Night time egg laying?

[Kholts]

Is that a thing? A duck that lays late evening? Is it more likely that she’s laying super early morning?

For the last couple days I’ve consistently had 1 frozen cracked egg by the time I get to it. I go out usually 8:00am and if I notice that I’m missing a couple eggs I check again in an hour figuring someone is waiting to lay still.

Yesterday morning I only had 3 eggs & not the 4 I had been getting for 4 days. I checked again through the day and stopped checking after 1:00pm figuring that someone was taking a day off. Fast forward to this morning at 9:00am and I had 4 eggs but 1 is cracked and frozen. Do you think someone layed late afternoon/evening or early early this morning? The temp was -16c through the night.

I’m wondering if all 5 of my ducks are laying but alternating taking days off.

 

[DiYMama540]

Probably someone is laying overnight/very early morning!
Usually my laying duck goes on and gets it out of the way before daylight so she can spend the rest of the day looking for bugs! If it is light out when she lays, they're literally sitting in the middle of the yard...she does not stand still long enough to lay!

 

[Isaac 0]

I have quite a few ducks that lay at night/early morning. Nothing to worry about. You can buy some plant heating mats for 12 bucks and put those in the nesting box so the eggs won't crack.

 

[DuckyDonna]

I have most ducks laying at night or early in the morning but I've also been getting lots of yard eggs during the afternoons.

 

[Kholts]

Well I woke up this morning (5:00am) too 2 ducks quacking away for a good 5 mins. Pretty sure they were laying as I went out at 7:30am and found 2 eggs. Luckily not frozen this time.

Found 2 more at 9:00am when I went out. Unfortunately 1 was cracked but the ducks weren’t at fault my dog was. I guess my dog has decided eggs are balls and is now carrying them up to his bed on the deck. Ugh he’s been so good until now.

I’m just going to have to be more diligent about penning the ducks up at night until 9:00am when they finish laying

 

[Kholts]

Ok so I kind of have another theory. I’ve been collecting the cracked eggs for about 4 days and I’ve had 3 egg with a crack in them & out of those 3 only 1 was actually frozen. I was looking at them and they are all the same size & shape and color. All the exact same chicken looking small egg. The cracks are all through the shell but not the membrane (other than the 1 that was frozen).

Now I’m wondering if I don’t have a duck that just lays slightly softer shelled eggs and if they are not hairline fracturing on the way out wether it’s while being pushed out or on impact (even in straw) then freezing because it’s cracked.

I feed a pelleted layer feed as well as the occasional mix of wheat & corn on cold days/nights. They get my scrap vegetables and fruit when I have them and dried meal worms. They have access to grit as well though I would admit not oyster shell as my dog decided to rip the bag open all under my deck. Never did buy more.