Egg laying question...

[Pet Duck Boy]

How many eggs should a female pekin lay a week? My duck layed her first egg a couple days ago, since then she has gotten her egg belly back. It's not touching the ground, but it's definately noticeable. Umm...she doesn't get so much sunlight though, she stays in my patio most of the time. Does she need real sunlight? Or will artifcial light work too? She's eating mainly layer pellets and greens. Is it normal for the first egg to be small? It was the size of a chickens. Thanks.

 

[Amiga]

First eggs are often small. And for light, I have read that any kind of light, artificial to full sunlight, affects their laying (more light, more laying).

As for how many eggs to expect, I will leave that to other Pekin people. I am more familiar with the stats for runners.

Enjoy that beautiful bird!

 

[Duck_feeder]

artificial light works.

Actually it's a matter of getting a specific frequency of light (color) but I don't recall what range does it. I'm thinking it's blue but I might be thinking about plant physiology instead (it's been almost 15 years since I studied that in college. lol).

Either way, if you want her laying, a simple light bulb will do the trick. Doesn't even have to be that bright.

When they first start laying (even an experienced layer that was taking a break due to being broody or molting) they might not lay regularly for a few days. It's also normal for them to stop and take a break for a day or two. I read a research paper several months ago that suggested that they take breaks because their ovulation cycle (egg laying cycle) is slightly longer than 24 hours. That makes them lay slightly later each day until they are laying too late in the day so they stop to reset their internal clock. The experiment went as far as using artificial light to extend each "day" to 25 or 26 hours and they found that the birds would stop skipping days.

Long story short, sounds like Sunny is doing fine! Just give her time to get into the swing of things and you can expect 5-7 eggs a week while she's laying.