Very soft shelles egg.

[SolarDuck]

Just got back from the vet, she really appreciated me keeping a notebook logging all of her eggs that she's laid, and me bringing in some if the soft shelled eggs in a plastic bag she said they were very helpful so thanks for that recommendation @KaleIAm ! She absolutely loved Pigeon too because she is such a sweetheart. She said that the calcium citrate with d3 that @Isaac 0 suggested is a great supplement, so thank you for that Isaac. She recommended that I continue giving her the calcium pills every day forever. She said that Pigeon might have still had a deficiency from before I found her, and she found some signs in the feathering suggesting that whoever had her before me did not feed her the proper diet. She thinks now that I'm on the Mazuri breeder and am giving the supplement it should work itself out. She said that I could also give 2 calcium pills to my other girls everyday, but I don't think I will unless they start having laying issues. Luckily she said if I have any more issues from here on I can just text her pictures of the abnormal eggs and send it to her, and she will let me know if I need to adjust my supplements. Hopefully I won't run into any more issues regarding this. Thank you so much to everybody that responded to this thread and helped me with this!!!

 

[CoriM]

Wow, that's terrific news! So happy to hear you've got a good plan and your duck will be okay!

 

[KaleIAm]

Just got back from the vet, she really appreciated me keeping a notebook logging all of her eggs that she's laid, and me bringing in some if the soft shelled eggs in a plastic bag she said they were very helpful so thanks for that recommendation @KaleIAm ! She absolutely loved Pigeon too because she is such a sweetheart. She said that the calcium citrate with d3 that @Isaac 0 suggested is a great supplement, so thank you for that Isaac. She recommended that I continue giving her the calcium pills every day forever. She said that Pigeon might have still had a deficiency from before I found her, and she found some signs in the feathering suggesting that whoever had her before me did not feed her the proper diet. She thinks now that I'm on the Mazuri breeder and am giving the supplement it should work itself out. She said that I could also give 2 calcium pills to my other girls everyday, but I don't think I will unless they start having laying issues. Luckily she said if I have any more issues from here on I can just text her pictures of the abnormal eggs and send it to her, and she will let me know if I need to adjust my supplements. Hopefully I won't run into any more issues regarding this. Thank you so much to everybody that responded to this thread and helped me with this!!!

Great news! It sounds like this should work out well since she's so easy to medicate! Also it sounds like you found a really good avian vet!

 

[Isaac 0]

Happy to hear that @SolarDuck !

 

[aart]

A blood test revealed that her calcium levels were too high as I had been giving her supplements.

I'm curious about this.
Just what is too much calcium and what are the 'risks' and symptoms??

 

[Momma hen quack]

The vet I went to sees birds, but not sure that she is specifically an avian vet. However, she spoke with a specialist at the lab where they sent Little Quacks blood work. All I know was that the vet told me to cut out all supplements and to just give her the feed. She was concerned about damage to her kidneys due to the phosphorus level that was also high along with the calcium. I will let you know what the comprehensive labs indicate as her initial blood test was back in October. I have been to an avian vet with another duck, but the closest one is 2 hours away in the Chicago suburbs and the duck died after spending over a 1000.00 dollars. Poor Lacy had an egg stuck on her ovary as she used to lay double yoked eggs. Here I thought I was helping Little Quack giving her a calcium supplement so she wouldn't have laying problems, and now I have contributed to them. Ugh ... I just want her to be back to normal laying good eggs.

 

[Momma hen quack]

I will ask the vet when I talk to her again what Little Quack's calcium levels were and what is considered normal for a laying duck. Apparently, the vet told me it can cause the duck to lay soft shelled eggs.

 

[Momma hen quack]

@Momma hen quack Oh wow, can you please keep me apprised of your situation? We have a lot of similarities. Did your vet advise you not to supplement calcium then? I've been supplementing it for about 5 days now and I now wonder if I should stop. Is your duck laying the ones with the tail in the afternoons? That is the other strange thing about my duck - most of them are in the afternoon when she typically had laid her regular egg in the morning.

Yes, they told me to stop all the calcium supplements. Yes, she was laying the second shell less egg in the evening with the tail. I wouldn't even say that they are soft shelled as they really only have the membrane around them. So, maybe I should refer to them as a shell less egg. Now, she is laying a shell less egg every other day with the tail.

 

[CoriM]

Yes, the eggs I have been getting just have the membrane. I call them soft-shell but I don't know what the official name is. I also read a couple days ago that too much calcium can cause soft shells. I've been dosing my ducks for about 5 days and I think I will lay off for now. I ordered them the Mazuri food and I'm hoping that a change of diet might improve things. Doesn't it sometimes feel that vets are guessing at these things as much as we are?

 

[SolarDuck]

Yes, the eggs I have been getting just have the membrane. I call them soft-shell but I don't know what the official name is. I also read a couple days ago that too much calcium can cause soft shells. I've been dosing my ducks for about 5 days and I think I will lay off for now. I ordered them the Mazuri food and I'm hoping that a change of diet might improve things. Doesn't it sometimes feel that vets are guessing at these things as much as we are?

Wow that is very interesting to me because my vet basically said the opposite. She said that I should continue with calcium supplements every day long term basically forever, even when she stops laying. Maybe that is just because whatever feed my girl was raised on was very deficient in nutrients.