Ducks won’t lay eggs

I have a flock of year old ducks that started laying in March. They were laying almost an egg a day each for three months and then stopped. I have it had eggs for almost three months now and am at a loss. They clearly are/were molting but I wouldn’t think it would take this long. They have adequate feed, water and access to pasture. I’m at the point of having to get rid of them before winter, because I can’t continue to feed them without getting eggs. They are Anconas and silver appleyards. From what I have read about their egg production, they could never meet that with this large of an interruption in laying.

Hi Zach - welcome to permies!

Could you give us some idea of where you're located - just general planting zone and maybe general latitude.

I find my ducks reduce laying during the heat of the summer as well as during molt, but usually picked up in the fall again. However, I've got Khaki Campbells and am not experienced with the varieties you mention.

Does your reading suggest they require a certain minimum hours of sunlight? Are they showing any other symptoms of stress? Is there any chance that rats/snakes/squirrels are harvesting your eggs?

Maybe some other's can make some suggestions as well.

I am located in western NY. Zone 5b. When you say reduce laying do you mean less eggs or none? Both Anconas and appleyards are supposed to be good egg laying breeds. Thanks for your reply

Zach Rawson wrote:When you say reduce laying do you mean less eggs or none?  

We've got about 13 khakis of laying age, and I would say they are currently only laying about 2 eggs per day. The problem is that the older birds have some Muscovy in with them and they're batch layers, and I can't guarantee the ones there aren't adding an egg to the count. I err on the side that it's *not* a Muscovy, as many of the Muscovy eggs were being reserved for hatching and I can't mix M's and K's in the same hatch as M's take 5 weeks and K's take 4 weeks. Life is all about compromises!

Male Ratio
- Try and limit it to 1 male per 5 females (aka less males is better)

Routine/Stress
- Ducks love routine, and hate stress. Did the neighbours start playing loud music and get a new dog. Do you have someone else coming and checking for eggs

Predators
- Lots of critters like to eat eggs

Nest
- Are the birds laying the eggs after you let them out (but by now you should have found a few eggs around the yard)

Lighting
- Try and give the ducks 15hrs of lighting (but you s