Egg Burying

[Kangasox]

2 of my 6 ducks are finally laying! However, they are burying their eggs. And while it's not a major inconvenience, it does take time, and I've broken 2 trying to gently rake through the coop shavings to find them. I could do it with my hands, but it's an 8x8 coop, so not small, and they move them around every day. And, duck poop

Is this just life with ducks, or is there a way to keep them from burying them?

 

[quackingdom]

Do you have a nest? My ducks lay in the nest and then sometimes cover their eggs with hay. A couple times, I removed the nest, and they buried their eggs. Nests should look “private,” enticing, and dark or they won't like it.

 

[LadyIsadora]

Some ducks are just weird. Mine have two dog houses with straw in them in their nighttime pen . One larger one smaller and lots of room. When they started laying I would always find the eggs in the smaller dog house. This was convenient as it is right at the front of their pen and the eggs are easy to gather from there. As more girls started to lay I would find them in the big dog house additionally or instead. This meant I had to get on my hands and knees in the poopy straw of the pen, armed with a long handled spoonish rake thing, sift through the straw to find eggs. Finally all 7 girls are laying. I always find one or two eggs in the middle of the pen, out in the open getting kicked around and covered with poop, three to five in a makeshift nest they build outside of but next to the large dog house. and the rest are in the large dog house. It does not matter how comfy I make a nest area, they lay where ever they want to and refuse to be taught or guided for my convenience.

 

[Honey Maid]

I made a nest in the corner of my duck coop. It's about 30" x 15" , it has a removable lid, I just slide it off and collect the eggs from the nest. It's actually 2 nests, I've a divider in the middle. I put 1x's on the wall, screwed in the measured and cut plywood to that, put some 1x's in the middle, then cut a lid to fit, and brackets to hold the lid on, lids not attached, slides right out of the brackets. If you like I can take a pic tomorrow and post it for you.
I cleaned out their coop yesterday, and took pics of the nest box.