When will the eggs begin?

[kylee2katie]

I have a 13 week old pekin, 2 - 12 week old mallards. all hens. At what age do they "typically" begin to lay eggs? How will I know they are getting "ready"?

 

[Happycheese]

They will typically start after their first winter I would think, at least mine did. The one hen started on March 12th and the younger one on April 1st while there was still frost on the ground at night. (we had a very cold winter)

 

[katharinad]

Light weight ducks start around 17-24 weeks of age. Heavy breeds around 20-30 weeks. This also heavily depends on food and light exposure. You want winter egg you will need to add a light source or live somewhere with lots of natural light. We live at 4200 feet with so much light (over 300 days of sunshine) and almost never a cloud in sight that we don't even need to do that. Ironically people only 2 hours west of us do get a lot of clouds and do need to add lights in winter. So some ducks will stop in winter all together, if there is not enough light.

 

[Jeeper1540]

thanks for posting that "katharinad"
I was wondering, now i can expect to find eggs in about a month

 

[kylee2katie]

Thanks so much! I won't anticipate eggs this year then....darn...

Still, does their behavior/appearance change when it is time?