Laying ducks!

[amshizzle]

I have two female pekins and I noticed two eggs the past two days (one a day) and they just turned 19 weeks old today. I am not sure if just one is laying or if BOTH of them is laying.

Do I switch to layer or should I just add a supplement until I know they are both laying? I don't want to hurt them in anyway by change their food.


Also, I am 98% sure I have two female. I ordered females from Ideal but Quinn is super loud and very obviously FEMALE whereas Olivia is much more quiet. Her quack IS different but not so obvious as I would have been told it would be. I've tried picking her up or separating her from Quinn and she is so silent or just wiggles to get away so I can't hear a difference. There are no drake feathers and at 19 weeks I haven't noticed any attempts at mating....

IF Olivia does happen to be a drake...........can I still feed them layer or should I just be supplementing?

 

[Virus]

You could start feeding them layer now and I feed my drakes layer and have seen no problem with it.

 

[lomine]

Generally speaking it's not a good idea to feed layer feed to drakes as the excess calcium can cause them health problems. I feed my ducks Flock Raiser and offer free choice oyster shell. They haven't had any problems and their shells are nice and hard. Going this route will ensure that if you do have a drake he won't get too much calcium. I would guess that if you don't see a drake feather in the next month or so you have two hens. At that point you can switch to a layer feed but you should still offer additional oyster shell.

 

[amshizzle]

Thank you both so much!

I have one funny question....

This is her first two eggs but both were small and brown in color.... is this normal for a pekin?
I was expecting large white eggs.

 

[lomine]

It's normal for a duck to lay weirdly shaped and smaller eggs when they first start laying. But I don't think it's normal for a Pekin to lay a brown egg. Are you sure of the breed? Can you post pictures of the ducks and eggs?

 

[amshizzle]

According to Ideal Poultry they are female Pekins at least
The egg looks less brown now that I revisited the picture, haha.
I think this morning I might have been tired

 

[lomine]

Those look like a couple of Pekin to me. They are beautiful. That little head tilt, so cute! Egg looks good too. It might have been a little dirty and that's why it looked brown. It would be normally to be a little off white too.

 

[amshizzle]

Yes! I love their head tilt! I always talk in a "baby voice" and they tilt their heads like little puppies.
I am glad it all looks good I am a nervous poultry parent haha.
This is my first go but all my babies are healthy.

 

[Mudbillkisses]

Thank you both so much!

I have one funny question....

This is her first two eggs but both were small and brown in color.... is this normal for a pekin?
I was expecting large white eggs.

Hi there! When my pekin, and my muscovy started laying it had a coating on it. I wouldn't call it brown but a varied dingy white/beige color. And if it's a little dirty- it'll have a similar look with splotchiness. If you wash them- it tends to brighten them a bit. Either way- the egg shell hardness and regularity is what you want to pay attention to. Sounds like the color is normal : )

 

[Mudbillkisses]

I have a similar question about feed for laying ducks. I had a male muscovy duck, but we have since found him a good new home, and now we have our two females: ancona and muscovy. At the time, because I had a drake- I didn't buy layer feed because I knew it wasn't good for him to eat and it was too hard to get them to eat separately. Now my muscovy and ancona (second year for ancona, first year for muscovy) started laying a week ago. Last year, my ancona ate regular non-layer feed and supplemented with oyster shells regularly. Since I still have a bunch of the non-layer feed, I want to continue to do this, as long as it's sufficient to support egg production. So far since they started laying I haven't seen them eat from the oyster shell (they still could be but I haven't been seeing them eat from there or any oyster shells in their poo). My questions is 1. just want to confirm I can continue to have just oyster shell as supplement for egg production (I've read mixed opinions on this before and so I want to be sure) and 2. I would assume muscovies eat oyster shell like other breeds but this is my first time with a muscovy and I want to be sure she'll eat the oyster shell if she needs it. Thanks for the input!!!