Something's wrong with Sunny! HELP!

[Pet Duck Boy]

Help! Sunny hasn't been eating much lately. Maybe 4-5 bites a day! She's been sleeping a lot more during the day too...and she's not as perky. But what has me worried is her very strange eggs! An hour ago she laid a very leathery egg half the size of a chickens egg...it was very strange, there was only egg whites in it. I offered her more food after that, and she made a little fart. I looked down and saw ANOTHER egg, but this time it was the size of a marble!!! A MARBLE! This one was even harder to open, and barely had any egg shell on it...it felt a lot like the membrane was very large...and like I said, it was leathery! Help! I'm very worried about her....

 

[Shadowhills Farm]

Oh no! Has she been drinking? Maybe give her some electrolytes?

Not sure what you can do about the feed; is it still fresh?

Does she get Oyster Shell?


Sorry I'm asking too many questions, but I'm not sure what's going on....hoping someone can help!

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

She's been drinking just fine. We bought her feed 2 weeks ago, so I'm pretty sure it's fresh. She gets layer crumbles, shouldn't she get enough calcium from that? If not I have cuttle bone I can cruch for her.

 

[Chosen Chickens]

how old is she?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Almost 9 months old. She laid her first egg 6 days ago, she's just starting to lay. Is this normal? Should I give her more calcium? Can this cause her not to eat much?

 

[Shadowhills Farm]

She may just be acting strange because she's starting to produce eggs...

The layer feed does have calcium, however, sometimes providing extra may help with the egg shell quality.

Once in a while our Buff Orp hen will lay a "leathery egg"...

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Ok..ok...If this is because she's starting to lay, how long will this last?

 

[Duck_feeder]

It's normal for eggs to be oddly shaped, thin shelled, no/extra yolks when a duck first starts laying. However, you should keep a very close eye on her as she is at a much higher risk than normal of getting egg bound.

I never handled crushed cuttle bone before - are the edges sharp? If so you might want to get crushed oyster shell instead. Make the calcium available to her and leave it out where she can get to it whenever she wants (as long as water is available, of course). She'll eat it if she feels like she needs extra calcium.

You can also give her high calcium foods like kale or feeder fish (lots of calcium in the bones).

What concerns me is that she isn't eating much. That can be a sign of a blockage from being egg bound. Is she pooping normally and frequently?
You can try feeling her egg pouch area to see if you can feel an egg in there. If so, you might want to try massaging the bump towards her vent to help her lay the egg.

 

[Sweetfolly]

One of my Campbells was acting slugglish and laying, small, distorted, shell-less eggs last summer.

I had been feeding them layer feed, giving them oyster shell every night, but they had suddenly stated eating ALL of the oyster shell, so there was none left in the bowl in the morning. She had a calcium deficiency. I got a bigger bowl, filled it up enough that there was still some left every morning, and my Campbell recovered, got perky, and started laying normal eggs again after a week or so.

So, I'd say offer her some supplementary calcium, and let her build up some reserves in her body; she should perk up and be fine! I've been doing my best to be an optimist lately!

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

She's still pooping normally. I'll try the oyster shell, I need to pick more feed up anyways. I will check on her right now.