Strange looking eggs and possible herbicide issues

[Kaiori]

Heya! I'm new here, first ever post. Sorry I haven't been in the introduction topic, I tend to be a lurker/loner, but frequently check this forum out.

I have muscovy ducks and rouens (18 total, plus an African goose), and for the last couple of months, some of the eggs have been coming out strangely. I have 13 females and in the last same two months, my egg production has gone from 7 eggs a day to 2 eggs a day, give or take.

I *did* start penning them up around that same time so that my grass (that they wiped out) can have a chance to grow back. The pen is about 13x34 feet. So I could understand if the egg production went down because they've been penned up. (I've started letting them out during the day again for the last week and they seem to be laying just a couple more than usual).

But I've also had some strange eggs the last month or so. I offer plenty oyster shell but I'm getting soft shelled eggs again. Not sure if it's from the same duck or multiple but it's been almost every day for the last week or two. Even weirder are the lopsided eggs. I've gotten at least three so far, and some of the eggs also come out stripey (one of the lopsided eggs also had stripes). It's like the shell had some kind of hiccup with forming..?

Anyway.. I was just outside repairing a gap in the bottom of my fence (chain link) and suddenly I wondered something-

Late last year my neighbor sprayed an herbicide all along my fence line. (Our property extends a few inches outside of my fence line so she shouldn't be touching it at all but she's always weedeated along there and has sprayed herbicides long before I ever had ducks and I never wanted to cause an issue about it so I didn't really say anything). Well she hired a company to do her yard work last year and I'm assuming it's them that sprayed the herbicide so I don't know if it might be some industrial kind of stuff or what but the overspray was 2+ feet into my yard.

The area that was sprayed is still complete bare dirt so it was a good, strong herbicide (I live in the deep South and the winter has been very mild so it should have had ample time to grow back any weeds or whatnot.. right? ...but there's *nothing*.)

I can't help but wonder if my ducks being exposed to that crap could be causing some kind of issue with egg production? Maybe I'm wrong (I hope I am). Is there any explanation to this kind of thing or could it have been the poison they were exposed to? (My ducks are very curious about things and I don't know if they may have been directly in the path of the poison when it was sprayed as it was done when I wasn't home). Makes me cringe like he**.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
In general, I think that if you have poultry and eat their eggs, no herbicides are best. It's late for that, but you could ask what was sprayed out there, either because she knows, or call the company who did it. Then you can strongly request that no such product hit your property again!
Egg production generally isn't great in winter, and many issues can cause funky shell shapes, so it may be totally unrelated to last year's poison applications.
Try posting this on the duck thread, and/ or the emergencies thread.
This neighbor probably thinks she's doing a good deed, wiping out those weeds...
Mary

 

[aart]

It's late for that, but you could ask what was sprayed out there, either because she knows, or call the company who did it.

Yes, ask what exactly, if anything, was sprayed.

Knowing the age of your fowl would help here.....
......and....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Kaiori]

Sorry about that! I thought I had added my location when I joined. Just added it. Houma, LA.

Like I said, very mild winter this year. I'm not noticing any excess feathers so I don't think they're molting atm.

My first scovies will be a year old next month (3 females, 3 males). My 3 female rouens are almost 10 months (they lay the most consistently), and my other scovies (6 females, 1 male) are almost 9 months. Also a blue runner mutt around 9-10 months too. But she lays rarely (distinctive colored egg).

The weird thing is that when they started laying, there wasn't much out of the ordinary. The eggs were normal sized with no imperfections. It's only after a consistent month+ of laying that production dropped and all these strange things are cropping up. My goose also started laying a few weeks ago and every egg has been flawless.

I forgot there was a duck thread too, thanks for the reminder, Folly!

I'll ask of she knows what was sprayed when I get a chance. Not only do my ducks eat the grass, but so do my buns (3 females outside, full run of the yard.. I planned to get into breeding them for meat but haven't gotten a chance yet. Put a little too much on my plate at once. Lol)

I feed my ducks 30% game bird/turkey startena crumbles mixed with scratch (corn, milo, wheat), sunflower seed, ¼ cup of stabilized rice bran, oyster shell, grit, and sometimes a tiny scoop of diatomaceous earth/montmorillonite clay for extra minerals. The feed is mixed to a ratio of 18-20% protein. They also get fruit and veggie scraps when I can give it, greens from the yard, whatever bugs they find, and worms from my red wiggler bin. Oh, also soaked alfalfa and timothy pellets but they don't care for it a lot. I'm thinking of switching back to the hay, they like that.

**Off topic info**
In the past, the neighbor and I weren't on good terms due to certain things but I'm a person of peace and we resolved things and are "ok" with each other. She used to throw moth balls all along my fence because she's terribly paranoid about snakes. Why she chose to live in a rural area, directly in front of a levee, backed by acres and acres of woods, I'll never know.

She's meticulous about keeping her yard constantly trimmed and bare. She complains about snakes but then had let her children play *barefoot* in the overgrown brush in the very back of my yard (that's a "right of way"), full of thorns and Lord knows what. I'm hoping she doesn't decide to throw anymore moth balls down. If my ducks ate that, I would be livid. I'm pretty sure that's illegal anyway... Will definitely bring that up too when I can talk with her.

Anyway, I'm putting up a 3ft high wooden fence alongside my chain link fence because she "kindly" complained about my duck feathers blowing into her yard (after she's been destroying the grass barrier along the fence line that would have prevented that). I'm making it high enough so that they have no excuse to have any overspray when they spray again (they would have to lift the sprayer high enough and if they *do* do that, I'm not gonna have anything nice to say).

For the record, I've lived back here longer than she has and have yet to come across a venomous snake. At all. And my yard is far from pristine. Any (non-venomous) snakes I've seen are already slithering away and want nothing to do with me.

 

[Folly's place]

There's no accounting for some people! They need to live in a Manhattan highrise, not out is the country. And, "Good fences make good neighbors" too.
When you find out what's been sprayed out there, check the MSDS on the products, at least.
Mary

 

[Kaiori]

Thank you! Good to know.

Yea, you'd think chain link would be enough but pfft.. (we had to put that up 10+ years ago due to the previous neighbor who lived there, parking in our yard and treating half of our yard like it was theirs, kid climbing in our trees, mom probably waiting to sue us when she gets hurt). Lawd have mercy lol