When Should I Start Seeing Eggs!

[DuckDuckPromise]

Hi there! We have a silver Appleyard girl, Gabby, who is almost 21 weeks old… when should I egg-spect her to start laying?
And what do y’all use as bedding in the nest? I want to entice her to lay in one spot so it’s not an egg hunt! But if I do have to hunt for them, that’s okay! I just want her to be happy!!
I just started seeing the drake mate this last week (he is just about one week younger than her) and they are acting a bit different socially (which I would guess is normal since they are mature little critters now.)

Anyways, if you have any ideas, please let me know!

Have a blessed day!!!

 

[Debbie292d]

I was looking this up here myself as we have two ducks for our first ones and not sure exact age but most likely around four months old. Most I could find says they'll lay around five to six months for most ducks. Here was one post about it.

We use straw in our duck house, and that's working great for their bed, so should be okay when they start laying.

 

[KathiQuacks]

I’ve seen 4.5 months at the earliest, 8 months at the latest. But most of mine got started between 5-6 months.

Straw and wood shavings are common beddings. You can also encourage laying in a single spot by putting out fake eggs. You can buy ceramic eggs, but something like golf balls or egg-looking rocks could work, too.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

My egg laying breeds like Khaki Campbells usually all started laying at 4-5 months old. But, my other kinds started at 5-9 months. For example, I hatched 2 Dutch Hookbill girls last year. One started laying in the fall at 5 months old. The other, took the winter off first, and did not start laying until the early spring at 9 months old. Each one is different.
My coop has aspen shavings down and then dishpans with a layer of shavings and then hay on top. I did start with fake eggs in there a long time ago. All of my girls nicely lay in the dishpans and give me clean eggs except one. She prefers to drop them anywhere she is when the urge hits her. She is 3-4 yrs old btw, so no excuse.