Nest boxes for Khaki Campbells?

[designbyaleks]

Flock of five (females in front)

Our happy flock - now down to three, at 20 weeks - one dark and one light female and a beautiful green-headed drake!

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Hi all!

As of this weekend, our flock of 5 (3 of which were male) became an elegant flock of 3, with a picture perfect male and two females who are head over heels for him! Having culled, we got rid of some fighting and dominance issues and now the dynamics seem to be good and everyone is happy (plus we had a nice supper to boot). All this to say, part of the reason is that by design, we let our ducks run free range but we also built an insulated coop with a protected run that is only meant for three ducks, and today, at 20 weeks +/- and the temperature truly dropping near 0 at night, everyone is bound to be comfortable in there. Lastly though, we have been waiting for an egg! The ducks are definitely already mating and I’m not sure if that’s any indication of maturity, but I haven’t seen eggs in their coop and we keep them locked till about 7am. I wondered if making nest boxes (currently they have just a closed-in area lined with pine shavings) would help them in some way? Should I just leave their little home as is? Do I need to dig through the shavings daily to look for the eggs? We are using the composting bedding method - which has been quite nice and effective so far.

Any egg-laying advice would be greatly appreciated! (Pictures for cuteness points!)

 

[Farm life101]

View attachment 1921981
Flock of five (females in front)View attachment 1921982
Our happy flock - now down to three, at 20 weeks - one dark and one light female and a beautiful green-headed drake!

—
Hi all!

As of this weekend, our flock of 5 (3 of which were male) became an elegant flock of 3, with a picture perfect male and two females who are head over heels for him! Having culled, we got rid of some fighting and dominance issues and now the dynamics seem to be good and everyone is happy (plus we had a nice supper to boot). All this to say, part of the reason is that by design, we let our ducks run free range but we also built an insulated coop with a protected run that is only meant for three ducks, and today, at 20 weeks +/- and the temperature truly dropping near 0 at night, everyone is bound to be comfortable in there. Lastly though, we have been waiting for an egg! The ducks are definitely already mating and I’m not sure if that’s any indication of maturity, but I haven’t seen eggs in their coop and we keep them locked till about 7am. I wondered if making nest boxes (currently they have just a closed-in area lined with pine shavings) would help them in some way? Should I just leave their little home as is? Do I need to dig through the shavings daily to look for the eggs? We are using the composting bedding method - which has been quite nice and effective so far.

Any egg-laying advice would be greatly appreciated! (Pictures for cuteness points!)

Ducks are quite interesting creatures and like to lay everywhere and anywhere lol. My two sometimes lay in their boxes and sometimes lay in a nest they made in the yard. IME ducks tend to bury their eggs so I would say yes to dig around for some eggs. I don’t really think they would need boxes to be comfortable for them to lay, just as long as they have an enclosed space they should be good

 

[MerryMeridional]

View attachment 1921981
Flock of five (females in front)View attachment 1921982
Our happy flock - now down to three, at 20 weeks - one dark and one light female and a beautiful green-headed drake!

—
Hi all!

As of this weekend, our flock of 5 (3 of which were male) became an elegant flock of 3, with a picture perfect male and two females who are head over heels for him! Having culled, we got rid of some fighting and dominance issues and now the dynamics seem to be good and everyone is happy (plus we had a nice supper to boot). All this to say, part of the reason is that by design, we let our ducks run free range but we also built an insulated coop with a protected run that is only meant for three ducks, and today, at 20 weeks +/- and the temperature truly dropping near 0 at night, everyone is bound to be comfortable in there. Lastly though, we have been waiting for an egg! The ducks are definitely already mating and I’m not sure if that’s any indication of maturity, but I haven’t seen eggs in their coop and we keep them locked till about 7am. I wondered if making nest boxes (currently they have just a closed-in area lined with pine shavings) would help them in some way? Should I just leave their little home as is? Do I need to dig through the shavings daily to look for the eggs? We are using the composting bedding method - which has been quite nice and effective so far.

Any egg-laying advice would be greatly appreciated! (Pictures for cuteness points!)

Your ducks are so pretty! I love the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

While I've had my ducks drop an egg in front of the coop doorway and twice out in their run due to being let out super early (I gotta get to work, duckies!), mine are pretty good at laying in their box in a single community nest. I have runner cayuga mutt ducks. It'll vary a little by breed I think. Runners are famous for dropping it while they are on the way elsewhere.

I have two 50gallon rubbermaid bins turned on their side with a duck sized hole cut out of the lid. I put a mix of straw and wood shavings in the boxes. They seem to like that pretty well. Sometimes they cover up the eggs pretty well so you may have to move things around to find all the eggs.

 

[designbyaleks]

Ducks are quite interesting creatures and like to lay everywhere and anywhere lol. My two sometimes lay in their boxes and sometimes lay in a nest they made in the yard. IME ducks tend to bury their eggs so I would say yes to dig around for some eggs. I don’t really think they would need boxes to be comfortable for them to lay, just as long as they have an enclosed space they should be good

Thanks! I’ll be digging around as of today! Feels like an easter egg hunt every day!