soft egg shells

[rbivie]

I have a black Swedish who has been laying about six months . the last month or so she lays one that is soft shelled every now and again. I was wandering what causes that

 

[chrismahon]

It can be due to sunlight levels Rbivie. Vitamin D is required to make the transfer of the Calcium to the eggshells. They get Vitamin D from sunlight (acting on the eye, I recently discovered) so at this time of year there may be problems. The other reasons are coming to the end of their laying life or going into moult and poor diet. They need to get Calcium into their system from their feed pellets or their grit. Grit is a bit haphazard, so most people buy layers pellets with the Calcium in them. We had problems with a Bluebell hybrid and perhaps the black pigmentation causes problems in low light conditions?

 

[rbivie]

Thanks for your reply, I don't think its from end of laying life or going into moult. I feed them duck breeder and cracked corn. plus green peas for treats. I know the duck breeder has 17% protein but not sure about calcium. I will definitely check on that tomorrow. Is there some type of food I can give them just for calcium? Sunlight could be playing a role since it's winter and weather has not been the best.

 

[chrismahon]

A Calcium supplement was mentioned recently Rbivie, but it isn't something I have ever needed as we use layers pellets. For effective laying the whole diet needs to be over 15% protein, so you may find you are running at less than that.

 

[Marigold]

You could try Nettex Mineral Powder, which has a good balance of minerals including calcium, and also provides probiotics and seaweed, you just add it to damp food. I've found it the only tonic I ever need to use.

 

[dorsetduckowner]

It could be a sign of many things including reproductive tract disease. Always worth getting her checked out by a vet to see if there is any infection there as if there is and it takes hold its an expensive business or you could loose her
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[rbivie]

Marigold, where can I get the nettex mineral powder? I really don't think she is sick, she acts very normal and looks great!

 

[Marigold]

If you Google Nettex Mineral Powder several suppliers will come up eg this is the first one I found, which tells you about the product http://www.nettexpoultry.co.uk/nettex-mineral_powder_1.html#
I actually got mine from our local agricultural supplier which saved postage costs. It lasts for ages as I only use a small teaspoonful in their feed for a 3-week course, when needed, as they recommend.
Bearing in mind, though, that this is obviously developed for the needs of chickens rather than ducks, who are expected to go on laying for a longer season than ducks, and thus have more regular demands on their system for calcium and other minerals. I don't suppose it could be harmful to ducks for short courses, but as DDO says, there may be something else going on with your birds's health other than mineral deficiency. If she's been laying all winter, as Chris suggests the lack of sunlight may be a contributing factor as well. Is it quite unusual for ducks to lay all through winter? I thought they had a shorter season beginning in Spring? If she appears otherwise healthy and the softies are intermittent, maybe she will pick up when the days get lighter.

 

[Cab]

If the hen has access to a grit and shell mix she ought to be doing okay - buy some oyster shell mix if you can and try her on that, its the simplest solution. And as Chris says chicken layers pellets have sufficient calcium - but I think extra from some shell is worth having to hand.

Any chance of a pic. of some of these soft shell eggs? The ones my bluebell lays (Jane who lays soft shells after recovering from a near fatal infection!) are very often a funny shape - quite different to the soft shells we've occasionally had from old or moulting hens.

 

[Cab]

Oops sorry, I'm an idiot - most of that advice there was assuming this was a chicken, thats what happens when I get confused which sub forum I'm in

 

[rbivie]

She is not laying soft shells anymore . I feed her duck breeder which is 19% protein and she gets plenty of grit. I think it must be light related. I also thought ducks usually didn't lay in winter either but mine are.