The Problem with Ducks

The latest issue with my fowl is that the ducks are eating their eggs.  I say ducks because I have no idea if it is one duck or two and if it is only one duck which duck would that be.  Heck, it could even be Winifred the chicken ring leader for all I know.  All I know for sure is that I find eggs as flat as a pancake with a big hole in them when I go to let the ducks out of the coop in the morning.

This is a major problem for me because we are only getting so few eggs now as it is.  The chickens have quit laying because of the lack of sunlight in the winter.  As the days get longer, they should resume laying at some point.  I hope.  In the meantime, Mike and I are feeding, watering, and cleaning up after my five egg layers and some days there is only one egg and now they have taken to eating that one.

So I have begun getting up really early in the morning to beat the ducks to the eggs.  It took me a few days to determine the ideal time.  I started collecting the eggs at six am but that seemed awfully early.  So I kept moving the time later and later and learned that seven am was too late.  So now I get up at 6:30 a.m. with the goal of being to the chicken coop no later than 6:45 a.m.

So far we have had unbroken eggs five days running.  I wonder how many days it will take to break the ducks of this eating the eggs habit?  At least there is a fringe benefit to rising so early in the morning.  I get to see some really pretty sunrises.