Some duck breeds lay as well as chicken breeds. However, ducks kept mainly for meat or ornamental purposes do not lay nearly as well as those that have been selectively bred for their laying ability. Below is a look at how many eggs you can expect each duck breed to lay per year.
How Many Eggs per Year?
As with chickens, how many eggs a duck may lay each year depends on a number of factors. They include the duck’s breed and strain, her age, what she’s fed, her state of health, the weather, and the current number of daylight hours.
Managed under optimal conditions, the best layers may begin producing eggs at 18 to 20 weeks of age and continue laying nearly year-round. Ducks normally lay well for three years, and some strains continue to lay efficiently for up to five years.
Since laying stops when nesting starts, the best laying breeds generally do not have strong broody instincts. They also only briefly slow down or stop laying during the fall molt.
Ducks tend to lay in the early morning hours and typically lay an egg each day. The less productive breeds will lay a consecutive batch of eggs, called a clutch, and then take up to 2 weeks off before starting another clutch. If you leave a clutch in the nest, a duck may start setting and stop laying for the season.
The chart below shows the average laying ability of Cackle Hatchery® ducks. The duck breeds are listed starting with the best layers first. Click on the breed name for details about each breed.
| Breed | Eggs |
| Golden 300 Hybrid | 200-290 |
| White Hybrid | 200-290 |
| Ancona | 180-220 |
| Khaki Campbell | 165-240 |
| Rouen | 140-180 |
| Pekin | 140-180 |
| Buff | 130-185 |
| Cayuga | 130-180 |
| Swedish | 130-180 |
| Silver Appleyard | 120-175 |
| Saxony | 110-175 |
| Runner | 100-180 |
| Welsh Harlequin | 100-150 |
| Crested | 100-130 |
| Mallard | 60-120 |
| Call | 25-75 |
What Size Are Duck Eggs?
The eggs of mature ducks range in size from being comparable to a small chicken egg to twice the size of a large chicken egg. The egg size of an individual duck depends a lot on her breed and strain, but mostly on the size of the duck herself. Even within a single breed, larger ducks usually lay larger eggs.
On average a duck egg weighs a little more than 2.6 ounces or 75 grams, putting it between an extra large and a jumbo chicken egg, or about 1½ times a large chicken egg.
The size of an egg’s yolk determines the egg’s richness. The yolk of a chicken egg accounts for about 44% of the edible portion (yolk plus albumen). A duck egg has a proportionally larger yolk, making up 56% of the edible portion.
In recipes, therefore, duck eggs offer richer flavor. But, of course you can also boil, fry, poach, or otherwise cook duck eggs in all the same ways you enjoy serving chicken eggs.
Helpful Links
How to Keep Your Ducks Laying Well
How to Handle Duck Eggs for Eating
And that’s today’s news from the Cackle Coop.
Gail Damerow is the author of An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Raising Backyard Ducks: Breeds, Feeding, Housing and Care, Eggs and Meat.
