egg laying

[mumma duck]

Hi I was wondering if anyone could help me with some duck egg laying advice. My 4 campbells are about 5-6 months old and ive read that they will be ready to lay soon but how do I know? Will they just start laying or do I have to put nesting material in there enclosure or start giving them shelgrit? They are still in the grower pellets. Any advice would be great thanks

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Oyster shell, Layer Feed are good. 16% protein is all your 5-6month old ducks need, but they do need a good balanced feed. Should be any time now, with Spring just 45-ish days away! I use straw as bedding.

 

[mumma duck]

Thats great thanks I was thinking of getting some straw or hay. .im in Melbourne, Australia where its right in the middle of summer 40 degrees celcius most days at the moment, will that make a difference to when they lay?

 

[StruckBy]

Being summer will encourage them to lay sooner...if it was winter you might have to wait for the daylight hours to start. In my experience, ducks have a tendency to lay just about everywhere but having 'starter' eggs (whether chicken eggs or just ceramic eggs) in a nest where you want them to lay will encourage them to favor that area. I've used straw, hay, shavings, gravel, and bare ground for my ducks (erm, actually that's what was in the coop that THEY decided to use! Except the one who laid every single day in their pool...goofy bird!) Mine seem to favor setting up nests in narrow areas with high 'ceilings' like between the dog house they were supposed to be laying in & the side of the pen. Or between the nest box in the coop & the side of the coop.

 

[mumma duck]

Thanks for the info I went to let them out this morning and one of them has layed her first egg!

 

[creaturelife]

congrats on the egg i havent seen a duck egg in a few weeks now

 

[RandRRanch]

My small flock started finally laying the other day. First one was uncracked and in a nice little nest in the corner. The next two have been inthe middle of the chicken coop and have been cracked. I feed mine the same as my layers but looks like I may need to add some oyster shell and toss some fake eggs in the corner to get them in the habbit. My ducks feel like they took forever to start laying and I am not sure if it is just the one or if more of the 4 are laying but make sure you keep your eyes open on the floor. My experience thus far has been they tend to manage to bury the eggs quite a bit in loose shavings so you can miss them or step onthemif you are not looking. They dont cover them but they get them down flush with the surface some how.