. I compared by breaking Dougie's (this was a gross test), and hers took more force and sounded different. Crunch rather than a snappy sound.

Sprightly's egg weighed 91 grams which is more than usual, it was quite a big egg. The usual eggs are 85 ish grams.

I feel this is progress, I know thin shells are still dangerous, if they were to break inside her that would be bad... but I think we're headed in a better direction and I'm just feeling hopeful now that she's laid an egg without needing help.
Plus now we know I wasn't giving her enough calc gluc, so I can up the dosage and hopefully that will help!

 

[Miss Lydia]

That is great news!! progress is progress your on the right track now.

 

[fluffycrow]

So happy she's getting better! Go Sprightly go!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Calcium is here:
A serving is 2 tablets, each serving is 700mg so 1 tablet must be 350mg?
Am I good to give her a whole tablet?

 

[ruthhope]

Calcium is here:
A serving is 2 tablets, each serving is 700mg so 1 tablet must be 350mg?
Am I good to give her a whole tablet?

Give her the whole tablet!

One of my son's female pekins kept laying very fragile eggs at the end of last year when she had been laying for 17 months without stop. The were so fragile, they were often crushed in the nesting box. We supplemented her with calcium glutonate and lots of crushed oyster shell flakes. She eventually stopped laying in December and has just started again after nearly 3 months rest. Her eggs have normal shells again. I think your young lady really needs a break from laying for her body to recover.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Give her the whole tablet!

One of my son's female pekins kept laying very fragile eggs at the end of last year when she had been laying for 17 months without stop. The were so fragile, they were often crushed in the nesting box. We supplemented her with calcium glutonate and lots of crushed oyster shell flakes. She eventually stopped laying in December and has just started again after nearly 3 months rest. Her eggs have normal shells again. I think your young lady really needs a break from laying for her body to recover.

I'll give her a tablet in the morning, it's late here now-
I gave her as much gluconate as I could but it's challenging giving her the full dose, she seems suspicious of any treats I give her now... its odd.

I'll start the calcium citrate first thing in the morning, I'm sure it will help

 

[BelovedBirds]

This duck is driving me insane.
I first slipped the tablet cleverly into half a strawberry, it was invisible, I thought "yep, she'll swallow this down whole as usual". Nope, she was overjoyed to recieve the strawberry but tossed it on the ground, picked at it until the pill came out and then ate what was left.
Ugh, no big deal. I need to try harder. I take a new pill and cut it into three, perfect, its totally hidden in a few blueberries. She eats them down... success. Until the last two which she violently flicked and gutted the pills out until she could eat the rest of the fruit.
Okay. Time for a break, she's really out to get me today.
I grate half a pill (what's left of the dose) over some peas, it's dilute enough that you can't even see it. After a short break I went out and offered it to her

Heck no, she touched one pea with the tip of her beak and decided it was poison.
Enough is enough, I take the dose and try to force it down her- as miss Lydia said it's MUCH harder than it sounds. Ugh. I wait longer hoping she'll forget, and she did when she happily ate plain treats, then I tried a tomato with the dose in. She nibbled and decided it too, was poison.
Wrapped it in a little slip of bread, well that time would have worked if my girls weren't so spoiled, apparently bread is a vile crime against ducks and neither of them liked it.

Finally I cracked the code, grated over calci worms. She ate a bunch but by now, of course, she's full.
I don't know if I'm just really bad at this, making dumb choices, or if my duck is simply impossible but its 9:30 and I'm ready to go back to bed

I'll go back out this afternoon and try again. The goal is two pills per day. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.
In other news, no egg from her yet, her laying pattern is off lately, she's due to lay sometime this morning.

 

[Callender Girl]

It's too bad your sweet duck doesn't appreciate all the efforts you're making to help her. Your devotion to your babies is total and admirable! Keep it up!!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Success! Cut the tablet lengthways, and slipped it into a chunk of banana.... she got most of it so about 1 tablet total so far today. I'll repeat later on and she'll hopefully get the full two tablets today.

No egg, no sign of problems, so far. It's 12:18.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe she is finally going to take a break in laying.

It's amazing how they know we're trying to pull a fast one on them by hiding the meds in a yummy treat. But somehow they know. [That's why I like liquid I can put it into the syringe put the extension on it and get it right where I want it to go.]