Pete Vraspir

Like the folks here say, Crows (and all their relatives like Ravens and Jays) are very smart birds. As a HS and College kid I worked for a veterinarian that specialized in birds. I'd rescued a baby crow from a nest that had fallen out of a tree. I raised it to adulthood (had the bird for about 6 months before he just flew off) and somewhere along the line I took the bird in to be evaluated by this vet. At the time he claimed crows tested at about the intelligence of an average 12 YO human on non-verbal IQ tests. Personally I have both crows and ravens in the area and they are wicked smart. I have both ducks and chickens that lay eggs and more than once I've watched them walk boldly INTO MY BARN, grab an egg and then fly off with it. Part of the problem is my Pekin hens in particular seem to lay just about anywhere. Sometimes they even seem surprised an egg falls out their backend! My neighbor laughs as the crows fly to his driveway then drop the eggs to crack them and enjoy a lovely egg breakfast.

It frosts me occasionally to have my eggs stolen, but I have mad respect for their intelligence. I've decided its a small price to pay to watch these fascinating birds.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

Pete Vraspir wrote:Everyone - Thank you for the comments!

Glad to know things are going back to normal for you. Since I don't know squat about raising ducks, I was wondering:
chickens lay their eggs in the morning. by 11, they are done.
In retrospect, and had I known, my one hen that dies egg bound could have been prevented: I did see her late in the evening in a laying box and just thought it odd. Had I noticed her, I might have helped, although I have no idea what to do if I have an egg-bound critter. Soaking her in a warm Epsom salt bath and giving her extra calcium is all I've seen.

I have a few lazy chickens that will sometimes lay in the early afternoon, but otherwise yes. Pretty much everyone is done laying by noon. I will sometimes watch the Pekins lay (its more like they are walking around and then a egg drops out their backend - they seem totally clueless about eggs and are TERRIBLE setters) if I'm early to feed in the morning, but I think my ducks usually lay very early in the morning. I usually feed in the morning around 9 and the ducks are always done by then. Invariably I have to go back out and check for chicken eggs if I'm that early because someone will drop an egg around 11 or noon. Thanks for the tip on what to do with an egg bound chicken. I've never had that. If I lose a chicken/animal its almost always due to a predator.

The Muscovys are WONDERFUL setters and actually hatched a Pekin duckling for me last year. Since I only have a Pekin drake, my chicks are either Pekins or mule ducks.

Everyone - Thank you for the comments!

The double yolk eggs have subsided in the last week, so I’m hoping it was just one of my hens getting back into laying. The Muscovys don’t lay much (if at all) during Nov-Feb, so they have just started laying again. My Pekins seem to lay sporadically throughout the year, though ramp up in spring and summer to lay almost every day.

To reply to some of the questions - no blood or goop around the eggs. I’ll watch carefully for any of them to be egg-bound but so far no problems. I’m not sure I could pinpoint the cause but I think maybe we are out of the woods, so to speak. So far everyone seems happy and egg production has returned to normal.

Love this forum and all the suggestions and articles. I’m getting through all that you all recommended - thanks again!

I’m new to this forum but glad to find it! I looked around to see if there were any other posts about this and couldn’t find any, but if I’m mistaken, please point me in the right direction.

I’ve raised chickens and ducks for years. Barnyard mix for chicks, but Muscovys and Pekins on the duck front. I really like my Muscovy hens and the current flock of 4 I’ve had for almost 5 years. They live with three Pekins - 1 drake and 2 hens. There are also 4Here in the PNW, my ducks lay from about March to October,  sporadically in spring and fall but very reliably during the summer months. The family and I LOVE duck eggs and eat them almost every day when we have them.

My ducks have started laying again since our days are getting longer. The Muscovy hens started laying a bit later than the Pekins, but in the last 3 weeks I’ve averaged a double-yolk Muscovy egg almost every other day. There are times when I’ve gotten one 3 or 4 days in a row. I’d seen the occasional 2-yolk chicken egg and the kids and I always marveled at them as we scrambled them up. But this has been crazy. The eggs are half again as large as the other duck eggs as well and my mind has wondered about my poor girls backend!

Should I be worried? Have others seen this? Are these from 1 hen or are they all participating in the 2-yolk activity? I’m not really doing anything different though I did recently change them from crumble to pellet feed as my chickens seem to respond well to me mixing it up occasionally. But the ducks are all such foragers I wouldn’t think it would matter as much with them. Until this year I’ve NEVER had a 2-yolk duck egg and I’m on my 10th year with ducks. I can ALWAYS tell which the double yolkers are since they are big. Wonder what I could sell a dozen double-yolk duck eggs for…..

Would love any insights!