Ducks not laying

[Magee]

I have two khaki campbell ducks who live with six chickens. The ducks haven't been laying for at least a month now. One of them is looking a bit scruffy, but not like a full molt. The chickens are still laying. They have lots of outside space, a pond, and lots of shelter. I live in Brisbane, Australia. Why might they not be laying?

 

[Kevin565]

Are they free ranging?

 

[Magee]

Basically. They have a large run and are let out about every three days for about three hours

 

[capduf]

Hi!

We have 5 female KC ducks and we have had the same problem. We are also in Brisbane. No eggs! Ours free range, all day, every day. We have had no snakes all summer, but in the last 2-3 weeks have had a few pythons, not sure if this a temperature/season thing.

I have a friend who has Indian Runners and she also has had no eggs.

Would love some advice as well

 

[bigtrout]

Ah, you are Down Under, so as your light is waning in autumn, as ours is increasing in spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. Decreasing daylength is the signal for the ducks to stop laying, while increasing daylength is the signal to start.

If you want to artificially add light to get them laying again, do so slowly, add about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes of light per light a week to the daylength they experience now until your ducks are getting 15 or so hours of light a day. I add light to the morning so that my ducks have already layed their eggs and are ready to go free ranging shortly after sunup. This may take a month or so to get them laying again, and they may go thru a molt because of the decrease in daylength they already experienced, but adding the artificial light gradually will get them all laying again.

 

[capduf]

Thanks for your advice. Very informative.

 

[bigtrout]

One more thing to add. If you use artificial light to get the ducks to lay year round it is not harmful to the duck but they do need to moult once a year and when moulting they will not lay. What I do is once a year I decrease the light suddenly in early autumn for a week...this induces moulting so they have fresh new feathers for the winter...then I increase the light slowly until they lay again. All told they get a month to six week break every year depending on the duck.