Pekin egg laying question??

[newarkrooster]

I have 3 pekins, have no idea about their sex( I have never seen any mating behavior). They are about 10 months old, and to my knowledge have not laid any eggs, until yesterday, maybe. They have always free-ranged so it is possible they have laid elsewhere. I have 30+ chickens that have free-ranged with them most of their lives. About 6 weeks ago the chickens got a new run and I have not been letting them out much because of the poor weather. Anyway the ducks have shelter and two "nest boxes" in with my 7 nigerian goats. Yesterday after letting my chickens out for the afternoon, I went to gather eggs and decided to check in the goat shed (I had given up on the ducks laying, assuming that I had three boys), I found 1 very dirty egg, on the ground, it was a bit larger that a normal chicken egg, but not larger than a few I have had in the past. I had no idea how old it was so I cracked it when I got in and it had a very large yolk, probably twice as large a a normal chicken yolk. So I thought maybe it is a duck egg. So i went back out tonight to gather eggs, I decided to check the goat shed and I could see where it looked like someone had been in the nest box, but I could not see any eggs, I decided to rummage around in the box a little and found a dozen eggs like the one from last night. DO DUCKS BURY THER EGGS? Or are these old eggs from when my chickens were free-ranging 6 weeks ago???? I know some of you will say why hasn't he cleaned out this nest box in 6 weeks, well it is just half of a litter box in the floor of my goat shed and I had given up on the ducks laying so it has jsut been sitting there as far a I was concerned. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[La Mike]

Mine actually lay in a dog house lol
They will hide there eggs under straw
Personally i would not just trust they are good because you dont know how long they have been there
I would remove all eggs and check it through the day
If you find an egg odds are the others could be good
I would either put them back or put them in the bator

Post a pic of them and some one will most likely know

 

[Ducks-R-Us]

Yes, I am sure you have duck eggs - my ducks will bury their eggs also. Ducks are very easy to sex, just pick them up, if they Quack, they are female, if it just have a raspy sound, it's a male.

 

[crazybarnlady]

yes, i have pekins and have to sort through the shavings in the dog house shelter every day to find their eggs.

If their tail feathers curl over onto their back they are male ( it's called the drake feather), but if they stick straight out towards the back and they quack loudly, then they are female. My girls yell at me every time they catch sight of me! stalkers!

The males do not have much of a voice and are more raspy sounding.

 

[crazybarnlady]

by the way, this is true of any mallard-based duck ( my khaki campbells and runners are the same)

Although, those breeds are MUCH quieter than the pekins. I call my pekins the golden retrievers of the duck world- friendly, loud,messy, but hard to mess up with- not very easy to traumatize

a great beginner duck

 

[newarkrooster]

WOO HOO!!!
Decided to go out last night late and clean out the two boxes, went out this morning, and I know nothing else had been in there and I had two Pekin eggs. waiting on me.