My Duck Has Just Started Laying

[JustKayla]

Hiya,

I just have a couple questions about ducks and laying eggs.

My Indian Runner x Khaki Campbell (so I am told), Marvin has just started laying. She’ll be approx 8 months old by the end of this month. I found 3 eggs in the garden in a small hole that to me resembles a small nest (I have attached a picture). She loves the garden near the stairs as that’s where one of the water baths are for Marvin & my 3 other ducks. And as I went downstairs (their “coop” is near my stairs) Marvin’s boyfriend (haha) sort of quacked at me and there’s another egg sitting in the open. So far, she’s only laid 4 eggs.

I understand from what I’ve read that Indian Runners and Khaki Campbell are from the same family (please correct me if I’m wrong on that one) and that they are good layers. And that Indian Runners tend to just lay their eggs wherever they are at the time.

My questions are, and I apologise if they sound really dumb (first time duck owner):

What should I expect out of Marvin and her now laying eggs?
Should I be giving her feed to help her lay?
Do I leave the eggs in the nest she has made? Or take the eggs?
Should I make the “coop” more homey and warm than what it already is? Or should I make a small coop and put it near where she’s laid 3 eggs?
Is there any sort of way to tell if eggs are fertile? Or will Marvin sit on them? (I read that Indian Runners don’t really sit on the eggs?)
Are laying ducks similar to laying chickens?

I thank anyone whole heartedly for any information that is given! I’m a sponge to anyone’s duck advice and again, I apologise if my questions sound really silly dumb.

 

[PirateGirl]

What should I expect out of Marvin and her now laying eggs?
Should I be giving her feed to help her lay?
Do I leave the eggs in the nest she has made? Or take the eggs?
Should I make the “coop” more homey and warm than what it already is? Or should I make a small coop and put it near where she’s laid 3 eggs?
Is there any sort of way to tell if eggs are fertile? Or will Marvin sit on them? (I read that Indian Runners don’t really sit on the eggs?)
Are laying ducks similar to laying chickens?

How exciting that Marvin is laying! I have both ducks and chickens and find that their habits are a bit different. They both can lay approximately one egg a day, generally in the mornings. The ducks will sometimes make a nice little nest, like you have found, but digging out a bit of dirt or pushing around some straw, but other times they just will randomly lay an egg anywhere they please. It's like they get distracted, forget they were working on laying an egg, and then one pops out while they are eating or before they jump in the pool or something! I found my Khaki Campbells' eggs started out quite small, smaller than my chicken eggs, but after a few months got a bit bigger. Ducks are messy and make mud holes and things on purpose, so the longer an egg sits out, the dirtier it tends to get, and they often need to be washed before eating. You can try making her a nest box or partition off the back corner of the duck house and stuff it full of dry bedding, she may or may not use it, but if she does use it the eggs will end up cleaner and are less likely to be broken.

Hmm... what else. The fact that she is laying is a sign that she is sexually mature, as your boys mature she will be more likely to willing accept their advances (there's a cute little head bobbing dance with cute noises to match that may start up).

What you do with the eggs depends on if you want them for breakfast or for ducklings. Since she just started laying they probably aren't the best eggs for hatching yet and I'd give it time before collecting eggs for hatching. Also if your boys are about the same age, since they are just maturing too, the eggs may not be fertile yet. I will leave it at that. When you are ready to hatch eggs, do some research and start a new post and there are tons of experiences hatchers on here that can help you out! For now I'd probably collect the egg(s) every day so they aren't sitting out in the sun/mud/snow/etc. where they can get damaged/spoiled/contaminated/frozen/etc. and use them for cooking. Also once you crack one in a bowl you will be able to look and see if it has been fertilized or not, so you will know when you start having fertile eggs for hatching. If you don't eat eggs yourself and you don't sell them or give them away, they can provide great nutrition for your flock. You can crack/crush an egg in a bowl, microwave it for a minute, and feed it back to the flock, shell and all.

Also now that she's laying provide some oyster shell on the side so she will continue to have enough calcium. It's amazing, but the boys really know not to eat it. You will see that duck egg shells are much thicker than chicken egg shells, so they definitely need the calcium boost.

Ok, now that I've written a novel, I think I'm done!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

@PirateGirl Nice Novel! - Two of my Indian Runner girls have started to lay in early December. The first egg was just laying in the middle of the duck bedroom, but after a short while two of my three girls started to build a nest in the bedding (one of them built a really deep one, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-duck-breed-discovered-the-periscope-duck.1288236/ ).
Ordered some fake eggs with express delivery and placed them in their nests. Since then they both make a quick run to the house, lay their egg and come back out again. One of the girls shows signs of broodieness, which is unfortunate at this time of the year...
I don't feed layer-feed, it is bad for the drakes. There is a small feeder with crushed oyster-shells in the duck-house, just in case the girls feel they need some additional calcium, but for now they only play with that. My ducks are allowed to run around on ~2000sqf of grass (now mud!) and we have loamy soil, containing lots of Calcium. The egg shells are so tough, my wife broke a porcelain bowl when cracking some open for scrambled eggs. As long as the egg-shells are strong, there is nothing to do with the food.
You can try to build nests in the bedding of your duck-house and place a fake egg in there as a motivator, but some ducks just lay their eggs wherever they happen to be in that moment. If they continue to lay out in the open, you should collect the eggs asap, to avoid drawing unwanted attention from predators, i know you have some really nasty snakes there in »down under«.

 

[JustKayla]

I don't feed layer-feed, it is bad for the drakes. There is a small feeder with crushed oyster-shells in the duck-house, just in case the girls feel they need some additional calcium, but for now they only play with that. My ducks are allowed to run around on ~2000sqf of grass (now mud!) and we have loamy soil, containing lots of Calcium. The egg shells are so tough, my wife broke a porcelain bowl when cracking some open for scrambled eggs. As long as the egg-shells are strong, there is nothing to do with the food.
You can try to build nests in the bedding of your duck-house and place a fake egg in there as a motivator, but some ducks just lay their eggs wherever they happen to be in that moment. If they continue to lay out in the open, you should collect the eggs asap, to avoid drawing unwanted attention from predators, i know you have some really nasty snakes there in »down under«.

My ducks have free range of my front yard, gotten it nice and green for me but I don't know what sort of soil I have here. The eggs so far have looked pretty weak but as it's been said her first lot of eggs aren't going to be the strongest so I will definitely be taking your advice and PriateGirl's advice of giving her a form of calcium.

I just hope that they aren't as strong as your ducks eggs! I never heard of an egg doing that until now, it gave me a chuckle!

I think Marvin laid her 4th egg just where she was and moved away from it, and let Daffy (Marvin's boyfriend, haha) tell me it was there, haha. I will definitely collecting eggs as quickly as I can. Apparently the neighbours have seen a couple Carpet Pythons getting around in the trees at night so my ducks are under lock and key at night, and forever being checked on by my partner and myself

 

[JustKayla]

Hmm... what else. The fact that she is laying is a sign that she is sexually mature, as your boys mature she will be more likely to willing accept their advances (there's a cute little head bobbing dance with cute noises to match that may start up).

I caught both Marvin and Daffy doing that last night after I collected the egg. And they have been doing it all day, I can hear them from upstairs and has kept me highly amused. And the fact that Marvin keeps running back and forth across the front yard showing off to Daffy, well that's what it looks like

But I thank you so much for your novel and I have taken in very bit of advice you have written out. I'll definitely do the egg thing that you've said but I guess I better be quick because my partner is more so excited about having duck eggs to eat than I am about Marvin laying eggs haha!

 

[JustKayla]

Hmm... what else. The fact that she is laying is a sign that she is sexually mature, as your boys mature she will be more likely to willing accept their advances (there's a cute little head bobbing dance with cute noises to match that may start up).

I caught both Marvin and Daffy doing that last night after I collected the egg. And they have been doing it all day, I can hear them from upstairs and has kept me highly amused. And the fact that Marvin keeps running back and forth across the front yard showing off to Daffy, well that's what it looks like

But I thank you so much for your novel and I have taken in very bit of advice you have written out. I'll definitely do the egg thing that you've said but I guess I better be quick because my partner is more so excited about having duck eggs to eat than I am about Marvin laying eggs haha!

 

[PirateGirl]

I love their little happy head bob mating dance!

 

[JustKayla]

I love their little happy head bob mating dance!

Me too!
And Marvin has me chuckling cause as soon as she’s finished her little bobbing and noises, she starts running around the yard, flapping her wings

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Kayla and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

We have a contest going on now for new members who introduce themselves.

@KLIL Pop over and say hi when you have a chance.

 

[KLIL]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Im from Queensland too!
You are going to love it here.

Feel free to pop by and share your daily updates for 2019 too.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/flock-life-journeys-2019.1286370/

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