A different soft egg/no shell question

[loofa]

Hi everyone,

All of my ducks took a winter break from laying this year and now a couple of them seem to be kind of sort of getting going again. One (not sure which, have my suspicions) has been dropping soft eggs all over the yard. I've given them all several doses of calcium gluconate but nothing has changed. Our vet suggested that sometimes it's not about calcium, but rather that the egg is traveling through their system too quickly, not having a chance to form the hard shell. He did not have a solution to this possibility, just thought probably it would sort itself out. But it's been about 3 weeks of this now so I thought I'd see if anyone here has further insights.

thank you!

 

[nuthatched]

Some chickens don't make normal egg shells, it's usually a permanent condition.

 

[coach723]

Calcium is not the only thing that can cause soft shelled eggs. Vitamin D also contributes.
In chickens, going in and out of lay can cause glitches that will usually clear up once the reproductive tract gets back in synch after being in time off, ducks I would imagine could be the same. Stress can do it also. Things can stress birds that we don't necessarily notice right away, so look around for any stressors (changes in environment, predators hanging around, etc). More here:
https://thehipchick.com/reasons-your-ducks-are-laying-soft-eggs/