BigLar368
Songster
Well after just starting their 29th week of life 3 of our 4 Welsh Harlequins finally decided to lay an egg sometime last night or during early morning hours today. We have 19 chickens 12 which are actively laying. 15 of the chickens are the same age and 4 are one month younger. I went out to clean the watering trough and as I was leaving I noticed one egg near the trough. I then found two more in the middle of the run. I'm surprised the chickens did not eat them. I did find it odd that 3 of the 4 all layed their first egg on the same day. We have been feeding them some cheap cat food with a good amount of protein and I also put a small LED light in the run for 45 minutes of extra light before sun rise and right after dark.
Everything I read about what to expect with these ducks has been different than the way ours act other than they are some of the messiest creatures on earth...lol. They are bullies to the chickens. They actively try to drown one a other in the 55 gallon tub I have for them to swim in. They are extremely loud but that has calmed down some over the past month. They run from me and the wife like we are chasing them with a chain saw. If they wanted to they could fly away.... easily...lol.
I thought they would make a nest come time to lay eggs so I secured some 5 gallon buckets together in the run and made small 3.5" stops on the front of them so the straw would stay in the buckets. They pulled ever piece of straw out of the buckets...lol. We live in a pretty mild climate so they just sleep in the secured run on the ground. The attached coop is a little high for them. They would rather sleep under the water nipple anyways. I think they drink water all night long. I accidentally left our bathroom window open the other night and that's all I heard all night...lol.
With all that being said we enjoy watching them even though they are a$$hats. They are very beautiful animals. We are just glad they are finally laying and are no longer free loading.
Everything I read about what to expect with these ducks has been different than the way ours act other than they are some of the messiest creatures on earth...lol. They are bullies to the chickens. They actively try to drown one a other in the 55 gallon tub I have for them to swim in. They are extremely loud but that has calmed down some over the past month. They run from me and the wife like we are chasing them with a chain saw. If they wanted to they could fly away.... easily...lol.
I thought they would make a nest come time to lay eggs so I secured some 5 gallon buckets together in the run and made small 3.5" stops on the front of them so the straw would stay in the buckets. They pulled ever piece of straw out of the buckets...lol. We live in a pretty mild climate so they just sleep in the secured run on the ground. The attached coop is a little high for them. They would rather sleep under the water nipple anyways. I think they drink water all night long. I accidentally left our bathroom window open the other night and that's all I heard all night...lol.
With all that being said we enjoy watching them even though they are a$$hats. They are very beautiful animals. We are just glad they are finally laying and are no longer free loading.
