Does anyone have ducks that lay in the winter?

[evergrowing]

I am getting Welsh Harliquin ducklings in a few weeks and really need duck eggs year round for a daughter with chicken egg allergies. I know my ducks wont start laying until the end of summer, but I'm afraid I wont get eggs during the winter.

Is there anyway to help my ducks lay in the winter? Does anyone get eggs in the winter? It doesn't get to cold where I live, 30's maybe on a really cold day in the middle of winter...

 

[Outbackhill Kennels]

If the harlequins get enough light they'll lay an egg a day year round. My young harlequins started laying in the middle of november and layed for 2 weeks. If you were to put them under lights they would lay more eggs than you can eat.

 

[TattooQ27]

We had a heat lamp on for the ducklings all winter and all 3 of our females gave us an egg a day. We had a Welsh Harlequin, an Ancona and a Blue Swede. Not sure if the heat lamp is what made them give us the eggs but they were all very consistent.

 

[pirtykitty]

my welsh harlequin ducklings were born may 18 2009. and started laying the end of September . Have been getting an egg just about every day. they even layed through the winter with no extra lighting.

 

[veronicasmom]

I live in Maine and my Runner layed eggs the entire winter. I think she missed about 4-5 days through out the coldest days.

 

[LittleSquidgenHome]

My Ancona lay all winter, at the time we had 12 girls and through most of the winter we got between 8 and 10 eggs a day. We had a light in the barn that is on a timer specifically to keep them laying. It wasn't tough to put in and because we had the timer start off peek hours for our electric provider, it literally cost pennies a day to run.

Just remember the age of the duck plays a big part in egg production as well as the amount of daily light they receive. Best of luck!

 

[thedoors5to1]

runners lay more than any duck, mine lay through the winter, always have

 

[TennesseeTruly]

My Pekins laid all winter long.

Laurie

 

[tia]

My runners started laying in December and haven't stopped. They are inside and have a light on during the day. It is just a regular light bulb. I just kept it on because I live in Alaska and it is so dark here in the winter. I thought they might like some light.

 

[Wifezilla]

My runner and my Welsh Harlequins took December - January off. With supplemental light I can get eggs year round from them, but our weather was cold and crappy so I let them relax. Now I get an egg a day from all 4 of my girls. I started selling fertile hatching eggs locally about a month ago.

To supplement our egg production, I got a quad of quail. They lay like mad too. I am also allergic to chicken eggs, but have no problem with quail and duck eggs.