What do you do with ducks no longer laying well?

[FireTigeris]

Ok, starting now get only sexed ducks- but every year get 3 ducks so the old ones as they die off you have shifts of ducks, you'll have (eventually) only between 3-9 too old or too young to lay at all, after all my 7 year olds still give some eggs... you'll then have as few as 9 in declining production or too young to lay and if you -need- about 30 eggs a week you'll need 5-6 ducks in 'condition' this brings your total ducks...

3 young, 6 old, and 6 in condition is only 15 ducks... (or chickens)... after your current group dies out or is re-homed...

So far my ducks are laying more heavily for longer then the chickens, that is the production drop off is later in the ducks I have then it is in the chickens, but the chickens continue to lay every once and awhile even at 7 years- my ducks are too young still to drop off.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have Muscovys and I keep all of them regardless if they stop laying or not.

HEY kuntrygirl, I sure have missed seeing you post. I'm with you all my girls are here till the end. They are my friends.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have Muscovys and I keep all of them regardless if they stop laying or not.

HEY kuntrygirl, I sure have missed seeing you post.  I'm with you all my girls are here till the end. They are my friends. 

Thanks Miss Lydia. And it's a good thing I haven't been around cause guess what that means? NO HATCHES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm keeping to my word and I am NOT having 150 ducklings this year. I have switched departments this year when it comes to over hatching. I think I will have about 100 turkeys this year.


Yes, no girls leave me unless they go to duck heaven and I have not had 1 to depart yet.

 

[zooweemama]

I wish we had time, money and space to have a large number of ducks but we don't. We have 4 total acres but really on 1 1/2 or so that the ducks can actually be on. 2 acres is fenced off and is far from the pond and coop. The front yard is not ideal so it leaves the back area and pond which isn't all that large. I am horrible at sizes so I am asking my hubs what size our pond is so I can see how many ducks we could even safely keep. It's possible we could build a second coop if needed. I just need to make sure the pond is big enough.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I wish we had time, money and space to have a large number of ducks but we don't. We have 4 total acres but really on 1 1/2 or so that the ducks can actually be on. 2 acres is fenced off and is far from the pond and coop. The front yard is not ideal so it leaves the back area and pond which isn't all that large. I am horrible at sizes so I am asking my hubs what size our pond is so I can see how many ducks we could even safely keep. It's possible we could build a second coop if needed. I just need to make sure the pond is big enough.

You have more property than I have and all of my ducks are fine and I don't even have a pond. I have about 8 kiddie pools for 60 ducks and 13 geese to share and they all do fine. But as you said the time and money. It's time consuming and let's not talk about the price of feed.

I wish I had a pond.

Post a pic of your pond if you can. I love to see ponds and the possibility.

 

[FireTigeris]

Well as far as feeding them you can grow duckweed to help- but here is my pen: Not perfect but they all seem happy- and as soon as mr Fiesta stops picking on the younger and larger roosters I'll have a better time, also I collect food scraps as my birds are not for meat consumption.

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https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6177963/user_id/44847

it is 12*24*8 with the back 1/3 covered on 5 of 6 sides for cover besides the attached coop. that is 288 square feet of space, 96 of that total covered roosting space, then the 3*5*3 coop for an additional 15 square feet.

203 total
111 covered and coop

so I have 'room' for about 26ish full sized birds in terms of coop
For the run I have 'room' for 28ish full size birds for the 'run'
(yes I'm counting the 96 square feet twice, the roosting space and the floor space are used at different times)

I have 10 bantam chickens, of my 18 total (three of these standard birds are roosters)
I have 13 standard ducks (three of these are drakes)
(there are also 11 doves but they use the nest boxes, shelves, ropes, and pvc almost at the roof)

I count bantams as half a standard bird- so I'm at (over) maximum capacity kinda sorta.

I have Metzer White layers, Buff, WH, and a KC for ducks.
I have mostly Barnyard mixes at this point for chickens.

I get 6-20ish eggs a day depending on moult as I had no heat or light, and every once in a while I get a set of soft eggs from my very old birds.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well as far as feeding them you can grow duckweed to help- but here is my pen: Not perfect but they all seem happy- and as soon as mr Fiesta stops picking on the younger and larger roosters I'll have a better time, also I collect food scraps as my birds are not for meat consumption.

---------

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6177963/user_id/44847

it is 12*24*8 with the back 1/3 covered on 5 of 6 sides for cover besides the attached coop. that is 288 square feet of space, 96 of that total covered roosting space, then the 3*5*3 coop for an additional 15 square feet.

203 total
111 covered and coop

so I have 'room' for about 26ish full sized birds in terms of coop
For the run I have 'room' for 28ish full size birds for the 'run'
(yes I'm counting the 96 square feet twice, the roosting space and the floor space are used at different times)

I have 10 bantam chickens, of my 18 total (three of these standard birds are roosters)
I have 13 standard ducks (three of these are drakes)
(there are also 11 doves but they use the nest boxes, shelves, ropes, and pvc almost at the roof)

I count bantams as half a standard bird- so I'm at (over) maximum capacity kinda sorta.

I have Metzer White layers, Buff, WH, and a KC for ducks.
I have mostly Barnyard mixes at this point for chickens.

I get 6-20ish eggs a day depending on moult as I had no heat or light, and every once in a while I get a set of soft eggs from my very old birds.

I like your set up FT!

 

[zooweemama]

You have more property than I have and all of my ducks are fine and I don't even have a pond. I have about 8 kiddie pools for 60 ducks and 13 geese to share and they all do fine. But as you said the time and money. It's time consuming and let's not talk about the price of feed.

I wish I had a pond.

Post a pic of your pond if you can. I love to see ponds and the possibility.

The cost of feed. The feed isn't pricey per se but when ducks eat a lot it adds up fast! I was slightly surprised to see how much. And since they are still on crumbles- a lot can get wasted. I am EXTREMELY impressed with how many ducks you have. Wow! We want our yard to look fairly nice (it doesnt right now) We were hoping a few ducks would help tidy up the pond area. I'm afraid too many would do the opposite to our pond area. When I say nice- I mean Country nice...ummm not city nice. haha There is a difference. We are perfect lawn kinda people. Right now it's a big wad of ugly. We are struggling to find time to mow all the acres we have. Very time consuming. So the animals are supposed to help 'somewhat' by at least trampling the grass (hahaha) and eating some of it. Which is why will add goats eventually too. Little mowers.

We will let them out during the day when they all have their full feathers. So that will help a lot. They can eat baby frogs, mosquitos, snails...lots of that around here! We have the ducks as pets secondary to egg production. We opted to have ducks instead of chickens. So we have to be real with ourselves and choices as we move forward or we are going to end up with a lot of ducks that eat fun, less free time to hang out as a family and not enough eggs lol.

For the people that have turkey...do they have them for pets or for eating? I noticed recently people were getting some...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks Miss Lydia. And it's a good thing I haven't been around cause guess what that means? NO HATCHES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm keeping to my word and I am NOT having 150 ducklings this year.

I have switched departments this year when it comes to over hatching. I think I will have about 100 turkeys this year.

Yes, no girls leave me unless they go to duck heaven and I have not had 1 to depart yet.

Well good for you but just cause you aren't hatching doesn't mean you can't poke your head in the door now and then to let us know your still a breathing.

What are you going to do with all those Turkeys? Supply Thanksgiving dinner for some folks?

 

[zooweemama]

Well as far as feeding them you can grow duckweed to help- but here is my pen: Not perfect but they all seem happy- and as soon as mr Fiesta stops picking on the younger and larger roosters I'll have a better time, also I collect food scraps as my birds are not for meat consumption.

---------

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/album/view/id/6177963/user_id/44847

it is 12*24*8 with the back 1/3 covered on 5 of 6 sides for cover besides the attached coop. that is 288 square feet of space, 96 of that total covered roosting space, then the 3*5*3 coop for an additional 15 square feet.

203 total
111 covered and coop

so I have 'room' for about 26ish full sized birds in terms of coop
For the run I have 'room' for 28ish full size birds for the 'run'
(yes I'm counting the 96 square feet twice, the roosting space and the floor space are used at different times)

I have 10 bantam chickens, of my 18 total (three of these standard birds are roosters)
I have 13 standard ducks (three of these are drakes)
(there are also 11 doves but they use the nest boxes, shelves, ropes, and pvc almost at the roof)

I count bantams as half a standard bird- so I'm at (over) maximum capacity kinda sorta.

I have Metzer White layers, Buff, WH, and a KC for ducks.
I have mostly Barnyard mixes at this point for chickens.

I get 6-20ish eggs a day depending on moult as I had no heat or light, and every once in a while I get a set of soft eggs from my very old birds.

That is really fantastic! My husband who was reluctant at first with the idea of ducks or chickens- is now just adoring the ducks. So I can see him trying to build them something snazzy like this.