What age do Ducks start to lay?

[Miss Lydia]

She always lives in the purple cage. And she always has since we got her. Do i need a coop or a softer cage for her.I've been checking on the internet and ebay for a coop but their really expensive. We always let her out in the garden at 11 til 7. And inside the cage we put newspaper, should we put something softer? Many thanks)

Well I'm happy to hear you do let her outside. Ducks need sunshine as well as we do. and newspaper doens't make for very good laying material. she needs pine shaving which you can get a tractor Supply or some use straw. I hope you can find a coop soon.

 

[Xlilpinkfing]

Thank you very much for the help.

 

[TheChicknGarden]

Okay so i'm totally new to ducks ... Infact just recently am 100 percent sure I have one boy and one girl duck...cause the boy finally got his drake feather. The breed: buff (i think) lol :/15 weeks.... So when my girl duck starts laying will her eggs be fertile? Will she be hatching out ducklings year round? I'm a little confused cause from what I read ducks breed once a year.... Is that just wild ducks ? Is it not the same for domestic ducks?

 

[Novaleigh]

My ducks are 13 weeks old. Dobby (fawn runner male) and Cupcake (magpie female) have been doing a head bobbing dance around each other. Cupcake was receptive to Dobby, but I don't think he entirely knows what to do yet. All he did was start nipping at her neck and snuggled up close to her...but then seemed to have lost interest and waddled away. They have been doing this for days now. Does this mean she will start laying eggs sooner rather then later? I am hoping for an egg in the next couple of weeks..but then again she is a magpie, and from what I have read, magpies only lay 20-60 eggs a year.

 

[HelfieJ]

My ducks are about 7 months now and no eggs yet. My drake is quite amorous with my hen. They are housed with my chickens. My female duck likes to sit on all of the chickens' eggs!

 

[Amiga]

Keep an eye on your duck, HelfieJ, some drakes overdo it with one duck (female), and can cause internal injuries and delay egg-laying. Some pairs get along just fine, it really depends on the ducks. But she depends on you to help her out if he doesn't give her a break. They can be separated, or you can look for a couple more females.

 

[happy chick]

It's funny really- everyone says Runners are seldom broody and I agreed until 17 days ago when Daisy laid 3 eggs, the chickens naughtily buried 2 and now she has been sitting attentively on her one egg ever since!! Xxx




We're talking about a runner - so I doubt she would brood them in the first place - but with my luck you never know.


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[Amiga]

It's funny really- everyone says Runners are seldom broody and I agreed until 17 days ago when Daisy laid 3 eggs, the chickens naughtily buried 2 and now she has been sitting attentively on her one egg ever since!! Xxx




We're talking about a runner - so I doubt she would brood them in the first place - but with my luck you never know.

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Fünf gets seriously broody. She is my one out of nine.

 

[TattooedKeeper3]

These are my two ducks. I believe they are a mix of Indian Runner and Cayuga. My drake has a shiny emerald green color to his head and part of his neck. In fact that is how he got his name tonight...Emerald. My female is Gabby and they are both about 15 weeks old now. I think she is laying. Also, I saw Emerald trying to make his move with Gabby while they were swimming today. The 4 chicken hens like to lay in the duck's coop sometimes as well as their own. I am having difficulty identifying which might be a duck egg.

For the past two weeks I have found one egg by itself in the nest in the duck coop. I think it may be Gabby's because all the other hens eggs are accounted for lately in their coop. Unless someone is popping out two eggs in one day, which I think is unlikely. The egg in question has been white with a blueish/greenish faint tint to it and oblong shaped, almost like when the girls lay a double yolk egg. It is longer than the chicken eggs every time. Could this be Gabby's egg? I am going to try an experiment in the morning and keep the girls in their coop and just let the ducks out in the chicken yard for the first few hours of the morning to see if I find an egg.


The chickens in the photo with the ducks are about the same age give or take a week as the ducks. I hatched those chickens this spring. Two of the three amigos are roosters, of which one might end up dinner if he doesn't stop charging me. They are all bunk mates in the same coop, being they have been raised together almost since day one.
The left side is the duck's and the right side is the adult hen's coop.

 

[Amiga]

You are describing what some of my runners' eggs look like.