One duck lays soft eggs

[Ducky Dad]

Every spring my 7 (sometimes 8) ducks all lay normal eggs for about a month, then one of them starts laying soft eggs every day and continues for weeks. All the others lay good hard-shelled eggs, except for a second soft one once in awhile. They all act healthy. This has happened for three years now. What's going on?

 

[Pollo Blanco]

One of your ducks lays soft shelled eggs.

I have one that does too

How much forage do they have access to?

 

[SolarDuck]

Do you always offer oyster shell? I always do but still had one duck who would often lay soft shelled egg, my vet diagnosed her with a calcium deficiency and I needed to give her a calcium supplement every day so she would lay normal hard shelled eggs. I'd recommend taking her to a vet so you can figure out what is wrong, soft shelled eggs are much harder to push out, so it is a very painful and stressful process for the duck.

 

[Duckiiess]

Are you feeding layer feed, or giving oyster shell?

 

[Ducky Dad]

One of your ducks lays soft shelled eggs.

I have one that does too

How much forage do they have access to?

They free range over about an acre and have a big creek. Lots of bugs and other invertebrates.

 

[Ducky Dad]

They get layer feed plus oyster shell, and they forage 8 to 10 hours most days.

I can't find a duck vet within reasonable driving distance. I'm also not certain which duck it is. I've got it narrowed down to two.

 

[Duckiiess]

They get layer feed plus oyster shell, and they forage 8 to 10 hours most days.

I can't find a duck vet within reasonable driving distance. I'm also not certain which duck it is. I've got it narrowed down to two.

That's odd, I'm sorry I can't be any more help, hopefully someone else on this that knows more than me sees it.
What breed are they? I doubt that has anything to do with it, just curious

 

[Ducky Dad]

That's odd, I'm sorry I can't be any more help, hopefully someone else on this that knows more than me sees it.
What breed are they? I doubt that has anything to do with it, just curious

The soft egg layer is a Runner (I'm just not sure which one).

 

[Duckiiess]

Just found this article, perhaps she has egg drop syndrome?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[Duckiiess]

Or maybe the shell gland just never developed correctly? That would kinda make sense to me that you don't see it at the beginning of the season.. has time to build up in her system over winter, then once she starts laying it depletes and can't replenish fast enough