Where will my ducks lay their eggs?

TattooZoo

In the Brooder
Sep 14, 2017
5
5
17
New Orleans
Hello! I have 2 6 week old ducks, a Buff and Cayuga. They just recently started being allowed to free rage, they have a whole yard and a pool & a duck hut which is covered and chicken wired. It has a small water filled litter box and we close them in for the night with food etc. At what age will they start to nest & willI have to put them up at night? We have a 15ft by 15ft chicken run with coop & our whole yard is fenced. We have few predators, possom mainly which i kill regularly. Should i keep the ducks in the chicken enclosure (i bought them to keep them in the whole yard to eat bugs in the gardens and would love to avoid that) I just dont want them killed. I've heard Rhett nest on the ground and just stay there. Am i panicking? Should i let them do their thing? Any advice would rock
 
My Blue Swedish is just over 5 months and started laying. We close our two ducks (we have a Cayuga too but she has not started laying, same age though!) in at night, once they are adults they don't need food and water with them at night, and every morning before 7am there is an egg in the coop. She sort of dug a dip in the ground and it gets covered with bedding, so I have to do a little searching to find the eggs sometimes. Make sure your yard is fenced from above too if you have aerial predators!
 
You'll want to secure them at night because more than likely there are more predators out there than you think. Eventually they'll realize the ducks are there and they'll gladly have a duck dinner.

My girls like to lay later in the morning, but usually before 8:30. If they are allowed to leave the coop earlier they will lay wherever they please and it can be hard to find them on my property. If they are kept in the coop longer they will lay in the nest box.
 
Only one of mine is old enough to lay and has been now for a week... the first few days we were finding them in random spots, but she was laying two or three a day then, and now she's been consistent at one per day and it's in their nighttime enclosure when we let them out in the morning.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom