My Ducks Haven't Laid in Months!

[cymbaline]

My Welshies only started laying again a few weeks ago. They haven't molted in a month or two at least though.

 

[MaureenD]

We had a 3 egg morning today! I have been getting consistently two white eggs (from welshies) and then off and on... one egg day, two egg day, one egg, etc. My two choc runners molted over the winter and one just started laying yesterday, so of the three I got today, one green, 2 white. (I'm so happy) It is 60*F today in south central WI (I am so happy) and the girls are thrilled to be getting more sun and grazing time.
Looking forward to cleaning out some of the deep litter soon! That will wait until the April 15 ground thaw date here.

 

[KARy408]

I think this is just an issue of Ducks being "seasonal" layers, not year-rounders. My 11 girls all molted in November/December and we didn't receive a single egg during that time. From January on we started to get 1 a day. Then about 2 weeks ago, literally overnight we had 9 eggs. It's been on ever since, with an average of 9 to 15 eggs per day.

On a side note, our Ginny Fowl, which have a MUCH shorter laying season, just started this week.

 

[morrowmoriah]

Georgia, where I live, we get about 10 hours of daylight. But, we are about to have a time change that will give us an extra hour of daylight!

 

[morrowmoriah]

That sounds awesome! My Welshes started molting In November and I haven't seen a single egg since One reason why I got Welshes is because they are supposed to lay all year, rain, shine, snow, and I'm just not getting that.

 

[LovesAGoodYolk]

they need extra protein to replace feathers and to start laying again. also at least 16 hours of light.

 

[KARy408]

@morrowmoriah I've had Welsh Harlequins, Indian Runners and Pekin's. In my experience, the Welshies have not laid consistently throughout the year. Not the worst (Indian Runner's) but surprisingly not the best (Pekin) either. However, I do not supplement their light, heat or feed during the autumn/winter months either (my girls free range year round in CA), so I don't know that doing so wouldn't help the situation. But I also don't mind having the seasonal break after the summer's bounty either.

Another theory I have could be genes. My Welshie girls are definitely not the Standard, their markings/coloring all differ greatly and one, the smallest, has a solid brown head with a bi-color beak and bight yellow feet! I know ducks have not been bred for egg production over the years, so I'm thinking my girls' obvious sub-par genetics could be one of the reason's they don't lay to the breed standard.

 

[morrowmoriah]

Thank you! Gives me more insight then. They are back to laying!! Couldn't be happier.