Moving Rouen duck's nest

[MisfitMiniFarm]

I'm finding the eggs IN the pond! Crazy ducks! Is this a strategy? or do they even know that they are laying in the water?? this is so bizarre!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm finding the eggs IN the pond! Crazy ducks! Is this a strategy? or do they even know that they are laying in the water?? this is so bizarre!

How old? when ducks first begin to lay they will lay just about anywhere almost like they are walking along and out comes an egg. Inside their house give them plenty of bedding and if your letting them out a day break wait about an hour this may give them time to lay inside once they get use to it they usually keep it up. I will lay a scrap piece of board up against the wall and secure it so it won't fall on them giving them enough room to get under and have some privacy you can make a couple if you have many ducks but they usually like to take turns using the same laying spot. You can also try putting a couple of their eggs inside where you would like for them to lay and see if they take the hint.

 

[MisfitMiniFarm]

We got our ducks in May 2014 - so they are about 9-10 months... and they grew so fast, we could hardly believe it! So this is the first season of laying.. literally the day after we switched to layer feed. They seem to be taking turns with the same nest, then they just started a 2nd (there are 3 hens and 1 drake - we lost our 2nd drake last october - he was just gone one day).
So we have a huge natural pond ( at least 50 feet across), spring fed all year, in front of our home and we used to keep ducklings in a spare shed (on the back side of house) that we added windows, air vents, brood lamp and a kiddie pool just outside of it. Once they got big, we opened the temporary fencing and showed them around the house to the pond. for maybe 3 weeks they continued to walk back to shed and we'd lock them in at night. Then one day they just stopped going back to the shed and stayed in the pond all night. the first week it worried me like crazy.. then it was just normal. The next month or so was when we lost one, during the night, no sign, no feathers - probably an owl (as we heard one in the area - within a mile or so). We have some fencing up to keep them in the yard and out of the neighbors - because they have a pond too, but they are in no means a cage or run like our chickens. They seem to prefer sleeping in the pond. Since, we've build two small duck houses which have yet to be used, then our neighbors gave us a small lean-to type structure - this is where they started their second nest site. I've been filling it with hay for months and they nose through it, also where I'd feed when pouring rain, so they knew it was "theirs". I put some brush branches with green leaves and the fern stalks I cut down around the outside for more... privacy. Today I moved the small duck houses nearer to the places they like to hang out and nap, placing branches on top and around to create more of a hidden place and put hay inside, since that's what they are used to.
Honestly, we never thought of getting ducks. We've had chickens for 3 years now, but when we moved into this house last April, we both said - it would be nice to have ducks in our pond, so the next visit we had at a feed store, we got some and it's been a learning process ever since as we quickly found out how different their personalities are from chickens and how much faster they grew! We only had them inside a "brood box" type situation for maybe two weeks (?) before we needed to do something different. And that's when we looked at the old shed and decided to convert.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We got our ducks in May 2014 - so they are about 9-10 months... and they grew so fast, we could hardly believe it! So this is the first season of laying.. literally the day after we switched to layer feed. They seem to be taking turns with the same nest, then they just started a 2nd (there are 3 hens and 1 drake - we lost our 2nd drake last october - he was just gone one day).
So we have a huge natural pond ( at least 50 feet across), spring fed all year, in front of our home and we used to keep ducklings in a spare shed (on the back side of house) that we added windows, air vents, brood lamp and a kiddie pool just outside of it. Once they got big, we opened the temporary fencing and showed them around the house to the pond. for maybe 3 weeks they continued to walk back to shed and we'd lock them in at night. Then one day they just stopped going back to the shed and stayed in the pond all night. the first week it worried me like crazy.. then it was just normal. The next month or so was when we lost one, during the night, no sign, no feathers - probably an owl (as we heard one in the area - within a mile or so). We have some fencing up to keep them in the yard and out of the neighbors - because they have a pond too, but they are in no means a cage or run like our chickens. They seem to prefer sleeping in the pond. Since, we've build two small duck houses which have yet to be used, then our neighbors gave us a small lean-to type structure - this is where they started their second nest site. I've been filling it with hay for months and they nose through it, also where I'd feed when pouring rain, so they knew it was "theirs". I put some brush branches with green leaves and the fern stalks I cut down around the outside for more... privacy. Today I moved the small duck houses nearer to the places they like to hang out and nap, placing branches on top and around to create more of a hidden place and put hay inside, since that's what they are used to.
Honestly, we never thought of getting ducks. We've had chickens for 3 years now, but when we moved into this house last April, we both said - it would be nice to have ducks in our pond, so the next visit we had at a feed store, we got some and it's been a learning process ever since as we quickly found out how different their personalities are from chickens and how much faster they grew! We only had them inside a "brood box" type situation for maybe two weeks (?) before we needed to do something different. And that's when we looked at the old shed and decided to convert.

About all you can do is hope they will continue to use the lean- to or the other shelter you have moved there. It's always a risk when we don't lock our flocks up at night especially, there will be losses. Ducks can be trained to go into a shed to sleep they herd pretty easily but getting them off the pond before dark can pose a problem.

 

[caesargirl]

Did anyone here ever get their momma duck to finally sit and hatch? My momma moved her nest last night, after sitting for 15 days.... It's only about 3 feet away, still, strange?