Ducks not laying

[RavenClawPekin6]

Hi all,
I used to have 2 khakis, unfortunately one of them died, so I decided to get a new duck from a country farm (another khaki) in May. She was not tamed at all but she's getting so much better. The day I brought the new duck to the other duck, they got along so well and were both very happy. For first few days, there was only one egg (as I expected from the settling in) but now I haven't gotten an egg in weeks. They're both eating an drinking normally. Any ideas?

 

[quackingdom]

What are they eating? Are they molting?

 

[RavenClawPekin6]

They're eating layered pellets, crushed eggshells and porridge oats.
No, none of them are molting

 

[quackingdom]

I can only think of a few possibilities offhand. Others might know better.

Stress can make a duck stop laying.

Sickness can make them stop laying. If I remember right, internal worms can do it too…? That makes me wonder why the first duck died…could the same thing happen to these ducks?

I know Khakis are supposed to lay 300+ eggs a year, but those are only the good strains. There are many poor strains that don’t lay so much. In ducks that don’t lay so much, it’s normal for them to take some breaks.

 

[RavenClawPekin6]

Thank you so muche
Yes, the first duck (Solstice) died of egg peritonitis. The old duck (Goggin) did have that aswell, but she doesn't show any of the symptoms that she does when she is sick.

I will definately look into de-worming them both just in case

Both ducks that we have now are very happy and they don't seem stressed at all. They are doing everything that is normal except laying.:/

 

[buggymuffin]

Are you sure they aren't hiding the eggs? When our khakis first started laying, one of them found a place to hide the eggs. They were in an old barn (100+ years) and we had stapled heavy duty plastic to the walls to make cleanup easier. She found an opening in the plastic and started stuffing the eggs in it. There were almost a dozen eggs when I found them.

 

[quackingdom]

Well, I sure have THAT problem all the time! Just when we wonder why our ducks aren’t laying, we find a hidden nest with 15+ eggs in it. Just a couple days ago, I found a new hidden nest, although it had only a few eggs.

 

[DuckGirl77]

Are you sure they aren't hiding the eggs? When our khakis first started laying, one of them found a place to hide the eggs. They were in an old barn (100+ years) and we had stapled heavy duty plastic to the walls to make cleanup easier. She found an opening in the plastic and started stuffing the eggs in it. There were almost a dozen eggs when I found them.

I agree; this may be your problem. If you keep your ducks in the coop until about 8 a.m. (I think) they should have laid by then. Assuming they can't hide them in the coop, you should be able to find the eggs.

 

[RavenClawPekin6]

I have checked all around the garden for eggs. I found 2, but they were very old and I checked in the same place this morning but found none.

I left out the ducks at around 7:45 am this morning and Australis (the new duck) was in the nesting box so I decided to leave her alone.
My sister and I went out to say hi to the two of them later on (at around 10:00 am) and she was still in the nesting box. I went to check on her and she started hissing at me. Eventually she came out and we tried to soak her in warm water because we thought that she might be egg boud but she wouldn't stay still.
She is not under/overweight and she is acting normally but I wonder is she trying to hide the symptoms because I know that ducks do that type of thing.

 

[quackingdom]

I agree; this may be your problem. If you keep your ducks in the coop until about 8 a.m. (I think) they should have laid by then. Assuming they can't hide them in the coop, you should be able to find the eggs.

Well, 8 A.M. is what the books say. My ducks lay anytime in the morning after we let them out, because they refuse to lay in their pen (at least most of them). Sometimes they only lay in early afternoon. We usually let them out at 5 A.M. or thereabouts, and some still wait until late morning to lay.

RavenClawPekin6 - I hope you solve your problem! I can't think of any other possible causes.