Guerric Kendall wrote:I've never seen anything that can prompt a duck into laying. Golf balls don't seem to work as well as they do for chickens. Ducks just choose when and where they want to lay. I find the best flocks simply have a lot of ducks, so they can rely on some when others are not laying. But this is the season for them to start egg production, so I hope that changes for you soon.
Just one thing, is that 5 cups really enough for them? The standard dry feed amount for ducks is 0.30 lb per duck and for 10 ducks, that would be 3lbs, not 2. So that could be a factor.
Miranda Converse wrote:When a bird decides to go broody, they will stop laying until their broodiness is resolved. You will either need to give her some fertile eggs to hatch or break her of her broodiness. They don't care that they are sitting on nothing. My chickens will sit on nothing until they see a hen lay in another box, then they just move.
I have only had one duck go broody (but tons of broody chickens) and I unintentionally broke her of her broodiness. She made a nest in an unprotected area and I just tried to move her to the protected pen where they sleep. She kept trying to go back to her nest and I finally just locked her in the pen for the night. Did this twice and she was over it. Maybe keeping her from her nest for a bit will work.
With my chickens, I usually just give them eggs or chicks. One hen apparently wasn't ready for chicks or didn't like the ones I gave her and she mauled them. So I chose to break her broodiness instead. The key to break them is to put them in a wire bottom cage for a few days. I guess once their bottoms cool off the desire leaves them. I dunno why, chickens are weird. I assume the same would work for a duck though.
As far as laying, are you sure they are not hiding them? My ducks are crazy secretive about laying their eggs. There were months where they would hide their nest, I would find it, and then they would move to a new nest. I finally have them laying consistently in the nesting box I gave them by leaving a single egg there every day.
There are all sorts of reasons they might stop laying though. They could also be stressed from seeing the one duck get eaten, especially if it happened near the nesting box. Lack of calcium or other nutrients could be an issue. Being egg-bound is possible although doubtful that it would affect more than one...
Nicole Alderman wrote:
Guerric Kendall wrote:I've never seen anything that can prompt a duck into laying. Golf balls don't seem to work as well as they do for chickens. Ducks just choose when and where they want to lay. I find the best flocks simply have a lot of ducks, so they can rely on some when others are not laying. But this is the season for them to start egg production, so I hope that changes for you soon.
Just one thing, is that 5 cups really enough for them? The standard dry feed amount for ducks is 0.30 lb per duck and for 10 ducks, that would be 3lbs, not 2. So that could be a factor.
Yeah, I've been wondering if that's the problem. It's hard knowing how much to give them when they are foraging, but when we got our new ducks and they were so much larger than our other ducks of the same breed, I really started wondering if they just weren't feeding them enough. Supposedly fermenting their feed cuts down on the amount they need by 1/3rd to 1/2, and I know overfeeding can reduce egg laying, too (for a while, my husband was doing the feeding, and he was giving them so much that they still hadn't eaten it all hours later...and were not motivated to go home or forage).
But, the size difference could also just be that the person we bought our new ducks from might not have been very good at keeping the breed clean, as one of the "anconas" is huge and all white and another has very non-ancona markings...and those are the two largest of the ducks.
I really wish I am better at gauging sizes and knowing what's "normal" for a healthy duck size and weight. Here's some pictures of the ducks. Do they look a healthy weight to you?
Perfect The Dwelling Land
Perfect The Dwelling Land
With regard to broody Mamas you can be thankful for her help and willingness to raise the next generation and get her some fertile eggs to sit on. This time of year that is easy to do and you can choose any breed you want and have them mailed or ask your friends for some. If she has been sitting for a while and she trusts you you can get day old babies and go to her in the middle of the night and exchange one at a time for the fake eggs.
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