Muscovy & Khaki Campbell Laying Habits?

[AliciaDuckLady]

Hello Again!

My Muscovy girl Juniper - 9month old has got me confused! I thought she would only lay during the cooler months. As she only matured in our winter (July/August) we had a short run of eggs that ended a few months ago at the start of spring. Now, in the sweltering humid 32 degree celcius heat, she seems to have started up again?? Is this normal? She has been on antibiotics so we cant eat the eggs but am wondering if she stopped prematurely due to sickness or if it is usual for them to stop start? Being a first time duck owner I feel I have much to learn. While I'm asking it would be good to know as well how different our khaki campbell girls will be and what to expect from them? They are just ducklings at the moment but theres nothing like being prepared Thank you!

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

I have KCs but not Muscovy. I think laying depends more on daylight hours than temperatures. Not saying that temperature can not affect laying, but as compared to hours of daylight, I think the daylight is a bigger factor. With the KCs that I have, mostly it just seems that their egg production has a natural rhythm that they come by naturally. Seems like my KC girls and the KC mixes have started laying about 5-6 months and then they taper off for awhile during winter, then begin again laying daily in the Spring and Summer.

 

[Going Quackers]

My Muscovy cease laying in the cold, shorter days... i had one laying in October a newbie she was a March hatch. Summer warm time? full on production here, in their prime lay time Muscovy as pretty productive, i think it's just they want babies.. broody buggers.

Anyways, most of the flock with likely resume laying again by Feb.. that has been the pattern here, now obviously that is still winter(here) but the days are starting to lengthen that seems to be the better trigger vs the temps, heck we had snow in May this year. sad.

 

[learycow]

As stated above, most muscovy tend to lay in the warmer months.
Here in Maine, mine will lay from March/April through October/Nov and take the cold, shortened days off from laying.
And like with chickens, any little bit of stress can cause them to stop laying. So it is possible that if your girl was sick, her body was stressed to the point where she felt the need to stop laying.

Khakis, on the other hand, are known to lay year round. They are a production breed so you should see eggs from them pretty much every day. Mine would always take the really cold days off (maybe 12-20 days a year) but other than that, I would see an egg a day from each hen. Overall, they produced better than my chickens!