6 Main Factors Affecting How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs?

How often do ducks lay eggs each year depends largely on the breed of duck. As with other types of poultry, some duck breeds are raised for consumer eating, some to get eggs and some to produce a balance between both. Good egg-laying duck breeds can out-lay chickens. The laying season for ducks is usually about 35 to 45 weeks long each year. Which is shorter than chicken and some other birds.

6 Factors Affecting Upon How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs

Along with the duck breed and artificial conditions, there are several other factors which limit or increase the number of eggs a duck will lay.

1. How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs – Different Specie:

The runner duck, the Cayuga, the blue Swedish and the buff duck are among the top layer ducks, they can give eggs averaging up to 180 eggs per year. On the other hand, poor egg layers such as the “Mallard” may lay as few as 60 eggs a year.

Some specialized varieties such as the white layer duck can produce nearly 300 eggs a year.

Others, including the Khaki Campbell, have been bred to produce both meat and eggs and can lay an average of 210 or more eggs per year while still being served on the table. These are the major egg-laying breeds around the World.

2. Considerations:

When choosing a duck breed, it’s useful to look at more than just how many eggs certain breeds lay. Laying an egg is another thing but making them survive to grow up is another. Some breeds, such as the Welsh Harlequin, are good mothers and will raise many new generations; others, like the white-crested duck, tend to be nervous and are poor mothers.

It’s helpful to consider the size of the duck and the cost to feed the breed before making a choice.

Very large breeds, such as the jumbo Pekin duck, eat a great deal more than smaller breeds like the mallard, making the jumbo Pekin a good choice for meat but not egg production.

3. How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs – Size Of Bird:

Size and duck breed is a very important factor to know how often do ducks lay eggs. As they suggest that the size of the adult duck limits the number of eggs she can effectively sit on and incubate and hence why, over time, certain breeds have evolved to lay clutches of certain sizes.

While this seems logical it is rather simplistic and certainly isn’t the only determining factor.

4. How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs – Age:

Age plays an important role in determining en do ducks lay eggs. Ducks become sexually mature around 5 to 7 months, depending on species, and while they can lay for sometimes up to 9 years, their most productive egg-laying period is usually the first 3 to 5.

After this, the number and frequency of eggs laid begins to taper off. As they are getting old and have less energy in their body.

5. How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs – Food & Water:

Food and water also play a role in understanding how often do ducks lay eggs. Ducks need a nesting site that is close to a water source and has a reliable food supply. When these conditions are unavailable they can impact egg production. As their body needs to lay eggs.

Similarly, a malnourished or underfed duck will not produce the number of eggs she otherwise could if she was in good health.

6. Nervousness and Large Groups:

While ducks are like to be gathering in flocks, they become nervous and anxious when housed in very large groups nearby. For this reason, egg-laying tends to be reduced when large numbers of ducks are housed together. So, they should be apart from each other in a way they will not get disturbed.

This usually happens in large scale egg farms where space and resources can accommodate a large number of ducks to make this an issue.

When & How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs?

Your tiny and cute fluffy ducklings have somehow transformed into a duck. They quack all the time, poop everywhere, and somehow turn everywhere around their water into a mudhole. They’re fun, but you’re wondering when you’ll get the rewards of all the work and money you’ve put into them. Where are those eggs? this is the question in the mind of a person who is trying to get them raised to have a wrist full of eggs.

1. Terms Of Age:

Ducks grow up and become old enough to lay at 4-7 months or 16-28 weeks of age. Smaller breeds, such as “Bantams” and “Runners”, will lay earlier, often around 4 months and heavier breeds such as “Pekins” and “Muscovies “will lay later.

Khaki Campbells will start laying around four months, or 17-18 weeks of age. “Muscovies” start laying when they’re about six months or 25 weeks of age. Unless they reach this age during fall or winter.

2. Season To Lay Eggs:

In the wild, ducks will start laying at the beginning of the breeding season, at spring. Some domesticated ducks, especially types such as “Mallards”, still are somewhat seasonal in their laying. They will often only start laying in spring regardless of age.

If you use artificial light to artificially extend the length of the day then they are more likely to start laying earlier, when they reach maturity. Instead of at the onset of the breeding season. These tricks can help you to get the good results you want.

So, if your ducks are older than 28 weeks and haven’t yet started laying, you may have to wait until spring.

3. How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs Per Year:

It depends entirely on whether you’re talking about wild ducks or ducks bred in captivity.

Under artificial conditions which helps to get the ideal breeding conditions all year round (such as some egg farms that use artificial lighting and heating), some duck breeds can lay an egg every single day, every day of the year.

Ducks in captivity, but who are not kept under artificial conditions, can also produce large quantities of eggs. This includes backyard ducks and ducks kept in more free-range style conditions.

It is reported that breeds such as the “Khaki Campbell”, “Buff Duck” and “Welsh Harlequin” only take a short break from laying over winter. They can lay upwards of 300 eggs per year, while Runners can lay up to 200.

4. Laying Eggs Make Ducks Satisfied:

The main reason that ducks in these conditions can lay such a large number of eggs each year is that the eggs are typically collected each day or few days for consumption. This causes the duck to continue re-laying as she tries to complete her clutch.

This is an entirely different situation from what occurs in the wild, where a duck lays until her clutch is complete then stops laying to incubate the eggs and raise her ducklings.

It takes around 8 to 16 days to lay a clutch. It depends on the number of eggs, assuming one egg is laid each day until all are laid. Then it is followed by 28 to 32 days of incubating and 57 days following that until the ducklings are fully-fledged and leave the nest. That’s between 100 and 110 days to raise a full clutch.

Most wild ducks breed once per breeding season, but given that the average breeding season for a duck lasts about 5 to 6 months, between mid to late spring and late summer. This makes allowances for longer breeding seasons and different breeding patterns, it could be possible for a duck to rear two clutches in a year.

 Keeping this in mind it is safe to say that an average duck in the wild could lay between 16 to 40 eggs per year, plus any extras laid to replace damaged or destroyed eggs.

5. Time For Hatching:

Mallard eggs typically hatch around 28 days after the duck begins incubating while Muscovy ducklings take about 30 days to get out from the egg.

Once the first egg hatches it is common for all the others to hatch within 24 to 48 hours. This is because although the eggs are laid on consecutive days, the duck does not begin incubating them until almost all of them are laid. This behaviour avoids having ducklings at a range of different ages and allows the parents to take their offspring away from the nest in one similarly aged group.

Sometimes one or more of the eggs in a clutch will not hatch and this too is normal. This might occur because the eggs were not properly fertilized. These didn’t form correctly in the duck reproductive system or they were disturbed or damaged during incubation.

Conclusion

To sum up the whole article in one paragraph, it is important to keep these things in mind to know “How often do ducks lay eggs”. You need a proper breed which is more egg-laying. You need to set a standard for the size of duck so, it can hatch more eggs.

It is also important to remember the egg hatching season to get the best result, age of the duck and feed they get. They should have all the nutrients need to lay eggs. You can also enhance productivity by some artificial methods to get the best results.