Why won't my ducks lay eggs?

[Jo-Anne White]

Hi there

I have a pair of Peken ducks & a pair of Mallards that are mating like crazy but no eggs!!! A few weeks ago the female Pekin duck laid a egg a day for about a week ( six in total) and then just stopped this was her first time laying? I live in South Africa & it has been a bit hot lately could this be the cause? Or is it what they are eating? I feed them bread only occasionally but mostly veggies, fruit & mielies they also really enjoy mieliemeal porridge on weekends. what am I doing wrong?

What should they be eating & what else can I do to get them to lay eggs?

As always thank you for your help & advice

Jo-Anne

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi there

I have a pair of Peken ducks & a pair of Mallards that are mating like crazy but no eggs!!! A few weeks ago the female Pekin duck laid a egg a day for about a week ( six in total) and then just stopped this was her first time laying? I live in South Africa & it has been a bit hot lately could this be the cause? Or is it what they are eating? I feed them bread only occasionally but mostly veggies, fruit & mielies they also really enjoy mieliemeal porridge on weekends. what am I doing wrong?

What should they be eating & what else can I do to get them to lay eggs?

As always thank you for your help & advice

Jo-Anne

No kind of feed at all? ducks need more of a balanced diet especially egg layers they need loads of calcium to lay strong eggs shells and keep from leaching the calcium out of their bones to do it. So a good quality layer feed for chickens or ducks, or an all flock feed with added oyster shell given in a separate bowl and they will use it as needed. And yes heat can also cause them to slow down on laying but get them the feed it's formulated for Poultry. All the things your feeding are good too but should be thought of as extras not the bulk of their diet. Another thing too if your ratio of drake to duck is out of balance and the drakes are over mating the ducks then that will also cause a drop in egg production. What age are your ducks? and how many drakes/ducks do you have?

 

[Jo-Anne White]

Will go into town tomorrow to the pet shop & see what they suggest

I have 2 females a Peken & a Mallard and 2 Drakes also a Peken & Mallard all in the same pen? Is that an ok ratio?

Thanks for all your advice.
Jo

 

[Miss Lydia]

Will go into town tomorrow to the pet shop & see what they suggest

I have 2 females a Peken & a Mallard and 2 Drakes also a Peken & Mallard all in the same pen? Is that an ok ratio?

Thanks for all your advice.
Jo

Is there is anyway you can add some more ducks at least 2 more for each drake. or if not 2 more per drake at least 1 more each, reason saying those boys can over mate ducks and can even hurt them if they gang up on them. If you can get an "All flock" feed that would be great or an all purpose chicken feed and add some oyster shell for the girls for extra calcium that way the drakes wouldn't be getting the extra calcium in the layer which is said isn't good for them. when I say add I mean offer the oyster shell in a separate bowl for the ducks the drakes won't mess with it.

 

[learycow]

I agree with Miss Lydia.
It sounds like they need more protein and nutrients in their diets. Thats the easiest place to start. Their bodies need extra in order to lay eggs as laying is not essential to their survival.
And a pet store may not give you the best suggestions. Ducks are not a typical "pet" so I would try an agricultural feed store if you can.
You should ask around for LAYER PELLETS, or something with at least 16% protein (same as what you would feed chickens).

The drake to duck ratio shouldn't effect eggs production unless they are overmating and stressing out your ducks. Stress can cause them to stop laying. So as Miss Lydia suggested, see if you can find a few more females (to spread out the drake's mating) or get rid of/separate the males.

And keep in mind that most mallards are seasonal layers. So it may be the wrong time of the year for the mallards to lay eggs