Young duck stopped laying and it's been 4 months! What to do?

[dishrag]

Hi sorry for another "my duck stopped laying" but I can't find help with this situation. We got our first two ducks ever, they started laying in early December and then laid every day until our buff got broody and stopped. We finally ended the broodiness by removing the whole nest from the coop (we were already closing off the coop during the day). Then she started molting.

Now, it's been 2 months since she stopped molting but still not ONE egg this entire time!

Any ideas why? The coop has not moved. Our other duck has been laying the entire time. The only one thing I can think of is that 1)they never rebuilt their nest as big as it was before. Should I build it up? and 2) they have not been getting daily access to their small pool (they still have a deep pot for dunking their heads) Is it possible that not having as much access to the pool has somehow "shut things down" for her??

FYI she is behaving normally, so I don't think she is sick at all. I was also wondering if I should buy feed that has more protein? The Mazuri waterfowl maintenance, which seems to be highly recommended, is only 14% protein which is low for daily layers... they do find bugs in the yard though, but probably not a lot.

Any advice on what to do would be great. Thanks!

 

[Onlyducks]

My five muscovies lay between zero and three eggs per day. One is broody, so I doubt she's laying. My Pekins last year laid one or two per day. This year's pekins are not old enough to lay yet, I guess. Egg production does not seem to be a daily thing, in my experience, for all ducks. I gave up trying to figure out why they don't lay and just gather the eggs when they do.

 

[dishrag]

Well, I only have two ducks and they're different breeds and I know which eggs are whose.

Just trying to get advice if I should be concerned that she has not laid in 4 months, and/or what I can do about it...

...anybody?

 

[Amiga]

Hi,

Let me think . . . . once, I read about someone whose ducks weren't laying and she found eventually it was a chemical leaching from the hose used to provide water to them.

Low protein might be a problem, an infection of the oviduct, maybe. Ducks will not let you know they have an infection or injury until things are dire. So you could consider a vet trip and have some testing done. Parasite load might interfere with laying. If both ducks are females then overmating would not be a problem. Some ducks develop oviduct problems, where eggs get all twisted and odd inside them. I think one duck I know of had her reproductive parts removed for health reasons.

So, some kind of environmental factor could be at work, or an undiagnosed infection or injury to the egg-laying system, or odd hormone fluctuations that are just keeping her off the egg laying for an extra while. Stress can interfere, grief, light, too can have an effect.

 

[Going Quackers]

If the bird is acting normal i would guess it could be ceased for the season... i am seeing only 1-2 Muscovy eggs here... the girls have decreased early this year, they usually stop come October but it varies.

Protein wise? i run mine on 16% but they free range and eat more whatever they find than anything else. Amiga has covered all the bases for other causes so i won't bother lol Broodiness definitely messes with laying, as well ducks HATE change so the lack of pool etc may turn a duck off laying too. They are fussy critters sometimes.

 

[Onlyducks]

Going Quackers: You answered my question without my even asking! My Muscovies have pretty much stopped laying and I wondered if it was due to the change in season. We are forecast with a frost this week and the temps have been all over the map. One is brooding, but the other four seem to have just given up for now.