Help! My Pekin lays eggs Everyday in their Pool! How do I stop it ?

[ladychicken&Ducklover]

I have a Very large kiddie pool that my Rouen drake and duck, and Pekin duck share and practically live in it.

It is in their 12x20 coop. I know they love to sleep in it during the night.

Last week, I was doing my morning chicken and duck duties, one of which daily draining and refilling their pool.

So, imagine my surprise when I found a small white egg at the bottom !

I couldnt believe it. They have nests and such, and she chooses a " Water Birth " ?

I did dispose of it , however, since it had been sitting overnight in dirty water all night.

I thought it was a one time thing, but Noooooo, same thing the next day, the day after that , etc.

The 4th egg was HUGE, twice the size of all of them. Too big to fit in regular egg cartons.

One day, she DID lay her egg during the night, in her box, yes it was Huge, also.

It looked great, so we cooked it , and never having eaten a duck egg, , I found it DELICIOUS ! Light and fluffy.

She has laid a few more in her box, so my son, who loves to bake, used them.

The cakes and zucchini breads were Extremely light and airy.

Yummm

Ok..Back to the laying eggs in the pool business...

I would Love and appreciate any suggestions, thoughts, etc., on how to Stop her from doing that !

Thanks all

 

[TLWR]

Remove pool access overnight

 

[AZBootsie]

While I sympathize with your frustration, this just cracks me up!!

 

[Duckchick2011]

X2 , ducks always seem to lay their eggs over night or early in the morning, so, its really just a simple matter of not letting them in the pool till they have laid their morning egg

 

[ladychicken&Ducklover]

Quote:
Lol.
I know that just removing the pool would be the easy answer, but I forgot to mention that even tho it's a kiddie pool, we have it dug into the ground and level with it, as well as we have an elaborate filtering system set up , so pulling the pool out every night, unfortunately , it not an option. UGH.

Every morning I get to got duck egg collecting in the pool the same time I collect chicken eggs.

 

[Czech's_chicks]

You will have to drain it then. OR figure out who is doing it. If you could build a fence to deny access to the pool, that may work, as well.

I've never had this problem and find it very curious, to say the least. The people behind us when I was little ahd a duck that did that, too.

 

[ChickInDelight]

So... I am thinking you are lucky because at least you know where the eggs are.

Correct me if I am wrong, but because the pool water is cool, nothing icky is getting into the egg. When you retrieve, you will wash in hot water so that impurities come out of the shell.

 

[zzGypsy]

egg shells are porous, I think I'd be worried about eating any egg that sat overnight in the water, even if it was clean.

sounds like you need a way to separate them from the pool till after egg duty... a little fence with a gate - they're not flyers so it needn't be tall. I'm thinking mini-picket fence, child (duck) sized.

ducks are creatures of habit, so you'll need to restrict the laying area for a few weeks or a month, and then see if they've made a new habit... or if they revert.

I don't have any water-layers, but I've had some who lay in the mudpie they make around the edge of their water dish. putting the dish on bricks and offering several laying boxes seemed to work... they like crates turned on their side, and turned to the wall... more private and secluded, more hidden. I've had open front cubicles (with tops) and they do use those, but ducks prefer to hide a bit if they can.

 

[WalkerH]

Why not try covering it up with a board over night? And taking it off once the eggs are laid in the morning?

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
Use that lattice stuff from home depot or Lowes - it has a large lattices that they could drink through and it wouldn't hold water on top (if it rains there) and it be lighter to lift.

I'm going to use it when I go out of town to ensure extra drinking water in case of a chicken sitter being forgetful.