My birds arn't normal!

[Luciesbuddys]

So all of my birds dont do the typical thing and lay there eggs in the morning they lay at some point while they free range. I stumbled on a nest with 2 dozen eggs today! Any ideas how to stop this????

 

[bayyjayy]

Do you lock them up at night? I have never locked mine up before, so I never knew I had nests around until my females started disappearing. I have heard that if I locked them up I would have been able to find my eggs.

Is this true, anyone??

 

[featherfinder]

Mine get locked up everynight but wait till i let them out to lay their egg. Just got the female a week ago though so maybe she is just still adjusting to her new settings.

 

[aineheartsyou]

This is my worst fear. I lock everyone up at dusk and let them out at 10 in the morning. My girls are 20 weeks old now so I could be getting eggs any day now and for some reason a part of me thinks they are being sneaky and laying eggs somewhere out of the way in the middle of the day.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I read somewhere that most ducks have laid by 8:00 am, so mine don't get the big gate opened till after then, now mind ya when first starting to lay it's probably best to leave them in longer till they realize what the nest box is for.

 

[aineheartsyou]

Quote:
I read somewhere that most ducks have laid by 8:00 am, so mine don't get the big gate opened till after then, now mind ya when first starting to lay it's probably best to leave them in longer till they realize what the nest box is for.

I read that too.

 

[crj]

I have a big dog box that they lay eggs in and I also have a coop that stays open. I do have feed containers in there too and I find eggs behind that. I've also noticed my ducks in the edge of the woods with 2 ducks as look outs. I have yet to check on the 2 spots I've seen the ducks hide. Maybe tomorrow. I do lock up ALL my birds except my turkeys at night. I didn't have a top on the duck coop and I lost 6 over a time period. It's when I saw the dead 1/2 eaten duck in there that made me cover the pen. No problems since...... well, since I covered the pen.

 

[Amiga]

That is something. My runners lay usually by 7 in the morning. They're in the night pen from 10 p.m. till then. By the way, before 10 p.m. they are in a fully fenced enclosure, but it's not covered with hardware cloth, so I put them in the more secure area for overnight.

Which reminds me - time to check on everybody.

 

[njduck]

I have read that about laying their eggs in the morning too. But I believe ducks that hatch out their own normally will hold their eggs until later to keep you from getting them. When I was trying to incubate eggs i kept them in the shed until 10 or 11 am before they could hit the pasture. it worked great for 2 weeks then the egg count went down. i figured since they were broody, they stopped laying. I found out a month later when all these babies were running around that they were laying their eggs out in the pasture. Since I gave up on collecting eggs. they finished laying and set on them.

 

[TLWR]

Mine have typically laid their eggs by 6:30, but depending on their mood, they do it in the duck house or wait until they are out and about and lay them in a nest in the woods. Until I find that nest and move the eggs or the dogs keep finding the eggs or whatnot and then they make a new hidden nest. We have lots of pine trees and scrub brush in the wooded parts, so they seem to lay around a bunch of trees that have their base covered in pine straw and it keeps them well covered. I find them only by spotting the lookout and then walking slowly and listening for the one on the nest chatting away quietly.