I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right section since I'm asking about a duck, but the woman at the vet's office said they do these implants pretty frequently in chickens so I thought it might be better to ask a wider audience.
I brought my duck to the vet today, she's a White Layer and will be 2 yrs old in September. She started laying when she was 4 months old and laid a lot of eggs. Took her a while to settle into a one egg per day routine instead of 2-3 eggs per day. She went about 10 months laying 1 egg a day. Nice normal eggs, good quality shells, nothing weird. Then one evening she dropped out a little fart egg. Weird but I didn't think too much about it. About a month later she dropped another smaller fart egg. Meanwhile still laying a normal egg every morning. Then maybe around her 1 yr mark of laying, her shell quality started to deteriorate. Her eggs started having thinner shells that broke easily. Then some would just be the rubbery membrane. She still mostly laid eggs with good shells though. Up until about a month ago when she pretty much only laid eggs that broke easily or didn't have a shell. She also started producing a lot more "fart" eggs but they were tiny, like the size of pea gravel or jelly beans.
So we went to an avian only vet. He drew blood and did x-rays and said everything looked normal. Her hormone levels and everything else looked completely normal, except her calcium level was high. So apparently her poor shell quality isn't from a lack of calcium and therefore it must be a faulty shell factory? Is that the only way to diagnose a faulty shell gland? By ruling out calcium deficiency? The vet was not very talkative. I couldn't tell if it was because that's just how he is or if he didn't have answers so didn't have anything to say. Definitely made me feel more frustrated and confused than I was before the visit. Especially because the whole appointment cost well over $800. I asked if it's possible that her shell gland might start working again, or working better, after the implant wears off. Like maybe the shell gland is just "tired" and needs a break to reset. He just shrugged. I asked if there are any side effects to the implant, he said "No." (I swear I couldn't get more than a two word answer out of him.) I asked how I'll know when it's worn off and if she needs a new implant, like is it okay to let her start laying again and see how the shell quality is. He shrugged again and said "Sure." *Sigh*
Anyway. Now I'm curious if anyone here might have experience with this implant and might be able to help me with some of these questions. Also wondering if the price is fairly standard everywhere...because honestly I can't imagine spending this much money every 4 months. The implant itself cost $297 for a 4.7mg implant. I would assume there's an exam fee or something else that goes with each additional implant. I absolutely love my ducks but I don't spend that much money on myself for Dr's visits or medication. If she has to get the implant every 4 months, we're probably looking at $1,200 or more every year until she naturally stops laying. That's...crazy.
I brought my duck to the vet today, she's a White Layer and will be 2 yrs old in September. She started laying when she was 4 months old and laid a lot of eggs. Took her a while to settle into a one egg per day routine instead of 2-3 eggs per day. She went about 10 months laying 1 egg a day. Nice normal eggs, good quality shells, nothing weird. Then one evening she dropped out a little fart egg. Weird but I didn't think too much about it. About a month later she dropped another smaller fart egg. Meanwhile still laying a normal egg every morning. Then maybe around her 1 yr mark of laying, her shell quality started to deteriorate. Her eggs started having thinner shells that broke easily. Then some would just be the rubbery membrane. She still mostly laid eggs with good shells though. Up until about a month ago when she pretty much only laid eggs that broke easily or didn't have a shell. She also started producing a lot more "fart" eggs but they were tiny, like the size of pea gravel or jelly beans.
So we went to an avian only vet. He drew blood and did x-rays and said everything looked normal. Her hormone levels and everything else looked completely normal, except her calcium level was high. So apparently her poor shell quality isn't from a lack of calcium and therefore it must be a faulty shell factory? Is that the only way to diagnose a faulty shell gland? By ruling out calcium deficiency? The vet was not very talkative. I couldn't tell if it was because that's just how he is or if he didn't have answers so didn't have anything to say. Definitely made me feel more frustrated and confused than I was before the visit. Especially because the whole appointment cost well over $800. I asked if it's possible that her shell gland might start working again, or working better, after the implant wears off. Like maybe the shell gland is just "tired" and needs a break to reset. He just shrugged. I asked if there are any side effects to the implant, he said "No." (I swear I couldn't get more than a two word answer out of him.) I asked how I'll know when it's worn off and if she needs a new implant, like is it okay to let her start laying again and see how the shell quality is. He shrugged again and said "Sure." *Sigh*
Anyway. Now I'm curious if anyone here might have experience with this implant and might be able to help me with some of these questions. Also wondering if the price is fairly standard everywhere...because honestly I can't imagine spending this much money every 4 months. The implant itself cost $297 for a 4.7mg implant. I would assume there's an exam fee or something else that goes with each additional implant. I absolutely love my ducks but I don't spend that much money on myself for Dr's visits or medication. If she has to get the implant every 4 months, we're probably looking at $1,200 or more every year until she naturally stops laying. That's...crazy.
Hope everything goes well for you and duck.
