I have some ducks, 9 of them I know they are mallards, the others I do not know what kind they are, they were the ones left here. Anyway, we have seen broken eggs down at the pond. I do know this is their 1st time to lay, they are all mid summer to mid fall hatches from last year.
Are they possibly breaking the eggs? (we think maybe the crows might be). About how many eggs a week will they lay? So I can watch more carefully. Any one know?
Duck question
Coons like to eat eggs and i wouldn't put it past a possum or skunk either.
yea thought of that, but the egg is just broken, not stolen.
Kinda like it was eaten right there or was it eaten?
the only sign i see is the crows eating it, kinda like it was laid from like a few feet up and it dropped and broke, there is nothing they can climb up to do this. My ducks have access to the coop to lay but they are insisting on the pond dam. I only feed them at the coop area and they have their own area where they eat.
this has only happened to 2 eggs, they have not laid any others since. I have 20 ducks with about 7 or 9 of them being drakes.
Boy Luvs, how long have they been laying. From what I understand they can lay an egg a day like chickens. I could be wrong, this is second hand info. I dont have any. Could the ducks be breaking them when laying? Like standing while laying and dropping them? I dont know. SPY CAM!!! ya!!!! thats the idea.
lol yea i need a spy cam out at the pond. they have only been laying for this past week. They are just coming in so, who knows. I have never raised ducks so I have no idea.
I dunno luvs, my ducks have not broke any of their eggs, and they are certainly not the most gracefull at times. Do they have enough calcium in their diet for the shells?
Now that would be a good question on the calcium, probably not. All the birds even the crows eat the same thing, laying pellets. When I get a little more organized this spring I plan to put the ducks and turkeys on their own foods. What are ducks suppose to have? I do know I need to get some more oyster shells for them all, my chickens eggs seem to be real good shelled. I have a few LG dog crates I may just try and make them a nest down at the pond and maybe they will use that to lay in. I have learned that ducks are real easy to "train".
Right now I'm giving everyone 16% All-Purpose crumbles, med. sized grit, and oyster shells. I also give the chickens and ducks table scraps for treats, the ducks really enjoy fish and tomatoes : )
My ducks are getting fish, they are in my fish pond so should all be good. They will get maters when I get some growing. The all purpose crumble is what they are getting.
I don't think it's a problem with the eggs, I suspect that it is a problem with the crows! They will steal eggs and drop them to break them or peck them to get at the insides. When ducks first start to lay, they don't always do it in the nest, they just drop them along the way. When they are ready, they will make their nest and start laying in it. You probably won't find it right away, they are really good at hiding them. I thought that something had killed one of my ducks last year as she just dissapeared. Then a couple of weeks later I saw her run out to the food pan and dissapear again. I tried following her and she would not go near her nest while she knew I was watching. I had to hide behind the chicken coop to see where she went. It turns out that the nest was 30 feet from the back door in a flower bed. I found it two days before the babies hatched.
That is what we are suspecting here. We are keeping close watch on them to see if they are nesting or starting to. Thanks.
Oh ducklings! Wouldn't that be lovely! I can't wait to get a male. Yeah, I have heard crows do that.
We have just see the 2 eggs broken and nothing else since then. And none of the ducks are missing that I can see. They are very independent so hard to tell sometimes.
Have you had a cold snap? Mine were laying the week it warmed up and have stopped again now. It's still pretty early. Mine start to nest in March or later.