shellless eggs from the pekins

[porkchop48]

I went out for one last check on the ducks last night and found 2 shellless eggs.

One was a normal size and one was just a yolk. I had already gotten one normal egg from them in the morning. Being that I only have 2 hens where did 2 shelless ones come from?


I added some oyster shell to their feed to help out the problem. Being that they are new to me ducks I don't know if they had been getting it or not.

 

[evansacres]

Definitely leave some oyster shell out for them. I have two pekin females as well and I always have one that lays one with no shell. As long as the oyster shell is available she seems to be fine and they don't eat very much of it. They probably haven't been getting any at their previous home. Keep an eye on them though, I've not had any issues with egg binding yet

and hopefully you won't either. Do you have chickens too? Normally, there is only one egg a day from ducks, unless you may have missed one. Mine often bury them under their shavings and right now the laying is slowing down as cooler temps approach so I don't really know how many I'll actually get each morning...

 

[birdboy508]

hopfully that helps.

 

[porkchop48]

Quote:
Yes I have chickens as well. I know normally it should be one egg a day but these were two laid side by side and I had been out there numerous times that day and where they were would have been really hard to miss.

Neither of them laid an egg yesterday but I have been moving them around a ton so they might be stressed as well.

 

[Amiga]

I have a couple of ducks who have been laying soft shelled eggs off and on for a while. Went to the vet, got some calcium medications, but it's looking like it's going to be a long row to hoe. There was some improvement in Sieben with neoglucan, and everyone's been getting calcium gluconate in their food in addition to the free choice oyster shell, but I still get one or two a day.

Advice I have been given includes making sure they get enough vitamin D and phosphorus, which I think they are getting since I use a balanced organic laying mash, some cat kibble with vitamin D, oyster shell, and the occasional addition of wheat and oats.

I recently picked up some aragonite which is supposed to be a good calcium supplement as well. I plan to switch from the gluconate to the aragonite over the next few weeks. May offer the aragonite free choice, actually. . . .