egg bound

[corinne]

hello
It has been a long time since my babies needed help. ( they had bumble foot) I have eleven ducks and some are for raising eggs.the others are drakes. one of the ducks is holding her egg now for three days. she acts fine ,no changes so far .I just wondered if this could be a problem, or will she pass the egg sooner or later? the weather is getting warmer and water is not freezing .so we filled the pool that we use for them , she will not go in . my thinking she is egg bound. none of the books I have mention this ,can you help.
thank you
Corinne

[ChickMom]

It doesn't really sound like she's eggbound - normally, they stand around looking very uncomfortable if eggbound. Is she pooping okay and eating normally? You say there's no change in how she acts so I assume she's doing all those things. I do wonder if maybe a boy was too rough with her and she has a sore or torn vent area. I've had this happen and the girl doesn't want to get in the water if so. It's just a guess though. Do you ducks sometimes lay soft eggs (without shells)? It can be very hard for them to get the egg out and it can break inside and cause discomfort also. If they do lay shell-less eggs, you should get some oyster shell to set out for the girls to eat if they need the extra calcium.

What kind of duck is this, how old, how long has she laid eggs? Any changes in behavior at all?

[corinne]

this duck is a rouen . i have had them for one and half years . they started to lay on time 14 to 16 weeks. they lay everyday. i have eight females. the egg count has been going down since my supplier has changed products. they are on Purina Layena.
switched from Nutura . I do supply grit and oyster shell together , they can get either freely . it is only this duck . i do not know if she is pooping because i have so many .and i do not let them out of the house until 8 am. they then go into the run , and sometimes i will find eggs while they are eating breakfast. I then let them out around 9 am, to run freely. i do find eggs that are soft shelled .
i also think some of the ducks are off ,they all use to lay before 8am. now i can't tell who lays when or what. i have not really noticed any other duck that has a belly like like this one . it almost drags on the ground . because of the count they are not as friendly as my tuxi. so I can not get to close to them with out freaking them out.i want to feel her to see if she has more than one egg in her . does this happen? she may be so off that maybe nothing is wrong and she is just laying in the eve.and she carries the egg all day. when we put them back in the run around dusk. than put them in the house at 7:30 or so ,they run in so fast that i can not see if the egg is hers. this is when i find the soft egg, sometimes it is already broken from them walking on it . today i got 8 eggs and her little belly is still the same. did one duck give me two eggs?

[TAWhatley]

Sounds to me like she has a huge fluid build up in the abdomen area. I would take her to the vet to be checked.

Terry

[corinne]

oh my ! how could that have happened?

[ChickMom]

There may be multiple ways that could happen but the one I've had some experience of is if they lay an egg internally (not sure why that happens but it can), this can cause infection that leads to fluid. I had a chicken hen who was an internal layer and they can get just full of old eggs that the body is trying to absorb. I didn't know what was happening with her until a necropsy after her death. In some cases, oral antibiotics as you can get from a vet, can fight the infection and the vet can also provide medication to help rid the fluid buildup. Best wishes.

[corinne]

I was able to hold hold her and feel around . I did not feel any eggs or anything firm. i believe she does have fluid , i also read that to much calcium in the diet could cause it, i looked over the food and found that the purina has more calcium than the other food i was using. i believe she is still laying and without a problem. i am giving more grit than oyster shell right now to see if that makes a difference. she is keeping up with the others and does not act sick. i will let you know how it goes.

[ChickMom]

Hopefully, there is nothing to worry about. It's good that you were vigilant so you could catch it if there was a problem. Best wishes and do let us know.