How much of the year do you egg laying breeds not lay?

[cottagechick]

For the egg laying breeds...how much of the year do your ducks not lay eggs

 

[cottagechick]

Maybe you could add a note about the breed...I tried to change the poll to add that but couldn't.

 

[Tivona]

Three adult female Golden 300's and I never go without eggs. I also have 5 more females still to young to lay. An individual duck over halfway through a molt may slow down or stop for a bit but the few adults I have never leave me without eggs for a day.

And I really wish they would molt a bit more. They get a bit scraggly looking from not molting. I have barely any extra light. Just enough to see in the pen for a few hours after dark. Less then a 60 watt incandescent...

I also have a black Swedish and a Buff Orp and they are laying but I suspect its because they are young. I think the BO and Swed will stop next winter.

 

[cottagechick]

Thanks! How old are your Golden 300s?

 

[Tivona]

The older 300's will be 3 this spring. The young ones are 18 weeks

and full of themselves. The Buff and Black Swedish are unknown in age (given to me late last summer as "young") I am guessing them to be about 3 months older then my 18 week babies.

 

[mrpekinduck]

My ducks wee weird this year. Ey molted right when daylight hours we decreasing and I provide no artificial light. So, they haven't layer in 5-6 months. They molted in August- October then we barely had any daylight so they never started up again.

 

[Oregon Blues]

The further north you live, the shorter the days are in the middle of winter.

I'm far enough north that days are quite short, and it is very cold. Light triggers laying. I don't have a long enough daylight to trigger laying. I don't use lights because the eggs freeze if the ducks lay them. There's not much point in tricking them into laying.

So, my birds get the winter off to rest and enjoy life.

 

[larkflying]

I have 5 Welsh Harlequins and 1 Rouen. We live an hour north of Seattle, WA. They live in a moveable fenced enclosure that I rotate onto fresh grass, no artificial light and lots of forage, but I do supplement with layer pellets every day. I've gotten at least 2 duck eggs/day (often 3, sometimes 4) through the entire fall and winter so far - unless they stop in February, I'm thinking I'll get some eggs all the way through into the spring, when I expect to get 5 to 6 eggs per day, as I did in the early fall. Next winter maybe I'll keep track so I can see for sure!

 

[PDurkin]

My babies stopped in August and haven't picked up since. I had tons this summer that my broodys attempted to hatch (but all miserably failed). At about a year and a half old in March hopefully the ladies will pick up again.