Making ducks a place to lay?

[Tinkey71]

My 15 ducks are too young to lay now, but I'm thinking ahead...Probably they will be ready sometime in April.
I've heard ducks don't like/use nesting boxes....what do people do instead? I'm afraid if they just lay all over the ground, the eggs will get trampled as they run all over the coop together , especially if something moves nearby their coop area. Right now, I have them in a large chicken coop with a large run area underneath and around the coop - they don't go in the coop as I'm still figuring out how to make a ramp or stairs that they can get up (the ramp that came with it is too steep for ducks), so they just live in the bottom and go underneath when it is raining and such. I live in FL , so never too cold for them here.

 

[DuckyBabies]

I could never get my duck to lay in a nesting box. She would always lay on the ground until we put hay in for the winter, then she made a nest out of hay and started laying in there.

 

[CrystaBub]

I could never get my duck to lay in a nesting box. She would always lay on the ground until we put hay in for the winter, then she made a nest out of hay and started laying in there.

X2! Tried everything. They just pick a corner in the hay. Good luck!

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I have straw in dish pans and I add wooden eggs to them. My girls do use them?!

 

[PirateGirl]

So yes, they lay anywhere. Some ducks are particular and will make nice little nests, others just drop an egg while they are eating breakfast. Yes, eggs get trampled, they get covered in mud and poop and sometimes are even at the bottom of the pond/pool, and occasionally they get broken.

The best I can do is leave them locked in their house overnight and since they generally lay early in the morning, when I let them out, most eggs will at least be in the duck house.

 

[Tinkey71]

So yes, they lay anywhere. Some ducks are particular and will make nice little nests, others just drop an egg while they are eating breakfast. Yes, eggs get trampled, they get covered in mud and poop and sometimes are even at the bottom of the pond/pool, and occasionally they get broken.

The best I can do is leave them locked in their house overnight and since they generally lay early in the morning, when I let them out, most eggs will at least be in the duck house.

My ducks are penned at night, there are too many predators around here at night- so hopefully that will work, will try making a place they can make a nest if they want to - I already have a large plastic tray thing full of hay they can sleep on , so maybe they’ll try there

 

[MIDuckLady]

I use a couple 18 gallon tubs that I cut large openings in front and fill them with fresh wood shavings each day. I place them in the same 2 corners of their duck house every night before they go in to bed. Took them a few days to all 4 to start laying eggs in each of them by 7am.
Make sure you keep the egg tubs in the same position as they like consistency. No more eggs in the pond since.

 

[Kessel23]

This is only a problem with mallard derived domestic ducks, Muscovies are very careful about finding a good nest to start their clutch. I have had good luck getting my mallard derived hens to lay in cat crates with straw in them. More than 90% of my duck eggs end up in them. I might have just had good hens though, idk.