How to break duck of egg-laying?

[Luv Ducks]

I have strange ducks. They will only eat their duck food and lettuce that they love. They only get the lettuce a couple of times a week and a very small amount. They will not touch peas, thawed frozen corn, scrambled eggs, tomatoes or any of the other foods people on here have mentioned that their ducks love. I don't mind feeding them just their duck food and a little bit of lettuce but find it strange that they are so picky. They would not touch the Mazuri Water Fowl food. They are just a strange group but I still love them. They are 2 Rouens, 2 Mallards, 2 Muscovies, and one half Rouen and half Mallard.

 

[DukesDucks]

I think our Muscovy ducks must be related. All those "foods your ducks will love" are not a hit here like peas, scrambled eggs, tomatoes. They do like lettuce, corn, and of course mealworms. Half of them like watermelon.
During the summer months, they love worms, and if I'm doing some work and find some I'll bring them to the happy ducks. I had made spaghetti and had extra noodles so thought I would try that out. After throwing in the noodles, there was at first great excitement. A couple of the ducks tried them, then they all looked at me with greatly disappointed expressions. I guess they thought I was tossing handfuls of worms not gross cold pasta.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I have strange ducks. They will only eat their duck food and lettuce that they love. They only get the lettuce a couple of times a week and a very small amount. They will not touch peas, thawed frozen corn, scrambled eggs, tomatoes or any of the other foods people on here have mentioned that their ducks love. I don't mind feeding them just their duck food and a little bit of lettuce but find it strange that they are so picky. They would not touch the Mazuri Water Fowl food. They are just a strange group but I still love them. They are 2 Rouens, 2 Mallards, 2 Muscovies, and one half Rouen and half Mallard.

My big ducks are very similar. Over time, I have found they LOVE treats that are alive, like earthworms, minnows, water crickets and the regular black crickets. Occasionally they'll eat some cracked corn, which isn't the best treat to offer, but they don't eat much. I've also found they like the dandelion (the actual flower isn't a big hit, but the leaves are popular) weed.

 

[Luv Ducks]

My big ducks are very similar. Over time, I have found they LOVE treats that are alive, like earthworms, minnows, water crickets and the regular black crickets. Occasionally they'll eat some cracked corn, which isn't the best treat to offer, but they don't eat much. I've also found they like the dandelion (the actual flower isn't a big hit, but the leaves are popular) weed.

I have seen mine eat earthworms and they love to eat the weeds when free ranging with me in our dog pen that actually has grass and weeds for them. They have made their pen bare, lol.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I have seen mine eat earthworms and they love to eat the weeds when free ranging with me in our dog pen that actually has grass and weeds for them. They have made their pen bare, lol.

Same here. I've said it before but, that's probably why they're so flipping adorable. In other words, they're lucky they're cute I have to go walking around picking dandelion weeds, digging up earthworms and fishing for minnows. The only time they like me is whenever I'm bringing goodies for them, so how could I not do this

 

[3xhhheather]

Curious if you were able to fix her feather/molt situation? I have a Black Swedish duck that is looking very rough. She’s never molted and I figured that maybe she would sometime this winter, but now we’re looking at spring. She hasn’t slowed down laying and her waterproofing is basically gone due to poor feather quality. Of course she’s my only bird looking like this so I‘m kind of baffled.

 

[DuckDuckJuice]

Curious if you were able to fix her feather/molt situation? I have a Black Swedish duck that is looking very rough. She’s never molted and I figured that maybe she would sometime this winter, but now we’re looking at spring. She hasn’t slowed down laying and her waterproofing is basically gone due to poor feather quality. Of course she’s my only bird looking like this so I‘m kind of baffled.

Hi! We have not fixed her, unfortunately. We switched to Feather Fixer feed a couple months ago and added more black oil sunflower seeds, but her feathers are still pretty rough. Don’t get me wrong- there has definitely been some improvement. I had just hoped for more. She’s still been laying every day and seems happy enough. I was concerned she would have trouble this winter, but she did pretty well and didn’t seem troubled by the cold. The only negative (aside from appearance) I’ve picked up on is that she won’t swim anymore. We have a ~750 gallon pond for them that she has always loved to swim in. I haven’t seen her get in it for months, just drink from the edge. I assume it’s because her feathers have deteriorated to the point of having no waterproofing. Our other girls all took a break from laying and grew new, beautiful feathers. Since Derpy is the only one with this problem and the only one who laid continuously, I still believe that is the problem. I’ve yet to find a way to stop her laying, but will share if I do.

I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful! Maybe your Swede will have a spring molt instead and turn things around. I’ve noticed that one of our Appleyards seems to take two molts to get the job done, so she looks a bit rough for months in between. If I can manage to get a picture of Derpy later to compare the one I posted originally, I will. You can see for yourself and decide if switching the feed for your ducks would be worth it. I do think it made molting easier on all of them.

 

[3xhhheather]

No worries at all and I'm sorry to hear she's still struggling! Sounds identical to Opal though, she's pushed through laying everyday all winter and doesn't get in the pool unless I put her in :/ I reread Tyrant farms post and I just don't think I can get her to go broody, but I might give it a shot if she doesn't molt this spring.