Question about Ducks Laying Eggs

[Annabelle34]

my mallard duck has been laying eggs in the pond... does this mean she does not want to brood and hatch them? What can I do to encourage her to hatch them?

 

[Miss Lydia]

my mallard duck has been laying eggs in the pond... does this mean she does not want to brood and hatch them? What can I do to encourage her to hatch them?

Alot of ducks when they first start laying will lay just about anywhere. make sure she has a cozy safe place where the other ducks won't bother her with nice soft bedding and more than likely she find it soon enough. You can also keep her penned up for most of the morning and then let her out on the pond after she has laid her egg. Most ducks lay early morn.

 

[Srbenda]

I built a small nesting box in my duck house, the pekin hens will form a nest from the straw/hay, and lay in the same spot every single morning.

Until I did that, they were doing the same thing, and laying eggs wherever, whenever. If they spend the night out of the house, which they do occasionally, they lay eggs all over the place...

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

My mallards or muscovies are not laying at all...they are stopped up so I would know if they were. Now the ones on the pond, I am sure they are just hiding theirs...but the stopped up ones, no hiding...what do I need to do??

 

[newfoundland]

My Aylesbury ducks are just coming into lay again. I have 12 and for some this is their first year of laying. I was surprised this morning to find 11 eggs! Spring must have sprung.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

My mallards or muscovies are not laying at all...they are stopped up so I would know if they were. Now the ones on the pond, I am sure they are just hiding theirs...but the stopped up ones, no hiding...what do I need to do??

They aren't stopped up, they are seasonal layers, a d depending on where you live their spring laying cycle may have not yet started. Also young birds can take longer to get going. Proper diet, and patience.

 

[m.kitchengirl]

Quote:
I made my ducks a cozy, cozy nest box. Put it in a shady, dark corner of the duck house. Put "practice" eggs in it.
They made a nest on the opposite side of the duck house & lay in that.

I don't let them out until 11 or so. So far, no egg hunts for me.

 

[tinyfarmgramma]

I am wondering, if I retrieve my eggs from the pond each morning (I am out at abut 7AM) will they still be good to use? They appear okay, but I am not sure if they are ruined. What do you think?

 

[larkflying]

Eggs can absorb moisture from water -- and my duck pond is pretty yucky. The eggs are probably okay, but you never know. I tend to only keep the eggs that are cleaner, just for my own peace of mind.

 

[CessK]

i live "waterfront" to a glorified retention pond, and yesterday found 2 duck eggs in my yard, one was cracked, other was ok. this morning, found another egg, and it too was cracked. the eggs were found on the concrete just beyond my wrought iron fence. i think she's laying them on the small strip of grass, and it's rolling down onto the concrete, and cracking. i have a dock, but she is laying these eggs "in the middle of nowhere."
what can i do to help her w her eggs, so she can get them to hatch.
they're mallards that have been coming by here for years. theyve laid eggs in neighboring yards, but have finally chosen us! we have been feeding them all these years, but havent since the fall. we also have dogs that shoe them away (hence the fence), so we dont see them there during the day.