Laying and new bedding.

[lostinwales]

Hello Chicken keepers . I have ducks so please don't peck me 'cos I need advice. I have had my beautiful girls since they were young and they only started to lay after Christmas but since then they have been very regular, pretty much an egg per day each (yum!) waiting in their bed every morning. On Saturday I gave their house a really good clean out, totally emptied their bed and replaced all the bedding instead of taking out the poo and topping up with fresh chippings and I haven't had an egg since! Have I offended them, do you think they prefer to lay on slightly grubby shavings instead?

Not sure if ducks also rest in cold shirt days.....I only know about chickens. Also, do they moult? This stops them laying too.

The only other option could be rats or squirrels - although you would probably find shells.

I envy you having ducks - I had them as a child and they were wonderful....

Ha - I meant short days. Not sure how shirt days might work!

I thought 'shirt days' were something mysterious and chickeney for a minute!

I blocked up a hole I think a rat was getting in at the weekend. I need something good to put over the floor under the plastic mats though, someone suggested wire wool, if I went into the farmers shop would they laugh at me if I asked for that? I don't know if they moult, oh dear, I'm still quite an amateur. On the plus side DS3's nursery school are coming to visit as they are doing farm animals at the moment so they are going to have fairy cakes made with (I hope) duck eggs, and watch the ducks.

They are wonderful animals to have around (if you have the space, you wouldn't want to have to walk through their land to get anywhere). They have hilarious personalities. There's a pic of them on my profile.

I had one who imprinted on me - followed me everywhere and even watched television sitting on a newspaper.

Rats are a nuisance - local hardware shop should do the wire wool. We have a live trap set up and if we catch any we take them to a wood far from people.

As for bedding, have you thought about hemcore/aubiose/easybed. It is fantastic stuff and all the poop clumps so it is easy to pick up. You don't need to change it often. We wouldn't use anything else now....

Nursery visit sounds gorgeous.