We’ve been getting three eggs almost every day, sometimes just two or one, but haven’t been sure whether all four ducks are laying. This morning there were 4 eggs, so now we know they’re all laying. So far, our egg eating has pretty much matched our egg production, so four layers is a good number for us. We’ve read that each of these Welsh Harlequin ducks lay an average of five eggs per week, so it seems we’re probably right on track.
Since the drakes are gone, the females are much calmer. It’s a nice little flock. When it got really cold in early December, we emptied their pool, which they missed. We had some warm days and nights last week, so filled it again for them, and they’ve had so much fun in it, we may just keep it up. Most nights it freezes over, and most days it thaws enough by afternoon that they can get in. As long as the well isn’t too frozen to pump water, I guess we’ll try to keep cleaning and filling it. In summer we were doing it every three days or so, now it’s ok to do every 4-5 days. With fewer ducks and colder temps it doesn’t seem to get as dirty.