I'm going to figure out who's laying... and replace the rest

[critterranch]

do you keep a light on them? yes i agree the runners should be laying. i always get a egg a day from every female. the one egg thing is weird. sometimes it is just genetics.

 

[FenDruadin]

No, definitely no light... but they have been laying like this (i.e. like crap) since April. So... I don't think it's a light issue.

They all took a break for a while to molt, and only one of them ever started laying again, as far as I can tell. Very frustrating!

I separated their pen into two sections tonight and the magpie girls are in the smaller section with a golf ball in the corner (to encourage laying there). With any luck I'll have an egg in one section or the other in the morning and I'll at least know whether it's a magpie or runner laying. Of course, with their track record lately, the one who is laying will probably go on strike for the next six weeks and I still won't know who she is.

Agh.

 

[critterranch]

i use a light year round its only a 40 watt on a timer i usually keep it around 14 hours. thats the only thing i could think of. the extra light usually works with in 2 weeks if its going to work for them. i keep the off time the same as dusk here so it on when they go to bed for about 30 mins then lights out. i keep the extra light in the morning so the lay before they go out. it is usually comes on around 5 am. when they get ready to moult i shut it off for about 3 weeks then i put them back on the lights. i know some people dont like to use a light but sometimes you just have to give in. if that didnt work i would just sell and pull my hair out.

 

[FenDruadin]

So... the verdict's in... my laying duck is a runner.

This is excellent news, actually. I am going to sell my magpie flock (anyone want magpies in the Carolinas area? lol). Even if they were all laying, three eggs a day would be plenty. One egg a day is ALMOST enough except when I'm baking, and it means I never have any to share.

The magpies are gorgeous, but it actually simplifies matters if I have only one breed (uh-oh. Maybe I'll have to start hatching again...).

At this point, I'm not planning to figure out which of the runners it is, because I wouldn't sell all her siblings at once anyway--I would at least add new family and wait till they're bonded before I would do that. I kinda hope it's the super-friendly one though. Maybe if I hatch some of her eggs, I'll get super-friendly heavy egg-layers!

Thanks for all the thoughts. I'm still going to do a thorough cleaning and see if maybe I'm just missing the eggs, and I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Post some pics, i bet you'll get some takers