Can ducks count?

[ChicagoDucks]

My Rouen hen started laying last month. She built herself a nice nest in the straw in her coop, but after I removed an egg from the nest she started laying elsewhere in the coop. When she lays elsewhere, the other ducks step on the egg so it gets dirtier and more beat up.

I read a post in this forum, that when you take an egg out of a duck's nest, they think the nest has been raided, and they'll look for a safer place to lay. The solution I read about is to put a fake egg in the nest when you remove one.

When my rouen laid in her nest again, I only had 1 fake egg handy. Then she laid a second egg, and I didn't have a second fake egg to replace it with. So she was left with just 1 fake egg in her nest, but she has been laying her eggs in or near her nest every day since.

Does this mean that she can't tell the difference between 1 and 2? Can ducks count?

 

[jdywntr]

They don't count but like you wrote, they feel safe laying where an egg already is. You can just leave the fake egg there and she should continue laying in the nest.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

Yeah like she said, they like laying where other eggs already are. Last year, as soon as one egg was laid in a nest and left there, another duck started laying in that nest. My ducks don't seem to like to lay in a stop where their are no other eggs. I've definitely had my share of hidden nests, and when I find them and brig all the eggs inside, she'll stop laying for another week or so, then she'll find another place to hide her eggs that she doesn't think I will find, and starts laying them there again. There was one time where she started laying under the stair case, and I didn't want them all to stop laying so I left them there. Not to long after that, another one of my ducks started laying in that nest. They were two different breeds, so some of the eggs were black and some were white. I was collecting and bringing in the white eggs and leaving the black ones out. At that time I had three female ducks and one male duck. Every morning, there was one certain duck that would get out of her pen and I would have to put her back in as soon as i got up. I didn't think she was laying because I looked around the yard were she had been running around and didn't see anything. Later, I had a neighbor tell me that there were two white ducks and a black duck playing in a puddle across from there house and wondered if they were ours. So I went outside to see if the ducks were in the pen. I went out to find that all the ducks were gone but one. That one of which was laying on the nest. So I went and had to chase all the duck back into there pen, find the place they were getting out. This took about two days to do, and had to chase them back to there pen several times a day, while the other duck sat and laid on those eggs. I tried to close it off, but they still kept getting out. The next day I went outside and saw one of my duck (the one that was originally getting out) laying down under our four wheeler. I coaxed her out, to find that she had a dozen eggs hidden under it. At that time, we had a run set up for our dog, but he was not using it. So I put the ducks in it. My duck was not happy to see that I was walking inside with a bunch of eggs. So i walked over there and gave her three which she rolled into the nest (the one that was laying on the eggs). Okay, I'm getting way of the subject. The point is, that they like to lay where another eggs has already been laid, even if they haveto hide their nest in order to do that

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

My ducks dont even lay in a nest. My rouen did today though! We have a broody chicken who is laying her eggs under the nest boxes in the coop, and my rouen hen decided she wants to lay there to. I hope she keeps laying their... She always laid in nests last year.

However, my welsh harlequins just started laying, and they decided they want to lay in all the poop... Seriously?!... Which also happens to be ALL the way in the back of the run... Urg!

Good luck with your hen!