Khaki Campbells laying soon, an open question remains...

[Supercow]

Hi everybody,

I'm new here, this is my intro post - https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hello-from-slovenia-europe.1577068/

We run 6 Campbell ducks in an orchard with full size apple and plum trees and a water well. They seem to be enjoying themselves so far - it's only been the first week. During the night we close them up in a 6 x 6 ft wooden shed, a bit elevated, with wire tacked onto openings... So we think the safety part is OK.

They are scheduled to begin laying sometime in June. I would like to be ready for that and there is something that still doesn't quite work out in my mind.

This is what I've understood from reading about ducks so far:

1 - definitey shut them in the house at dusk (to be safe from weasels etc)
2 - in the morning, when you have laying ducks, keep them inside until 8-9 AM or so (so that the eggs will definitely all be in the house and easy to collect)
3 - do not leave ducks without water and food for a long period of time
4 - do not place water and food in the house (to avoid having a mess)

So... from dusk till 8-9 AM is a long time. And there would be no water and food in the house. And according to 3 that's not very good.

I have a deep appreciation of the saying "Good decisions come from experience - experience comes from bad decisions". But sometimes it's good to not have to make every mistake yourself.

How do I resolve this?

Thank you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do they have access to their shed all day? They may go back and lay in it if so. Most of my ducks have already laid when a let them out at daylight. Usually around 6:45 am, a few will lay later. I'd give them a quiet place inside to lay. You can place a piece of scrap wood up against a wall in the shed so they can go in and lay. You know like half a tee pee. I have some dog crates set up inside my coops they use them sometimes but mainly just snuggle down into the deep shavings and lay their egg.

Once the duck are able to be outside and fully feathered no need to put food and water inside their shed. Yes, it will be a mess if you do.

I've never left mine inside as long as your info said they would be nuts if I did. lol
Get their quiet place set up now so they can explore and even sleep in them that way when egg laying begins they will already be accustomed to nice places to lay. Not saying you might find some eggs outside that usually happens when they first begin to lay.

Your pictures are lovely and I love your 30/30 suggestion.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hi everybody,

I'm new here, this is my intro post - https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hello-from-slovenia-europe.1577068/

We run 6 Campbell ducks in an orchard with full size apple and plum trees and a water well. They seem to be enjoying themselves so far - it's only been the first week. During the night we close them up in a 6 x 6 ft wooden shed, a bit elevated, with wire tacked onto openings... So we think the safety part is OK.

They are scheduled to begin laying sometime in June. I would like to be ready for that and there is something that still doesn't quite work out in my mind.

This is what I've understood from reading about ducks so far:

1 - definitey shut them in the house at dusk (to be safe from weasels etc)
2 - in the morning, when you have laying ducks, keep them inside until 8-9 AM or so (so that the eggs will definitely all be in the house and easy to collect)
3 - do not leave ducks without water and food for a long period of time
4 - do not place water and food in the house (to avoid having a mess)

So... from dusk till 8-9 AM is a long time. And there would be no water and food in the house. And according to 3 that's not very good.

I have a deep appreciation of the saying "Good decisions come from experience - experience comes from bad decisions". But sometimes it's good to not have to make every mistake yourself.

How do I resolve this?

Thank you!

In the winter it does seem a long time, for my girls it can be up to 13 hour nights! So I do give them a bit of food and water during those winter months. Though the mess is a massive pain, I prefer it.
The rest of the year, the nights are only 7-9 hours. So I don't mind it, I make sure they go to bed with a full crop, and they do just fine, bedding also lasts much longer which saves money.

 

[Supercow]

Thank you everybody for your thoughts.

Maybe some (or the most important) part of the answer will be provided by the ducks themselves - their behavior and how we understand it is still changing since it has only been a little over a week.

The daily routine is now like this:

- out of the house at 6:30 AM, water and food vessels cleaned, fresh water and fresh grain served
- foraging in the orchard
- topped up water during the day when somebody feels like it
- lots of naps under the apple trees
- duck alarm at around 5 PM: QUACK QUACK where's the grain dude?? ... the other half of the daily quota gets served
- back into the house for the night at 8 PM

The grain they are getting is a currently mix of barley, buckwheat, oats and corn. Corn because they love it so much and the rest because we still have some in storage from past seasons. It is all soaked overnigt and I'll probably experiment with fermented as well.

They eat about 500 g = 18 oz in total per day, so 3 oz per duck, the rest of their menu they make up by exploring the orchard. We are now expecting 48 hours of rain so there will be plenty of slugs and worms to discover.