Am I giving them enough daylight?(light in coop)

[KikiDeAnime]

The whole flock has been on the light for 3 weeks and while the chickens are still laying, the ducks haven't started yet despite showing laying behavior before I put the light in. The light was put in as soon as we started getting shorter days.

I give them 18 hours of daylight and have a timer on the light bulbs so I don't have to constantly go out and switch them on/off. The bulbs are rechargeable ones so I charge one while the other is out in the coop. That way I can ensure that we don't lose light.

Before we started getting shorter days, the ducks were making nests in the bedding of the coop so I was prepared to put the light in right away but decided to wait until the first day of short hours.

Since I don't let the flock out until around 8 or 9am, I know that they aren't laying yet. Our ducks like to lay around 4am as I've witnessed it before. I've dug deep into the bedding to check and haven't found eggs.

Am I giving them enough daylight??

 

[Crazy Maizie]

How old are your ducks?

 

[KikiDeAnime]

How old are your ducks?

Our oldest female is 2 years old, one is 1 year old, and the last three are 6 months old so I'm not worried about those 3 laying yet.
I'm more concerned about our 2 older females.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Ducks are pretty seasonal and I'm not sure extra daylight helps them. But, it also depends on the breeds.
What breeds do you have?

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Ducks are pretty seasonal and I'm not sure extra daylight helps them. But, it also depends on the breeds.
What breeds do you have?

2 Indian Runners, 1 Indian Runner/Khaki Campbell mix(offspring), and 2 Welsh Harlequin.
The 2 oldest females are the Indian Runners and one of them is the mother of our mixed female.

 

[KaleIAm]

Are they molting?

 

[NatJ]

I give them 18 hours of daylight

Am I giving them enough daylight??

18 hours should be more than enough hours of light.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Are you sure they are not laying elsewhere? I know you said that they usually lay at 4 am, but with my ducks at least their laying times have varied over the years. Bellatrix my one Hookbill for example, when she first started laying I would find her eggs around 6am warm to the touch still. However, yesterday I just went out at 9am and she had just laid an egg in the bush next to the front door. Even minor little changes in daily habits can cause layers to lay at different times.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

Are you sure they are not laying elsewhere? I know you said that they usually lay at 4 am, but with my ducks at least their laying times have varied over the years. Bellatrix my one Hookbill for example, when she first started laying I would find her eggs around 6am warm to the touch still. However, yesterday I just went out at 9am and she had just laid an egg in the bush next to the front door. Even minor little changes in daily habits can cause layers to lay at different times.

Ours are weird, they try to stay the same when it comes to where and what time they lay. I always joke to my dad that they're chickens in duck bodies because of this.