In the wild, they only need a few clutches. Last year, I bought four geese from a lady who claimed the all-gray geese were females and the saddleback (part gray, part white) ones were males. Metzer Farms has some insights: https://www.metzerfarms.com/Articles/DucksAndGeeseOverweight.pdf. I got a pair 2 months ago, and no breeding or eggs yet. These calm-natured ducks are a little bit skittish but make excellent pets due to their unique personalities and overall durability. Breeds that lay a lot, won’t lay for long. Do you have extra calcium available? Here are two articles on Backyard Chickens about breaking an egg-eater. Over the summer I was given 2 female Pekin ducks (unknown age) & after a short period of time they seem to assimilate with the Indian runners. You might try weighing them and see if they weigh as much as Runners are usually supposed to weigh. My name is Lachlan, I’ve recently bought 7 ducks but only one of them is laying. Do you mean you’ve had the geese for over a year and they haven’t laid a single egg? I’m guessing it’s a diet problem. They are only useful as pets or ornamental birds. Pekin ducks will quack about any predators close to them. If they’re locked in the coop for the night, then the eggs are likely to be laid somewhere in the coop, but it’s not a guarantee, as sometimes they lay later in the day. 2. Of course free ranging is natural, and ducks in the wild don’t have any trouble laying. Keep in mind that your duck hatches with all the eggs she will ever lay already inside her. Obesity in ducks hasn’t been researched or studied. I have five ducks (4 Welsh Harlequins and a Cayuga) nearly 1 year old who have been laying consistently for almost 6 months. Table 5.4: Site of egg-laying by individual Pekin ducks during a behavioural demand test where they had to perform increasing amounts of work to access a nest box containing a preferred substrate (saw dust) while the least preferred option (astroturf) remained free. The prime temperature for duck egg laying is on days when the temperature is between 40 to 85 degrees. In general, a Pekin is a big, white duck with an orange beak that is a hearty, friendly bird. The veggies and fruit are very low in protein, so they would probably lower the ducks’ average protein consumption. 2. Normally that would take 1-4 weeks, but sometimes stress can trigger a molt, which would prevent them from laying for longer. Eggs contain a lot of water. Any advice you could give me? I think it’s a bit late for Indian Runners, but it’s not alarming or anything. The seller said she is a year old. – one minute its like summer, then next its winter! A feed mixture of laying ducks should contain about 16% to 18% protein. Diet is the same, routine is normal. How do you tell if a duck is too fat? There are hundreds of domestic duck breeds that can provide delicious, large, and creamy eggs. I guess w/o a camera it would be hard to know but need to solve this soon! Cooked chicken and mealworms are great too, but not by themselves. Raising Ducks is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Even more extreme, but not impossible, would be a duck that hatched in January, is mature enough to lay in June, but doesn’t start laying until next April—when she is sixteen months old! 1. Are you absolutely positive the duck is a female? Thanks a lot . There is no sign of molting. Chickens keep their nests tidy. Raising Pekins is easier than raising most any other breed of domestic duck because of their strong immune systems and ability to survive in extreme conditions. Once our pond is complete with filtration they will not be upset we dumped the water in our garden where they can’t go dig in the ponds. For Nighttime Winter Duck Care. You could also consider sand. She won’t lay while she’s raising ducklings. Some kind of health problem would be my best guess, but I don’t know for sure. If your duck goes broody and you aren’t intending on letting her hatch any babies, you’ll have to break her up in order for her to get back to normal life and start laying again. To prevent foxes or other animals from stealing the eggs, keep your ducks locked up in a coop until they have laid their eggs. Hi, I picked them up and brought them to their new home. I’ll have a look into changing their diets. It’s great that you were able to find the problem with the phosphorus! When trying to pin down the exact reason your ducks are not laying, these are the main factors to consider: If you’re still not sure, contact me and I’ll try to help you. But the amount of protein can vary according to the breeds of duck. Once an animal finds a source of food, they will usually keep coming back. Describe her schedule. Maybe she’s just a little weaker, which made her more susceptible to parasites, which hindered her from laying. Lots of rain or cold weather also could affect them. My Muscovies seem to be able to hold their egg for hours and hours if they’re stuck in their pen and want to lay somewhere outside of it. Where I live, fire ants love to feed on the membrane and other stuff in the shell, so if the ducks or I don’t remove the shells quickly, the nest can become infested with fire ants. But the female is not laying. To avoid issues of males overmating the females and damaging their backs, I would recommend a ratio of one male per at least six females. The older ones laid all year round last year, but after their molt and this winter they just stopped except one of them. What kind of weather have you had? The exact age when they stop laying, however, varies, depending on the breed and how hard you have pushed them to lay. Is reaching into the nest to get the baby each day OK, or is it better to wait until all have hatched before getting them? Only one of our female is laying the others aren’t. Has anything changed recently? She tends to stay out of sight and mind he, Leo is such a happy puppy. Also, the harder you push a duck to lay (such as by using artificial lights to lengthen the laying season), the more they will lay in a year, but the sooner they will stop for good. The messing up with the lighting (this has been repaired, but it took a while) 3. Here’s a link about slipped tendons in case it has any useful or new information for you: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/slipped-tendon-in-chick-anyone-ever-try-to-fix-this-experiences.879233/. In their pool they also maybe once a month get a treat of live fish. The highest egg production will always be during the first year, and it gradually tapers down after that. Ducks occasionally lay at dawn, but my ducks usually lay between 6 and 11 AM. I hope at least one of them perhaps gave you an idea or possibility. Hi, Even if the days should be long enough, are your ducks kept in a dark barn or coop? Being mated too often is also stressful, so it’s not recommended to keep ducks in pairs. How recently did you get them? (You’ll be surprised! I don’t think you have much to worry about. Here’s an article I wrote on defeating those sneaky ladies who hide their eggs—although I can tell you from personal experience that it’s pretty much impossible to completely prevent them from hiding eggs without taking away their free ranging privileges or at least keeping them locked up in a coop or run until noon. Right now I have 3 inherent issues 1. I do have chickens and geese , but I have never seen any scuffling. You can eat them, boil and feed them to pets, etc. Your ducks WILL molt once a year (usually in winter) and you can’t stop that. Or if your ducks have been laying less and less as the years pass, it’s because they’re getting older. Nope. Egg production and overall performance is best if breeding ducks are housed together in groups no bigger than 250 birds. My hybrid commercial layer chickens lay almost every single day, but occasionally one will take a break for a day or two. I will try to add some parsley into their diet as I have lots in the garden. Regular feeding habit of duck affects it’s health. 3. They seem happy and active, and aren’t actually eating much in the way of pellets and wheat at the moment – it’s prime bug season here! Even commercial hatcheries still have to employ a “chick sexer” to manually sex each chick after they hatch. But that may not last forever. Well the last five days she hasn’t laid an egg at all and also the other laying duck has also now gone broody. The chickens have already started laying about 2 weeks ago, yet the ducks have not started just yet. There aren’t any obvious answers in this case. I decided to separate the males and the females and re-feed developer diet with the requisite Phosphorus levels for 2 months before rejoining the females. I think a camera is a good idea, if you can find a way to easily do it. I’m in New Zealand so it is quite hot. They don't get let out until 10:00am, to make sure they lay eggs in the duck house (our duck house is 8x8feet, with four attached nesting boxes) All winter and spring the ducks would take turns laying. Yes she has only not played for two days now but I got home tonight to find spots of blood in and around the coop, not a lot just maybe a dozen or so spots, I have checked them all for wounds but none seem to be injured, they are all as active as normal, the one not laying did a nice solid poo while I was looking at her and she didn’t look like she was straining or anything (I read something about egg bound ducks), at this stage i will just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow, I hope I am just being a “mother hen” over anxious first time mother, will keep you updated xxx, I have 2 Indian Runners that are 2 years old (I got them Feb 2017). How can I capture these eggs? But, I’m only getting one egg or none a day. Let me know if you have any other questions! A duck that sits in the corner with droopy feathers, not eating much, if at all, is probably sick, and probably won’t lay. They both lay about 100-150 eggs a year and they usually stop laying somewhere between June and November, and only start again in spring. Last year they went back to laying 1 per 2 days as the days were getting shorter. They are in a good sized paddock with cattle panel fencing to free range during the day (they also get some layer feed)and locked in an old horse stall w/ chicken wire around the edges at night. Also, ducks are a little different than chickens in that some of them are seasonal layers & completely quit during the cooler months. How to Tell if Your Duck is Boy or a Girl, 10 Effective Ways to Sex Your Muscovy Duck, How to Use Lights to Increase Duck Egg Production, https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/slipped-tendon-in-chick-anyone-ever-try-to-fix-this-experiences.879233/, https://www.metzerfarms.com/Articles/DucksAndGeeseOverweight.pdf, https://www.raising-ducks.com/when-assist-hatching/, I Found a Hidden Nest! 17 days ago we changed the feed back to layer feed. When does she eat? They are very active and don’t seem stressed at all. How old are they? That blank box is strange. There have been not, I haven't been active for a while and somehow I ne, And we've got ducklings! Many people who are interested in getting as many eggs as they can will use artificial light in the coops so that their birds don’t notice the days are getting shorter, since lengthening days trigger their laying and shortening days can stop them. Try looking over the list at the top of the article again to rule out more possibilities. If you have Muscovies, read this article: 10 Effective Ways to Sex Your Muscovy Duck. If they were adults when you got them, then they probably would have started laying after they got over the stress of moving. The simple answer is that ducks are similar to chickens as laying is heaviest during the spring into summer and starts to decline or even stop during the fall and winter. It is a mallard derived from birds brought to the United States from China in the nineteenth century, and is now bred in many parts of the world. So, if you let your ducks sit a nest, of course, you’ll see a slow down in egg production while they molt. As for being fat, actually, I don’t know of any reliable way to feel them or look at them and tell for sure whether they’re fat or not. If your ducks free range (like ours), this is a likely reason. BuffThe Buff is among duck breeds known as dual-purpose. Make great mothers and Pekin ducks are normally broody, if not bothered. Do you think worms could be a possibility? I have to assume the mom is laying eggs and the babies will some day too. It gets quite warm here but they have shade and a small pool. The definitive answer is here. You can listen to more here! Thanks for your advice. In some locations where days get very short, ducks only start laying during their first spring after they’re old enough. That sounds normal. The ducks are laying incredibly well, My face when people call my sheep goats. Some ducks have zilch interest in nests, especially the ones that are the most prolific egg-layers, such as Runners and Khaki Campbells. 4 1/2 months old! I hope that helps! You can still add peas, mealworms, chicken, and other veggies and foods, but they can’t be a staple by themselves. Do you recommend putting fresh cut mulch in a duck run? I believe that the farm I bought them from was honest and they did lay the first two days. 15 reasons, I Found a Hidden Nest! Have you considered the possibility that the previous owner lied about their laying ability? Khaki Campbells are unlikely to make any hidden nests, however. That’s interesting. As for food they have all been on commercial layer formula with a mix of seed scratch, oyster shells, oil seed, and a treat of tomatoes or fruit on occasion. I eventually isolated the problem as being low phosphorus in the diet. It’s also possible the diet is fine for the other ducks, but not for this one. I’ve never seen it before and it’s definitely not supposed to be there. The health of the duck – illness or parasites can hinder laying. Read “What time do ducks lay their eggs?” for more. I’ve tried it and it did seem to work, but it could have been a coincidence, seeing as I was expecting my ducks to start laying more around then anyway. A duck that relies on the food it gets from free ranging, or one that only receives “treat” foods such as lettuce and watermelon is not getting enough nutrition—especially protein—to regularly lay. If they’re in a small pen, that could further exacerbate the issue. Often, ducks only start laying in spring regardless of age, although that’s rather unusual for an Indian Runner. That was just two days ago? The problem is, they won’t lay nearly the amount of eggs we might expect, because today’s perfectly computed feeds have been crafted to squeeze out every egg the duck is capable of laying. Also can ducks cross-breed like dogs can do? There’s a chance adding a new bird could bring in diseases, but you would probably see your birds becoming sick if that was the case. Stress will hamper a duck’s laying ability severely, or even completely prevent her from laying. Once they do imprint, separating them is extremely stressful. Read “When do ducks start laying eggs?” for more. 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