Silver Appleyards not laying

[Koru25]

Hey our SAs are not laying atm. They have an endless supply of fields from our smallholding and they forage far and wide. They always have access to clean fresh water. I just can't work out why they aren't laying. I am trying out one water trough with ACV and garlic in it, and the other with Folliculinum homeopathy which is meant to help with formation of the egg. Hopefully one or both of these will work.

Just wondered if anyone else had input on egg laying for this breed? They are a mixed breed which we use for eggs and meat, but should lay for at least 6-9 months a year according to what I've read. We are on the earlier side of that for sure!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Where are you? My interests are your daytime high and nighttime low temperatures and whether you are north or south of the equator.

How old are they?

What do you mean "not laying atm". What is their laying history? Have they been laying? How many eggs were they laying before they stopped? How long ago did they stop?

 

[Koru25]

Where are you? My interests are your daytime high and nighttime low temperatures and whether you are north or south of the equator.

How old are they?

What do you mean "not laying atm". What is their laying history? Have they been laying? How many eggs were they laying before they stopped? How long ago did they stop?

Hiya, thanks. We are in Southern Scotland. Daytime roughly 15-20 degrees celcius, nighttime 10 degrees (although was 17 the other night!!).

They are a year old. Previously we were getting 11 eggs a day from 15 females. Then early July they went down to laying 2-3 a day. Now the past 2 days, no eggs.

Nothing else had changed. So that's 5 months they were laying for. It feels too soon for them to be done!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hiya, thanks. We are in Southern Scotland. Daytime roughly 15-20 degrees celcius, nighttime 10 degrees (although was 17 the other night!!).

Mild temperatures, no extremes. And you are probably getting about 15 hours of daylight so probably not molting from the days getting shorter.

They are a year old. Previously we were getting 11 eggs a day from 15 females. Then early July they went down to laying 2-3 a day. Now the past 2 days, no eggs.

I'm more familiar with chickens than ducks but we had ducks decades ago when I was young. From what I've read I'd expect your Silver Appleyards to still be laying well. That history does not sound right, you should have been getting more eggs.

Are they hiding nests on you? They forage far and wide so they could easily be laying and you don't know it. This is a real common cause of us not getting eggs although they are laying. How hard would it be to look for nests? Or lock them up for a few days so they can't hide a nest.

Are critters getting the eggs? Most critters leave evidence behind, eggshells or wet spots. Some do not. I don't think it is snakes. Snakes tend to eat a few then disappear until they digest those, then come back for more. You are way too consistent for it to be snakes.

Canines take the whole egg. If it were a fox I'd expect you to lose some ducks to them, not just eggs. But does a dog or dogs have access? They can eat eggs while leaving the ducks alone.

Could it be a human? They don't leave traces. That does not have to be a stranger, it could be someone really close. People have been known to so things like this as a practical joke but yours has been going on so long I don't think so.

As long as the ducks are acting normal I don't think it would be a disease.

I'm not familiar enough with SA's to know what their laying season is. Do you have a Scotland SA facebook group you could ask if they know what is going on? They'd know your local conditions.

To me, it sounds like they are actually not laying or they are hiding nests on you. But those are only guesses.

Nothing else had changed. So that's 5 months they were laying for. It feels too soon for them to be done!!

 

[Koru25]

Yeah we've had ducks in the past hide eggs so I keep them shut into the enclosed are until they've laid. So I don't think it's that.
Only other thing I can think of if there's too many drakes in there? My son's younger flock from this year is in with the laying flock and there are more drakes more than we would like maybe 7/15 of this years hatch. Perhaps the ration too high or something. Or bullying maybe but none have feathers plucked. Only 2 small callies getting picked on by our last khaki but they are drakes!

Or possibly rats as there are a lot of them on the farm, just I wouldn't know how to tell or how to stop them! I'd only know by shutting the ducks all into the chicken hut at night but not even sure they'd all fit lol! I've crow proofed the enclosure (full mesh on top) as there were some def getting in cheeky beggars.