Ducks Not Laying

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Ducks Not Laying

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Geraldine

Joined: 28 Aug 2013
Posts: 15
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 15 10:05 am Post subject: Ducks Not Laying

I have 24 Indian Runner Ducks which up until end of July-ish were laying an average of 15 eggs a day. There are also 4 drakes. All of a sudden, almost overnight, this number went down to around 7 a day and has now dwindled down to maybe 2 or 3.

Nothing has changed - they still go to bed at night in the house of their choice and they have a plentiful supply of water, food, grazing and a large pond to swim in.

Here in west Wales we have had an appalling summer of almost constant heavy rain and I have heard that this affects the laying habits of ducks. I've kept ducks for a few years and never had this happen before.

Has anyone else had this problem - is the rain/egg ratio just an old wive's tale? The hens have been laying like crazy!

Thanks.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 15 11:45 am Post subject:
Are they getting older? My experience is that the laying season shortens as they age and my experience of runners is that they are pretty seasonal anyway. The weather won't have helped!

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 15 11:51 am Post subject:
Most birds moult at this time of the year.

Geraldine

Joined: 28 Aug 2013
Posts: 15
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 15 2:53 pm Post subject:
The majority of the ducks are under two years old so they should still be laying well and they shouldn't really be going off lay for a little while yet. I've kept ducks for quite a while and never had this problem before.

mousjoos

Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: VERY Sunny SW France

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 15 3:12 pm Post subject:
We've had a(nother) terrible year Ducks & chooks all stopped laying...we put this down to very hot weather, as our neighbours all had the same problems with their poultry The geese however did very well in their very short season

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 15 4:32 pm Post subject:
Indian Runners are not the birds that they once used to be. They were once the number egg laying breed but they've been surpassed by some strains of khaki Campbells and hybrids. The Runner has been kept with the show pen in mind and this has generally reduced the laying prowess of the breed

roobarb

Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 139
Location: Carmarthenshire

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 15 4:44 pm Post subject:

We live in Carmarthenshire, so have had similar weather to you in Ceredigion. We've got 4 Khaki Campbells (1 of which is drake). They have been firing them out (as have the chickens), so much so that we couldn't keep up with them (and had to off load them to the neighbours). Today, is the first day for a long time (March looking at my records) that we only got 1 duck egg, but up until then it had usually been 3 eggs a day. They haven't been bothered by the rain and cold summer it seems, but I know that unlike chickens, once they go off lay for the season that's it until next year! I suspect different breeds are more susceptible to poor weather than others. Maybe Indian Runners are more fussy about the weather - this summer has been pretty awful.

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