Laying Ducks Not Laying

[Cimmaron]

The past few days I've been giving them half their normal feed and half non-GMO chick starter- and I've now gotten a duck egg 3 days in a row, after several weeks of not a single egg, so I'm thinking they just need a little higher protein...

They do have a little pond in their pen that hasn't been drained in a while, so it is possible the younger ones have been laying in the pond - not sure I want to stick my hand in the yucky water to find out...

 

[CayugaJana]

Ducks lay bigger eggs, but require more feed per animal too.

 

[Cimmaron]

Update: I tried mixing their feed half with non-GMO starter for a few days. The ducks started laying again after no duck eggs in several weeks. I went back to what I was giving them for a couple days and they promptly stopped laying. So it looks like they need more protein than the layer feed had. They are now laying again, so if anyone else is having this issue with a mixed flock, this is what I'm doing:

Free choice chick starter/grower from Earth First with added brewers yeast
Free choice oyster shell from Scratch and Peck (the ducks don't like the cheap feed store calcium...)
Every morning the whole flock gets a bucket of soaked local chicken feed (ground field peas, ground wheat and ground barley). Soaking makes the feed more digestable and reduces waste since it is all stuck together. I try to give them as much as they can eat in under an hour. This is their main meal and they just snack the rest of the day, so they end up getting about half this feed and half of the dry starter. This feed is about 16.5% protein and half the price of the chick starter.
Lots of kitchen scraps, garden produce and weeds

 

[llombardo]

I have the opposite going on here. I just posted a thread because I want to make sure she is okay. I cracked 7 eggs and all were double yolkers. Mine get all flock, oyster shell(it doesn't look like they have touched it) and treats every couple days. Meal worms one day, then the next time I mix peas, blueberries, grapes, dandelions or kale(I try to rotate the last two)

 

[Cimmaron]

Interesting, what breed is she?

 

[llombardo]

I have a Peking and khaki, I'm pretty sure it's the Peking

 

[CayugaJana]

I have a Peking and khaki, I'm pretty sure it's the Peking

Is your Pekin just starting to lay? Double yolkers is really common in first time laying Pekins. Most of mine started off laying double yolkers several times a week. And now they don’t since their systems have gotten used to laying.

 

[CayugaJana]

Update: I tried mixing their feed half with non-GMO starter for a few days. The ducks started laying again after no duck eggs in several weeks. I went back to what I was giving them for a couple days and they promptly stopped laying. So it looks like they need more protein than the layer feed had. They are now laying again, so if anyone else is having this issue with a mixed flock, this is what I'm doing:

Free choice chick starter/grower from Earth First with added brewers yeast
Free choice oyster shell from Scratch and Peck (the ducks don't like the cheap feed store calcium...)
Every morning the whole flock gets a bucket of soaked local chicken feed (ground field peas, ground wheat and ground barley). Soaking makes the feed more digestable and reduces waste since it is all stuck together. I try to give them as much as they can eat in under an hour. This is their main meal and they just snack the rest of the day, so they end up getting about half this feed and half of the dry starter. This feed is about 16.5% protein and half the price of the chick starter.
Lots of kitchen scraps, garden produce and weeds

What about a worm farm? Is that something you would be interested in? It would be an excellent source of protein and could be fed with your kitchen scraps alone.

 

[Cimmaron]

What about a worm farm? Is that something you would be interested in? It would be an excellent source of protein and could be fed with your kitchen scraps alone.

I think the main reason I've shied away from a worm farm is because I am squeamish about touching worms. It wouldn't bother me to see the worms and take care of them, but is it possible to farm worms without actually touching them? Lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Buffs were laying double yolkers at least 2X a week when they first started laying and whopper of eggs. I was worried and would go out and check behinds to make sure they didn't have a prolapse. Now at over 2 yrs old they still can pop out some whoppers but only occasionally double yolkers.