How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs? | 3 External Factors Affecting Egg Production

Nature is always surprising to many individuals living in an ecosystem. Reproduction and habitation are all those things that have a common meaning for everyone. Mostly everyone does the same things only to sustain themselves in this world. Reproduction is a sustaining thing after food and shelter. Birds are known to lay eggs. Watching and feeding animals is a fantastic way to understand their lifestyle. 

Domestic ducks are a terrific alternative to backyard chickens and an excellent supplemental food source in this growing world. Petting a duck can be a good alternative; the birds’ lifestyle is interesting yet enjoyable. Ducks produce eggs, and their egg quality is perfect. 

It is the same as an egg of a chicken. The thing to point out is how much time is must for egg formation and the whole process of laying eggs. Humans take approximately nine months for birth to a baby. It is a question to know how many days a duck produces an egg. Do ducks produce eggs? How often do ducks lay eggs? Let’s find the mystery behind this question.

How Often Do Ducks Lay Eggs?

Generally, the question that arises is when do ducks lay eggs? To answer this, ducks lay about 16-28 eggs in a month which is a good yield compared to chickens. Chicken eggs are of good quality and are beatable by the duck egg, and the nutritional gains are the cherry on the cake. A good yield is about 200 to 300 eggs per year from a healthy duck.

Many chicken breeders know that chickens lay eggs every single day. However, the query for the ducks varies. The answer to this query varies with various external factors such as age, breed, and feeding habits. Age is the most crucial factor because productivity decreases with the increase in the age of the duck.

Occasionally, the breeder will receive two eggs daily from ducks, which varies with every duck. It will be a bonus for those who ask how many eggs ducks lay; it would be great if the duck produces two eggs daily!

Domestic ducks are different from that foreign breeds in terms of almost everything. It depends upon the environment of the ducks and the feeding habits they have. Domestic ducks produce eggs every year until their body becomes unproductive. 

The egg-laying of ducks varies with the breeds every year. To counterpart them, it is a must to know their origin.

What Time of the Day Do Ducks Lay Eggs?

Like every other animal, ducks usually lay eggs early in the morning, around sunrise between 6 to 8 am in the early morning. Ducks are predictable with their egg-laying schedule, which is why it is usually the same time each day. Sunlight is the main reason that triggers the ducks to start laying their eggs, and the sunlight is responsible for ducks stimulating hormones.

When Do Ducks Stop Laying?

There is no such particular age because it varies with every duck. The simple answer to this query is that ducks will lay eggs until there are lies between 6 and 9 years old. However, this is not always true, and the same for every duck. Generally, when a duck reaches around four or five years of age, her productivity decreases by a certain number. She will lay approximately 200 eggs yearly, but this number drops significantly to 50 eggs per year when the duck’s age reaches six or seven years.

However, ducks lay eggs even after reaching twelve years.

3 External Factors That Can Affect Domestic Duck Egg Production

Many factors affect domestic duck egg production, which can either degrade the quality of eggs or cause no egg production. Factors such as:

Food Quality

For an egg-producing duck, it is crucial to feed ducks high-quality food if the feeder is looking for healthy egg production. If the feeder feeds low-quality food, then it will affect the egg quality and the bird’s productivity. Polluted ponds and the surrounding are also the main reason ducks produce low-quality eggs, and malnutrition can cause a halt in egg production.

Hydration Promotes Fertility

Hydration is crucial for all animals and living beings on this planet, including ducks. If the duck is not getting enough water, it will stop laying eggs. It is advised to daily check and changes the water for the ducks.

Light Promotes Hormone Stimulation 

If the ducks are in the dark without exposure to sunlight, they will stop laying eggs. The reason for this is that ducks can’t lay eggs because sunlight promotes the stimulation of hormones for laying eggs.

These are the factors responsible for ducks stopping laying eggs.

Why Raising Ducks for Eggs is a Good Idea?

Raising a duck is a good idea in many ways. Ducks produce good-quality eggs, and their production rate is also high compared to chickens. Duck eggs taste similar to chicken eggs; there is a slight difference that is not noticeable. Also, Ducks tend to be better than chickens by laying eggs without lighting in the winter. Several breeds of ducks, including Khaki Campbell, Welsh Harlequin, and Silver Appleyard, will often outlay all but the most prolific chicken breeds.

So, raising a duck is economical and beneficial to the feeder.

Which Duck Breeds Lay the Most?

It is an obvious question that comes to the mind of breeders before owning a duck, and many factors need to be understood properly:

• What do you want the eggs for?
• Do you live in an urban setting or somewhere rural?
• Do you like greenish-blue eggs?
• How long do ducks sit on eggs?

Generally, Pekin and Campbells produce the most eggs. Runners lay a substantial amount of green-bluish-colored eggs. 

These are the best breed of ducks that can produce many eggs. Egg production varies from area to area with the food they eat. Campbells are the most successful in laying a good number of eggs every year with good quality, and it causes the production level to increase as much as they want. Nowadays, there is a common usage of chemicals and artificial hormones that increases the productivity of the ducks and deteriorates the quality of the eggs produced. 

If comparing the production rate of Khaki Campbell with a domestic duck, the count of eggs is 340 eggs per year, while the domestic duck produces 200 eggs every year on average. Due to this reason, Campbells are the most productive ducks among the various other breeds of ducks.

Can I Make My Ducks Lay More Eggs?

Making the production rate higher is not a big deal until or unless the usage of many hormones is avoided. Adding extra-producing hormones is not a good idea because it can make the duck infertile after some time. A duck will produce more eggs when she reaches maturity age, and she can even produce two to three eggs per day, depending on the hormone count in their body. Ducks need a good amount of light to lay many eggs daily. Usually, 14 to 16 hours of sunlight is a must for ducks to lay a good number of eggs.

If the duck is not getting enough sunlight, she will not be able to produce good-quality eggs for the duck farmers, and it will also degrade the quality of eggs. So, exposing ducks to sunlight is a mandatory step that needs to follow.

Conclusion

Now we have enough information by adding facts and figures and conclude the question of how often do ducks lay eggs. Ducks lay eggs as part of reproduction, and ducks come to life from these eggs. Ducks lay eggs regularly, laying for almost 90% of the days in their life. However, ducks can deliver one or two eggs every day. It is a common scenario of how ducks lay a good amount of eggs with good quality. Duck farming is a good alternative to chicken farming in terms of economics and production.

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