How old are ducks when they start laying?

[bledsoe95]

I have a duck thats 10 mos. old when should she start laying?A she is in the chicken coop where will she lay, i have a 5 gal. bucket on the floor for her. Oh yeah she a mallard.

 

[buzymom13]

I'm no duck expert. We have a pair who are now 8 1/2 mths old. They are Pekin ducks. "Trigger and Nutsy"

Trigger laid her first egg today, in the inside pen that they sleep in at nite. I don't know about mallards. But Good Luck!!!

 

[helios]

Someone more experienced might chime in, but I think if they haven't started laying by the fall of their first year, they will likely not start until the following spring. My ducks were hatched June 2nd, 2010 if I remember correctly and haven't started laying yet. My drakesns ratio is also off, which I've read will delay laying if the hens are too stressed out (I have 6 drakes and 4 hens). They also need calcium added to their diet in order to start producing egg shells. I switched my flock to layena late in the summer and will provide a mix of layena and regular crumbles with oyster shell free choice when the pond melts. With the right diet, some ducks will continue laying year round, but sometimes good ol' mother nature has to kick it off...the company of a drake might speed things along.

I wonder if mallards aren't reliable for year-round laying, since they are migratory?

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

If I have read everything correctly the mallards are seasonal layers so I am expecting mine to lay in the spring. As for the eggs mine were Aug hatches and I think mine could be laying anytime but I am playing the wait game right now ( this is for the WH and the Pekins).

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
One lonley duck not laying?

Perhaps she is stressed out cause she is lonely having no company of her own.

So she is nor laying.

Keeping just one of highly social animals ( birds, ducks) is just irresponsible and cruel.

 

[crj]

I have runner ducks. I have 3 boys and 2 girls. They were born in June. One lays everyday for about 2 months now but the other duck doesn't at all. They all get a long great and the boys are not aggressive towards the girls, thank goodness.

So, I don't know what to tell you. Ducks I guess are fickle when it comes to laying.

 

[shchinchillas]

My mallards will be 12 months in March, and my scovies 12 months in May... We are waiting on eggs from them hopefully in spring

 

[Jeff1960]

Mallards are pretty much seasonal layers starting to lay in the spring. May hatch out a couple clutches of eggs during the year.

 

[SJUDD]

So are my Mallards going through early puberty then?? I bought them in June and they were 3 days old when I got them. They started laying in I think September or October and only stopped during late December and started laying again this week. My Cayuga hasn't laid at all but the Mallards are.

 

[melissamerry]

My mallards are 7 months old and are laying. I get an egg from each female each morning. It is very warm here though, especially for winter. I think they think its spring