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March 11, 2011

How Do I Know Which of My Ducks Are Laying Eggs?

Originally posted by John Metzer on Thu, Aug 05, 2010 @ 12:16 PM
 

There are several ways to determine which of your ducks are laying eggs.  No one indication is proof positive but collectively they can give you a good indication of which birds are laying eggs.  During the middle of every summer, we use these criteria in our duck breeder flocks to remove nonlaying birds.  If, for example, we can go through a breeder flock of 500 Rouen ducks, remove half the birds but only drop the egg production a little bit (due to the inadvertent culling of laying birds), we are much better off.  We have just cut our feed, water and bedding bill in half with barely any loss in egg production!

If you have Pekins, look at their bill.  If it is bright orange, they are probably not laying.  Those birds that have been laying for quite awhile have a washed out, pale bill.  Prior to production most Pekin ducks will accumulate xanthophylls in their bill and feet.  Xanthophylls are a pigment in corn, alfalfa, and some other feed ingredients.  But as the ducks start to lay, those xanthophylls are deposited in the yolk of the egg.  With high egg production, more xanthophylls are deposited in the eggs than absorbed in the feed, causing their bills and feet to become lighter and lighter in color.


In this group of Pekins, the female on the right is probably not laying.  Notice her bill and feet are darker orange and her feathers are bright and clean which means she has recently molted.  The female in the front left is probably laying well.  She has all her feathers but they are dirty, original feathers meaning she has not molted.  The female in the left back is missing her flight feathers which means she is now going through a molt and probably not laying.

The best way to know if your birds are laying is to catch them and measure the distance between their pelvic bones.  If the birds are laying, their pelvic bones are flexible and wide apart to allow passage of the egg.  If they are not laying, they are close together and rather stiff and nonpliable.  You do not have to turn the duck over to do this.  Just pick them up and slide your hand under their abdomen down to their pelvis.  Is the distance between the bones two fingers or three fingers or four fingers?   The more fingers you can get between their pelvic bones, the better chance they are laying eggs now.  Of course the larger breeds will naturally have more space between their pelvic bones so you need to compare among birds of the same breed or size.
The pelvic bones are only two fingers apart in this female Rouen - she is not laying.

The pelvic bones are four fingers apart in this female.  She is definitely laying!

On our next blog we will give you the results of our first cull.  How efficient were they in removing  the nonlayers?  What was our egg production before and after the cull?

68 comments:

  1. Can you determine if a molting bird WAS laying? Or do the ligaments tighten up as soon as they stop laying? Talking about chickens here...was wondering if the color takes a while to return. I think I'm going to go 'bother' some hens tonight on their perch lol

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  2. No, I don't think you can look at a bird that is not currently laying and determine how good of a layer she was previously. I would guess the color should start returning within a couple weeks after the stop of lay - assuming the feed has corn or alfalfa meal in it to restore the color in the beak/combs.

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  3. I was give a group of 7 pekin ducks and told they were all males....have recently discovered i have at least 3 females in that group ( flock) i need to know if i should remove the males or will they be ok I know with chickens to many roosters are bad biz for hens but not sure with ducks also once a drake joins with the hen about how long till she lays an egg? Or does that have nothing to do with the egg laying process?

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  4. Unless you have a large pen with plenty of "escape" areas, the excess males will probably be a problem for the females. I would reduce to one or two males. Females lay when they are sexually mature and have adequate nutrition - whether there males around or not. The males are only needed for fertile eggs - not eggs themselves.

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  5. i have 2 pet Indian runner ducks, over the last 7 days i have had 5 eggs, i assume only one of the two have started laying, as i guess there would be more eggs if they were both laying. they are about 7 months old. they were from the same brood. is there a way to tell which is laying, (im just curious) and is it likely that the other will start laying soon as they are the same age...

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  6. I would use the same method as shown in this blog. If only one is laying, it will be easy to differentiate. And yes, I am sure the other one will start laying soon.

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  7. I'm not sure if this helps, but we had 6 young female Khaki Campbells with two drakes (not Campbells). Almost as soon as we put girls in (not mature), the boys started bullying them, and trying to push them down under the water. With a handy homemade catcher (included two rakes, strawberry netting and intelligent thinking!), we caught them. They were then sent to the local RSPCA, and have been rehomed somewhere lovely!

    Our females are now laying well, apart from the fact that we have a local population of rats, but we are dealing with them - apart from the fact that they seem too clever! Even with the traps fully open so they won't close on them, they are not going in! But, our girls all have plenty of character and can make plenty of noise to tell you they need more food!

    Any advice on incubating eggs on a towel on an AGA cooker (on top)? Thank you. The egg is almost certainly infertile, but I have seen a lone mallard with them (nicknamed Henry!) recently. Can ducks ever self-fertalize?
    Thank you!

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  8. I don't think they were trying to bully the females, I am guessing they were trying to mate. No, I am not familiar with an AGA incubator. No, ducks cannot self fertilize. Enjoy your ducks!

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  9. This was very helpful! Thanks for posting...You guys always have the info I need! ~Alex Devoy

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  10. I have a male and a female pet pekins....love them! They are 3 months old now, but what do I do with the eggs when she starts laying? I want to know if and when to remove them. and I really don't want 200 babies.lol Do I need to remove my male at any point? thanks

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  11. If you don't want her to hatch them, then remove the egg after it is laid each day. You can eat them, boil and feed them to pets, etc. Not all Pekins have the instinct to sit on and hatch a nest full of eggs. Pekins need to be at least five months old before they start laying.

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    1. When you check the spread and flexibility of a ducks pubic bones are you supposed to physically spread the bones apart to see how many fingers fit in between them or just lay your hand on top to see how far apart the bones naturally lay? We got our four girl runners from you last May and have fallen in love with them! They have been a real joy for us. We do worry about our upcoming Iowa winter though.

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    2. You just lay your hand over the bones to measure. As long as they have protection during the severe storms, they should be fine.

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    3. my pekins are a little over 4 months but I think one layed an off white to very light gray egg. we do have chickens in same pen but they were where ducks sleep.


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  12. Pekings are not accustom to hatching their own eggs due to their extensive domestication. You need to collect eggs and use them. Perfect in baking or mix with feed for your dogs. Or boil them and feed them back to ducks.

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  13. Thank you for this information. Although I know which duck was laying, as she's now on a clutch, I have found another egg in their night time run since she began sitting. I now feel a bit more comfortable trying to figure out which duck is laying the new eggs. Thank you again.
    On a side note, both my son and I are super excited that one of our little ladies is trying to hatch a clutch and I'm crossing my fingers at least one hatches. This would be our first time having any eggs hatched here (chicken or duck).
    I was honestly very surprised considering the time of year and her being a mallard. (From what her prior owner said she did have a clutch this spring, but they were infertile as she had no contact with mature drakes.)I'm also surprised by the size of it, 15 eggs.

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  14. Just a question on breeding muscovies. I have a pen of about 100 breeders which are not laying any eggs at the moment , but I also have a pen with about 12 breeders that are laying .Both are fed the same ,the only difference is that the pen of 12 is a lot more enclosed than the larger pen. What is going on?

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  15. By being enclosed your smaller pen may be less influenced by the environment. The larger flock may be more influenced by the shorter days and colder temperatures. As Muscovy are more tropical birds, they are more affected by these environmental changes than Mallard type ducks. It might also be the small pen is being influenced by a light or something else to influence continued production. The difference in production could also be due to a difference in age or genetics.

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  16. I have 3 male ducks & 3 female ducks. The males are very aggressive and ive decided to take two of the male ducks out of the pen. If i turn them out in my yard do you think they would be safe or should i just give them away.

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    1. They will not be safe if there is the potential of predators or dogs finding them. In addition, you would still need to feed them. I would recommend adopting them to someone else.

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  17. We have 3 female ducks and 1 male 3 weeks ago 2 females were laying eggs and did this for 5 days they have stopped laying and haven't laid in 2 weeks is there a reason for this we are in spring season.

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  18. I HAVE A LOT OF MUSCOVY DUCKLINGS AT THE MOMENT , I HAVE THEM IN HEATED CRATES. I AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH SOME DUCKS DYING, THEY ARE FOUND SQUASHED IN THE CORNERS OF THE CRATES WITH THE OTHERS HUDDLED ON TOP OF THEM .WHAT CAN I DO TO STOP THIS? MOST DUCKLINGS ARE ABOUT 2 WEEKS OLD. HOW DO I STOP THEM GROUPING TOGETHER?

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    1. What you are describing typically means they are too cold and pile on top of each other to try and get warm.

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  19. I HAVE A SUPPLY OF COW PELLETS AND I WAS WONDERING IF THEY WOULD BE O.K. TO FEED TO MUSCOVY DUCKS OF ALL AGES.
    Ingredients Selected from: Wheat, Barley, Pea Pollard, Lime, Acid Buf™, Salt, Bentonite, Vitamin & Mineral Premix & Mill Mix.

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  20. I would suggest you have someone knowledgeable about both cattle and poultry nutrition look at it. I would guess you could use it as a supplement but I doubt if it would work as the sole ration. I just don't know the nutritional breakdown and digestibility of your cow pellet.

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  21. Hi,
    I need to worm my Muscovy ducks and I have seen that you can use ivermectin pour on cattle drench. Can you please advise the dosage rate used and any comments of using this product, .thanks

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    1. We do not do any worming so I do not have dosage recommendations. I do not know if there are different types of Ivermectin. Just make sure you don't use one designed for an external use and your are supposed to use one designed for an oral drench.

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  22. One of my white chinese geese has started laying again and its september. Is this common?

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    1. That is not unusual. We always have a few geese that lay in the fall - usually White Chinese and African but occasionally another breed, too. Do not worry, that just means she is a very productive female.

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  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. hi,
    in your opinion what are the best waterers for young Muscovy ducks about a month old.

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    1. I like nipple waterers as there is much less mess from those. Muscovy do not bathe as often as Mallard type ducks, but you can always give them some water to bathe in once a week to stay cleaner if you want.

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  25. Hi, I have 4 white Khaki Campbell female ducks, that are 3 years old, when should they stop laying please

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    1. They will probably continue to lay each year until they pass. But each year will be fewer eggs - I am guessing about 10% fewer each year.

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    2. Do ducks keep there eggs in there throat

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    3. No. What made you think they would?

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  26. Last week we got 8 ducks, four on Fri from one person, then 4 more Sat from another. There are possibly 3 males, the rest female. On Sunday we found one egg, but none since then. They are in a fenced in run in our yard in AZ. Any advice?

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    1. Just because they are females does not mean they will be laying eggs. Maybe too old, maybe too young, maybe the stress of the move stopped them, maybe incorrect nutrition, maybe they are going through a molt, etc.
      To determine the sex, females have the loud quack, males have a deep, raspy voice. A curly feather on their tail means a male. No curly feather means a female.... or a male that lost his curly feather.

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  27. Goatlady:9/19
    I have rescued a pair of Sebastopol geese(sex unknown). They seem in relatively good health. The are currently kenneled separate from my mixed flock of Toulouse.My questions are as follows: do they need a special diet,how do I tell the sex of these birds and how do I age these birds(owner had Altziemers and was not sure they were even his birds)?They have a 3'x3' insulated box to nest in and they are bedded on straw and will be closed in come bad weather.The kennel is 12'x16' with a pool. What else can I do for them?

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    1. No, they do not need a special diet.
      The only sure way to know the sex is to vent sex them but that takes
      training. Otherwise just look for nesting behavior.
      There is no way to determine their age.
      Sounds like a perfect environment! Enjoy.

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  28. HI,
    I HAVE SOME MUSCOVY DUCKS THAT HAVE BEEN KEPT IN MUDDY CONDITIONS.THEIR FEATHERS ARE NOT GOOD.IS THERE A WAY TO MAKE THE BIRDS GO THROUGH A MOLT SO THEY CAN HAVE NEW FEATHERS.

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    1. The best thing would be to keep their pen dry, or keep them away from the mud and they will eventually clean up. This will be sped up if you provide cleaning water - but make sure it doesn't simply create more mud. Put a pan of water over a 5" think layer of stray. But if you must make them molt, you can withhold feed for 7-8 days and this normally starts a molt. They must have water to drink during this time.

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  29. John,
    I have 11 Golden 300's which are about two years old. I am getting 7 eggs consistently so I checked their pelvic spacing as you described to try to figure out which 7 were laying. All but one were between 3 and 4 fingers and the one was at three. I guess I am a bit stymied by the results. Any suggestions? Thanks Mark

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    1. My guess is that more than seven are laying. Maybe nine or ten are laying so you only have one or two that are not laying. Ducks lay in clutches and take breaks between clutches. In peak production they are laying 9-10 eggs in a row (the clutch) and take a one day break. As time goes on their clutches become smaller and their breaks become longer. But if you really want to find the non-layers, separate out those that you suspect are not laying and check your results. If those ducks don't lay anything for several days, you have found the non-layers.

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  30. I have 3 female Welsh Harlequins that are just over 4 1/2 months old. The day after Christmas we found two eggs. Since then we have had one egg each day. Today we didn't have any eggs but I did see something I wasn't sure of. At the front of the duck house was what looked like half of an egg but it was soft like rubber!? They have been feed the same brand of food since they hatched and arrived here from your farm and have growin with the weeks chart on the back of the bags. They do a lot of free roaming but always where I can see them. They also receive zucchini, carrots shavings and lettuce on occasion. I will be gradually switching the feed from grower/finisher to layer pellets/crumble today. So my question is do you think my ducks are not laying consistently due to lack of nutrition for their age or is it due to mainly their young age?

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    1. You cannot expect them to lay an egg a day starting with the first egg. It is a gradual process to achieve maximum production. It takes our flocks nine weeks from first egg to maximum production. The biggest problem with your current feed is the calcium level - it is much too little for egg production. But yours are okay for now as they have a large store of calcium in their body. But I would switch over to a layer feed as soon as possible to make sure they are able to eat enough calcium to replenish that used for shell production. Or give them a bowl of oyster shell and they can supplement themselves. The soft shelled egg is just an aberration that is not uncommon early in egg production. They whole egg laying system is not in sync and an egg may slip by without getting a complete shell. I would not worry about it.

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    2. Awesome thank you! Glad we are headed on the right track! Now could I use crashed into powder chicken eggs shells and crushed into powder whole oat meal as a replacement for oyster shells?

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    3. Yes on the egg shells but there is no need to add the oat meal. They will eat the shells without any "sweetener".

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  31. I have four females (2 rouen, 2 buff). I have been receiving eggs for approx 2 wks. Starting with 2 eggs then 3 then 4. It then went down to 3 then 2 then back up to 3 for a few days and now back to 2. This is their first year of egg production. Can I assume this is just a slow inconsistent start to their hopefully daily egg drop. They are penned up until approx 7 am. I haven't really experienced any other egg drop time except in the early morning nor have found any other "hidden" clutches, yet. Can I hope that my 4 a day return, or egg numbers continue to decrease? Also do they normally just lay one a day? If I make more "nesting" areas in their pen will that possibly "less stress" them out, than all laying in the same nesting spots? I was receiving the eggs in two nesting areas of two then the three all in the one, now just the two in the one.

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    1. Two nests is plenty. Our Rouen and Buff flocks never achieve 100% production (one egg for each female each day) but they are large flocks. I am sure individuals achieve that at times. So I would not count on 4 eggs a day. But I would think 3 should be expected. Just make sure they are not stressed and have as much layer feed to eat as they want 24 hours a day. They prefer a pelleted feed over a mash.

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  32. My two hens (one a mexican mallard and other a Peking) quit laying about 3 wks ago. My MM is a consistant layer (she is 3 yrs old this summer) and my Peking is about 9 months old and had not started laying yet (At least I don't think she had since I know my MM is a good layer). why would she quit laying? I live in CO and we had warm weather for a bit and lately it has been really erratic with snow, warm , freezing etc etc etc. I am high altitude so one reason for the erratic weather.

    They also live with a African goose hen and many chickens (Hens and few roosters) would that additionally affect their laying?

    Thanks

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    1. Some sort of stress: nutritional, lack of drinking water, frightened by something, extremes in temperatures, being harassed by something, etc. There is always a cause - figuring it out is the problem. Something changed in their environment or care.

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  33. I have a quite a few ducks, mostly Kacki Campbell, but also runner, mallard and "Barnyard mix". Lstely I've been getting several eggs a day that have pastel blue shells. What breed would have light blue eggs?

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  34. Any of the breeds you list can lay blue and/or green eggs. For a list of breeds and their percentage of these eggs you can go to our chart: http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparison.cfm

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  35. We have 4 free range Pekins. 3 have been laying 1 egg a day for two weeks in their duck house. They are 6 months old. The 4th duck is not laying. Why would this be? They are all from same flock, so same age. We have restricted feed and water at night. Now that they are laying, do we need to provide both of these in the pen?

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    1. Every living organism is different. I would not worry that one is starting lay at a different age. If they have access to feed and water for at least 10 hours a day, that is sufficient. If you start to provide food at night, you will need to provide water, too, which can become a mess.

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  36. We have two Pekins - both 18 1/2 weeks - and apparently one male and one female (based on their recent behavior in their pool!). This morning we found our first egg - a little earlier than expected, but exciting nonetheless! They are suburban pets and we are not interested in hatching her eggs into more ducklings. Are the eggs ok for humans to eat, assuming they're collected in a timely manner?

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    1. Definitely they are good to eat. Many people prefer duck eggs - especially for baking. Pekins typically do not have the instinct to sit on and hatch their eggs. But I would collect the egg(s) daily, rinse them and put in your frig until you use them.

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    2. I have 13 mule ducks (muscovy-khaki Campbell cross). I know they will be sterile but when they get old enough to lay what are the odds that they will lay as well as a khaki? The mom is the muscovy in this mix. Also when will she start laying again? She laid 23 eggs n hatched 14 of the 21 I left her with.

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    3. The mule females will not lay as well as a KC. Once her ducklings are "weaned" she will probably lay another set of eggs - my guess she will start laying about six weeks after the last hatch date.

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  37. I have a pekin duck who has a very pale bill since it was a baby and now is having problems walking. It's using it's wings to help walk. Can you help me out

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    1. Unless he is ill, I would guess it is a nutritional problem. If he is less than 3-4 weeks, he needs a starter feed of at least 20% protein. Older than that and he needs at least 16% protein from a balanced poultry feed.

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  38. I have a pekin duck who has a very pale bill since it was a baby and now is having problems walking. It's using it's wings to help walk. Can you help me out

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    1. Read our blog on Niacin. That might be the problem.

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  39. Hi there, we have 2 pekins and 2 isla brown chooks (one of which is a few years old and no longer laying). The others are all more than 6 months old now but have not commenced laying. We think the ducks are girls due to their loud honks. They have been fed layer pellets for the last month and have a free range day run...at night they share a small chook house which they all willingly climb into together. We are at the start of Winter here in Australia - frost at night and cool 12 degree C days. Will we need to wait until Spring for laying to start? (I am also worried about a couple of crows which seem to be hanging around but I haven't seen any broken egg shells). Thanks for this blog- it is really helpful and informative :)

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    1. They may not be laying as your days have been getting shorter. Now they will be starting to get get longer but it is colder. If you want them to start laying, I would put a light on a timer in their night pen and add a few hours of light in the morning and evening. I have a couple of blogs on using artificial lights. Ducks can easily handle cool weather so 12 degrees C should not inhibit them at all.

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  40. I have five Indian runner ducks three female to male the female started laying eggs great I was getting about three eggs a day now all the sudden I'm getting 2. How do I find out which one is not laying eggs and what would be the cause?

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    1. To know which are laying, use the information in this blog. The cause for it stopping lay could be many things. You can read our article on maximizing egg production and see if you are missing anything: http://www.metzerfarms.com/MaximizingEggProduction.cfm

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