- Nov 13, 2014
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Hi everyone, I am new to BYC and raising ducks. We've had chickens for years and now thought we'd like to get ducks, thought it would good for our son to experience the fun ducks as well as the nutritious eggs. We first got a group of 4 (3 of which are supposedly khaki Campbell/Indian runner mix and one khaki Campbell). We have had these ducks for probably a month and a half and alas, no eggs. I'm not sure if it means anything, but the hair on the back of their necks is a little coarse. Before we got snow they were enjoying foraging our acre and then back in their pen at night. We decided that maybe they needed some layers to get them into laying. Got 4 Indian runners, 3 females and 1 drake. They were laying before we got them and alas, after we got 3 eggs we have had nothing since. I started supplementing light with a 40 watt bulb to make them get about 14 hours of light a day. They seem happy to get outside, I dug out a grass patch and some of them appreciated it, but they like to lay in the snow, seem happy to me. They are in with 2 chickens. Have food all the time in their pen, wondering if maybe that's not a good call with no water in there though. Sorry for the long story, I live in Ontario so it's now between -5 - 5 degrees Celsius with snow on the ground and some chilly wind at times. Their pen is insulated with a vent in the roof. We have been using straw, but wondering if that's the best option as it gets messy fast and that leads to the ground in their pen being cold. I'm not sure if I should be pm'ing someone in particular for some advise or if we are just going to have to wait until the spring for eggs. Thanks for any info Thought I'd add a pic, sorry it's not the best but its something