Do I have a dud?

[jennybvcr]

I have three ducks which I got as two day old ducklings back in April (you do the math on their age. Feeling very lazy today.) Two of them have been laying pretty regularly since the beginning of September but the third doesn't seem to be laying at all. Did I get a dud? I was hoping that maybe by the spring she'd get on track, but my dad told me he had a chicken who layed very sporadically if at all her entire life. It won't matter if she is a dud, because with only 3, they tow the line between lifestock and pets, but I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do?

 

[onaharley]

I hate to ask the obvious but is she a he? What kind of ducks do you have? and if she is a she, are you sure she is not hiding them?

 

[jennybvcr]

I hate to ask the obvious but is she a he? What kind of ducks do you have? and if she is a she, are you sure she is not hiding them?

No worries on the obvious, sometimes that's the first thing to be overlooked! I'm am 99.99% sure she is a she as I purchased her from Metzer farms as a she and also she behaves exactly the same in the pool as the other two girls (you know what I mean...)

I am fairly sure she isn't hiding them because we don't really have anywhere in the yard that she COULD hide them, not for this long and this regularly anyways. We have a regular, suburban back yard and no bushes or anything.

 

[happy duck]

Maybe she is just not ready. Mine last girl to start laying was behind by weeks. Keep us updated for any new news!

 

[PirateGirl]

Maybe all three are laying in different combinations so that you aren't getting 3 eggs a day.

 

[jennybvcr]

Maybe all three are laying in different combinations so that you aren't getting 3 eggs a day.

I was thinking that, but I have two Welsh Harlequins (white eggs) and one Cayuga (gray eggs) and I always get one gray and one white. It seems unlikely that the two WH would NEVER lay on the same day.

 

[jennybvcr]

Maybe she is just not ready. Mine last girl to start laying was behind by weeks. Keep us updated for any new news!

That's what I'm hoping! If not, oh well, but it would be nice to have all three pulling their weight, because they're certainly eating 3x the food and I'm cleaning 3x the poop!

 

[Celeste Cannon]

I know that my chickens started laying at very different times, almost 2 month difference. I figured out which of my hens were laying by feeling how wide their hip bones are. I don't know if you can do the same for ducks, but you might want to check to make sure she isn't hiding any eggs. Heres a vid that can help, you can skip to around a minute through it: