The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Bramley belle on November 16, 2015, 02:34:22 pm
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Help, my Indian runner ducks laid eggs for the first part of this year, they then went broody and hatched 7 lovely ducklings, since then which was June I haven't had a single egg, any suggestions as to why?
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At a guess, they've been busy raising their babies all autumn , but once they finished doing that, they noticed the nights were fair drawing in and they decided to wait until the Spring before laying again!
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My muscovies don't lay for a couple of months after hatching, then come August/September there's moulting to be done and then the light goes. Mine aren't in lay now but I did find a nice stash of eggs late september.
Hens are the same, if they hatch early they'll come back into lay in about 7-8 weeks. If its say June/July, they probably won't as energy will then be taken up with the moult. Sitting on eggs for that amount of time, then raising ducklings/chicks is hard on their condition-takes a while to get it back.
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My ducks haven't laid consistently for months so I wouldn't worry about it. They aren't like chickens that keep popping the odd one out through the winter if you're lucky.
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My ducks haven't laid consistently for months so I wouldn't worry about it. They aren't like chickens that keep popping the odd one out through the winter if you're lucky.
Depends on breed ... some lay all winter post moulting.
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Depends on how long they took to moult - the feathers will return in roughly the same order they took to shed. Also depends on the weather. It's so mild here at present the local wild geese are building nests and the foxes are barking.
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Thanks one and all, I will await spring
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HA I said that yesterday- guess what was in my duck house this morning :innocent: :roflanim: