Help! I purchased some ducklings last spring (runners and campbells). Ive had them on duck grow and whole corn on the advise from the folks at the feed store. I also give them spinach and other finely chopped veggies at least twice a week. They are free run and seem very happy except that they have stopped laying! I started getting eggs in november and things were going great until the cold really started to set in after Christmas......since then, nothing! They are kept in a nice sized coop but I let them out for at least four hours a day in the winter unless its REALLY bad out. In the summer they were out all day. Clean, well fed, watered.......what am I doing wrong?
I suspect that you may be doing nothing exactly wrong .
Firstly we need more info . Where in the world are you ? Do the birds have acess to fresh water
Most likely they have stopped laying because its winter-most birds do that .
As for the diet ... I have no idea what is in Duck grow but I suspect its not organic . Have you looked at other natural alturnatives maybe that you can produce your self ?
I am in New Brunswick, Canada....very cold right now! Duck grow is a commercial feed. I hate it, but organic feed is VERY difficult to find here. What are the alternatives for home made? I have 12 ducks total.....what is the cost effectiveness? I should probably switch them to a laying feed if nothing else. Its -30 with the windchill today and three feet of snow. Ive made little trails in the snow for them to walk around the yard but there are some days they just stay in the coop. They are locked in at night.....lots of wood chips and seem quite warm. Fresh water in a heated waterer twice a day but its always empty when I go out. They seem to go through a lot of water but most of it ends up as a block of ice on the coop floor which I chip away every few days to keep the floor clean. The coop is 7X14 with lots of light.
Dawna, I wouldn't be too worried about it. February in New Brunswick? Yeah, low light, chilly, they're probably just taking a rest and getting in gear for the spring laying season. Even the best layers don't lay more than 280 or 300 eggs a year.
dawna robertson wrote:I started getting eggs in november and things were going great until the cold really started to set in after Christmas......since then, nothing!
I don't think your doing anything wrong. It is probably just too cold for the ducks. When it heats up I will guess the eggs will come back.
I agree that it's probably just the fact that it's winter, they should start up again soon. I would however, recommend switching to a layer feed instead of a grower if you want eggs. We get more eggs on layer for sure. Unfortunately it's difficult to find or afford the organic feed mentioned above, we have managed to source non-GMO for the same price as conventional, so you can look into that.
I agree, we have not seen eggs for awhile, goldy hen has just started, and today we did a clean up campaign so we may not get any today and we put a egg eater in the pot so they are all upset.
If you really want to be heavy-handed about it, rig a strong light on a timer in there to add to the length of the natural daylight....bump it up to 12-14 hours total, like the daylength you'd have later in the spring and that should hasten them back into laying sooner. That, and plenty of fresh greens!
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