Soft egg??

[mrpekinduck]

This morning I found a regularly sized egg in the middle of the duck pool. After picking it up I realized that it has no shell! It was all squishy and leathery! She is in her third year of lay and this has never happened before! Or it could be possible that my 6 mo buff drake is really a duck? And he/she laid it? He doesn't have a green head and no mating behavior has been seen yet. Should he have a green head?

I feed Dumor layer crumble as I also have chickens.
I also give grit and uncooked corn on the cob.

-thanks!!!

 

[Marty1876]

ITs ok, my ducks and chickens do this now and then. If it keeps happening, add oyster shell calcium in a seperate container.

 

[duckcrazy]

I have two pekins in their 4th years and in the last 2 years, both have been laying soft eggs here and there. Extra calcium did not help in this case. I was told that this can happen when they are preparing to stop laying all-together. As of the last few months, I have seen nothing from these pekins, so I think they are done laying. I do have one 4 year old that is still laying strong though. So this may be a possible reason for the soft shells.

 

[mrpekinduck]

Oh good!!! Thanks you do much I was worried about her!

 

[Marty1876]

Hmm, I'd never heard the connection between soft shells and stopping laying. My ducks often lay into years 5 and 6, without great loss in quantity of eggs, except during molts. Unlike chickens, duck can's be good layors a much longer time. There maybe a connection between swiftness of egg moving along reproductive tract and closeness of molt. I'd be interested in knowing if your Pekings pick up again. Mine often lay through years 4 for them. The larger breeds tend to not lay as much. (I have duck egg production flocks)

 

[70%cocoa]

I wouldn't be too worried about the occasional soft shelled egg. Sometimes it can happen when two eggs are released from the ovary close together. Only one gets a shell and the other is soft. If they are really close together you can get a double yolker. If it keeps happening then a vet visit might be in order as ongoing soft shelled eggs can indicate a shell gland infection. But at this stage I would not be too concerned, just monitor it.

 

[sherrybintally]

Chicken Obsessed, that was a good explanation. I have one duck that has done this off and on all her laying life, just over a year. On the day following a soft shelled egg, she won't lay at all. We call them water balloons.

 

[PeanutnCashew]

I notice that when Peanut lays 3 eggs in one day, one will be soft. The morning one is always big and firm and if two others are laid in same day, they are smaller and sometimes a soft.