Where do ducks lay eggs?

[Heef120]

Where does ducks usually lay their eggs? If you keep them in a coop with the chickens will they lay in nesting boxes like hens? Any advice on what to do with ducks that lay?

 

[Callender Girl]

My answer is: Anywhere they want to lay eggs. Usually, mine make a little indentation in the straw of their nighttime shelter. When they dash out in the morning, I hunt through the bedding for eggs.

However, the girls who didn't lay before daybreak seem determined to find the most remote, hard-to-reach places possible. That would include the back of the hay shed, cleverly hidden behind piled bales, and underneath the large amsonia plants, behind a wooden-rail fence. Once in a while, I'll find one just lying out on the ground, near nothing.

My best strategy, since mine seem to all be morning layers, is to check the shelter, watch carefully when one of the girls seems to be missing from the group when they get out for the day, and begin the egg hunt. Even when the chickens coops are open, I have never had one lay in a nest box. That would make my task way too easy!

On the other hand, duck eggs are both beautiful and tasty. So, a little extra work on my part is worth it. Good luck with yours!

 

[DuckyBabies]

My duck would lay her eggs in a hay “nest” most of the time, but she loved to hide them with the hay! She would also go into a path of the most thick brush to lay them sometimes. Ducks love to hide eggs and occasionally roll them in the dirt or mud.

 

[Amc29]

My ducks have been wishy-washy about where to lay. I have found eggs in the hen house. I have also found them hidden under ferns near the creek and near a trail. Lately I have been letting the birds out late morning (the ducks and chickens share a pen), and since I have begun to use the deep litter method in the run, the ducks seemed to have decided the yard clippings in their run make a great place to nest.

 

[Callender Girl]

It's true that drakes shouldn't mate with chickens; it certainly can be lethal.

My runners are housed together at night and free-range with chickens when I am home in the daytime.

Luckily, none of the four runner drakes I've had have shown any interest in my chickens, but I know it can happen. My theory is that my runners have plenty of their own girls to choose from, and some of my hens -- especially that big, fluffy pile of feathers that is my Buff Orpington -- just look too big and fierce to bother.

 

[Heef120]

We have 4 ducks (not sure of sex yet) and the chickens and ducks will be free range as well just not at night time. That's what I'm worried about.

 

[chickens really]

Older Duck Hens will seek out bedding in the Coop to nest. Young new layers are just all over the place..The kiddie pool, on the lawn etc..

 

[Heef120]

We also have an older dog house we probably could work something out with. That's a good idea. Thank you

 

[Jbently28]

I've learned with my ducks that I pretty much have an easter egg hunt every morning lol. But one of my ducks religiously lays in a dog house I have filled with hay and covers them up. I also have one that likes to lay next to a burn pile in our backyard completely out in the open.

 

[Col1948]

Do you have any Drakes in the ducks? If so they should not be with chickens, if a male duck mates with a chicken it could eventually kill her, if you have no males then no problem.