Help! New duck owner and they've stopped laying!

[teresaplus8]

My husband and are new to the duck scene. We were gifted two ducks by a co-worker (which we are all but positive are males) they are roughly 18-20 weeks old. We have also acquired two females that are over a year old. We have several questions that we hope can be answered. Right now they are kept separate at night due to inside space, but are together during the day. A couple of weeks we noticed one of the females (the one the males pick on the most) running from the males with an egg in her mouth. Unfortunately the egg had been broken and she was actually eating it. We assumed that this was to protect her egg from the males?? Is this common?? Can this be stopped?? What should we do?? Now nether of the girls have not laid an egg for a week. It has been really hot, but would that do it? What can we do to help them? They act fine and are eating and drinking well. We are also wondering about egg fertility. I can not find any conclusive information and this site has always given me good info so far. How do we know when to start watching for fertilized eggs?? How many do they lay??? How long does she stay fertile??? How long will she lay fertile eggs?? How often do they breed??? Why would the females stop laying eggs?? Sorry to bombard everyone with all these questions, but trying to learn as much as we can as quickly as we can so we don't do anything wrong. Thanks in advance for any help we can get.

 

[Skipspin]

What kind of ducks are they?

Our Pekin hens lay in bursts. We will get an egg almost every day for 3-6 weeks, then they will take a break and start again a few weeks later. I know it can be somewhat seasonal, but we are in Florida, so our seasons are all out of wack anyway.

Our females never take the eggs anywhere, really, and the drake will sort of "guard" them from us. He really doesn't like us taking them at all. We have one hen that is at least 2 years old- probably closer to 3, and she still lays quite well. In fact, she lays HUGE eggs.

Your eggs will be fertile with two males and two females if the males are mounting the females. In fact, you may eventually find that two males is too much, and they may fight as they mature.

Hope that helps a bit. Ducks are fun!

 

[teresaplus8]

Thanks so much for the help!!! All four are Pekin....Thelma (one the males pick on the most) is the one that ran with the egg. Can you think of any other reason that she would try to run away with it? And if I don't see the males mounting the females how do I know that "it " lol has happened? Do they just fertilize one egg or more than one? My kids actually like our duck more than our chickens.