Farming Friends Forum

Hot Tags

broody campbell chicken chickens Chicks Drake drakes Duck Duck behaviour Duck Eggs duckling Ducklings Ducks Eggs food Geese goose Guinea Fowl Guinea Fowl Eggs Guinea Fowl Keets Hatching Hatching Eggs help hen Hens housing Incubating Incubation Incubator keets laying mating nest Nesting photos Piglets Pigs Quail Quail behaviour Quail eggs Quails sick Turkeys water wild ducks

Farming Friends Forum » Ducks

1. duskhunter
   Member

   I am new to ducks that lay having only had rescue drakes for the past 18 months and am fascinated that all the ducks lay their eggs on top of one another.
   I have visions of them queing with crossed legs waiting for the previous duck to vacate the spot once she has laid her egg in the morning. Has anyone ever seen them lay one on top of the other?

   We had never been able to get the ducks to come off the pond to put them away at night but after the pond sprang a leak and we found 20 eggs in the water at the bottom and only one twice found them outside the pond several feet apart from each other, we decided to use fresh tactics to get them into a shed at night.

   Now each morning by 6am I find 4 eggs, we have four females. Two white Indin Runners and two Cayuga x Aylesbury. The larger of the two crossbreeds is the only one laying pale blue eggs the rest are white.

   As the eggs are often quite muddy is it okay to wipe them with a damp cloth? I know they shouldn't be washed.

   Posted 1 year ago #

2. m40mo
   Administrator

   hello duskhunter, most ducks will lay their eggs together I think they think they are safe together, i quite often find eggs in the pool if mine havnt laid by the time I let them out, maybe its like women giving birth in water pools, a little bit more comfey for them lol
   not sure on you cross ducks but Indian runners lay blue eggs aylesburys white and cayuga black
   as for muddy eggs no never get them to wet but i use a slightly damp kitchen scourer on mine, some people just use plain sandpaper
   glad you now get them locked away at night though it is the safest place for them

   mo x

   Posted 1 year ago #

3. duskhunter
   Member

   Strangely it is the Cayuga x Aylesbury that is laying the pale blue one and the others are white.

   Really interesting that you say you have often found your eggs in the pool., Is it possible they could be laying at the edge of the pool and that they are rolling in?

   I read on the net that it is pretty well unheard of for ducks to lay in water. I didn't post on that site as someone was bound to tell me I was imagining it being new to poultry keeping, but some of the eggs in the water couldn't have fallen from a ledge unless the ducks had been laying on a precipice of a fraction of an inch.

   Posted 1 year ago #

4. m40mo
   Administrator

   almost every member on here has said they have found duck eggs in the pond when cleaning the pond out
   many ducks have little control of when the lay happens I have seen mine sit for over an hour under a bush makeing a right row twisting and turning to get comfey gathering branches etc around them, then walk out and have a look of total surprise on their face when the egg suddenly drops onto the lawn lol
   and like your pool mine has a very narrow rim so they are defo laying while swimming

   still surprised at the colours you say yours lay though as its not the norm

   mo x

   Posted 1 year ago #

5. duskhunter
   Member

   I can only be sure of this as one of the cross breeds wouldn't go in one night and we didn't have the other two girls at the time so I now know which lays which, strange that both the same crosses one is laying coloured the other white. We have also had one complete half opaque white and the other almost transparent!

   Posted 1 year ago #

6. m40mo
   Administrator

   lol ducks are sent to confuse us, strange though reading the link i gave you on aylesburys, here they should lay white eggs but in america they do lay blue lol

   mo x

   Posted 1 year ago #

7. campbell ridge
   Administrator

   Hi there.
   Runners normally lay blue eggs as Mo says.

   I get 5 eggs in one nest and the other two sometimes together sometimes anywhere.

   Are you certain that the larger ducks are Cayuga/Aylesbury?

   Mine have a laid a few in the pond over the years, but this is normally in a hurry to get to the pond from excitement when they come out in the morning.
   Sarah

   Sarah L

   Posted 1 year ago #

8. duskhunter
   Member

   The man who bred them told me they were Cayuga x Aylesbury.

   My two Indian runner girls are definitely laying white eggs.
   The girls, named Peaches and Cream are both white.

   The two Indian runner drakes are black. Would I get a mixture of colours or mixed colours on one duck if I can hatch any eggs?

   Posted 1 year ago #

9. Katydid
   Member

   I'm surprised at the number of eggs in the pond. I have quite a few ducks and when we've emptied our pond for cleaning we've never found more than 1 or 2. I wonder if it was because they were out all night and are on the pond for safety and so laid there eggs there?
   Anyway, it is a good thing to put them away at night and it's great that you are now getting the eggs and yes you are likely to get a mixture of colours, and cross breeds!!
   KT

   No holidays, too many birds.

   Posted 1 year ago #

10. duskhunter
    Member

    Yes Katy, I'm sure it was because they were out all night and were on the pond for safety. Tonight for the first time they all went away with no trouble so they are getting used to it. We used to have two pigs that put themselves to bed at 6.30 every night!

    I have two eggs that are definitely Indian runners laid yesterday so should I keep them separately and if so in what conditions if you are using your incubator soon?

    Posted 1 year ago #

11. Katydid
    Member

    Don't put them in the fridge. Keep them cool and turn them upside down once a day. I'm not sure when we'll be ready, got to clear the barn first!! More info tomorrow, got to have dinner now.
    KT

    No holidays, too many birds.

    Posted 1 year ago #

12. dollydylo
    Member

    Hiya

    I have found eggs in the pond a few times too... as I gave birth to both my children in a birthing pool I can confirm it is a much more comfy environment!!
    I sometimes have to wash the eggs if they are really grubby and hubby collected them - he doesn't clean them so they are all dried by the time I then find where he has put them!

    Karen x

    Posted 1 year ago #

13. gazzaroo
    Member

    iv have the same problems with my ducks laying in the pound.iv got 5 ducks that i keep in a run with a old bath as a pond.but found that if i leave 1 egg in the nest all my ducks lay in the nest 99.9% of the time and not in the pound..iv just put in drake in with them and iam getting 5 eggs a day now for the 1st time, all layed in the same nest,, if found that leaving the nest alone and only cleaning around it works the best,when my girls want a new nest they make it and then i clean the old one a way,

    Posted 1 year ago #

14. campbell ridge
    Administrator

    I thought the addition of the drake would spur on the egg laying. Mine all lay in the same nest, even my chicken who prefers to sleep with the ducks in their house often lays in the duck nest.

    Sarah L

    Posted 1 year ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.