Stupid duck question

[erinszoo]

When do ducks start laying eggs? We have a female Campbell and a female Swedish. They've both been mating for almost two months with our drakes ... which we assumed meant they would lay eggs soon ... but apparently that's not the case.

 

[Kevin565]

My ducks almost always start around 24 weeks.

 

[Mum]

One of mine laid her first egg today (white campbell) and she is 19 weeks old.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

ducks are also not gender neutral. you can and will see male/male action, female/female, and female/male. So the first question that comes to mind is, are you positive you have ducks and drakes both? Next question is how old are they now?

 

[erinszoo]

yep, positive about the sexes. The boys have drake feathers and male coloring and the girls have ... well ... no drake feathers, they quack appropriately, and they are female colored. Pretty easy to distinguish between male and female Khaki Campbells. Our Swedes are nearly identical in coloring but the one with drake feathers is bigger and doesn't quack and his bill is a different color. So, since we are positive about sex, ... they are 5 1/2 months now so 22 weeks or so except for our buff drake which is over a year old. We figured they would be laying sometime soon, but weren't sure.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

If they start it should be in the next few weeks. I know many who live where there is winter will go months w/o eggs as the ducks are effected by daylight like chickens are.

Our Khakis lay year round (minus molting), but we don't suffer from the winter light loss and cold either.

 

[erinszoo]

Ok thanks! And as if we had any doubts about the sex of our buff drake or female swede, they were most definitely mating today.