My flock of 11 ducks. Six are mature and usually give me six eggs a day. The other five are a few months old and not laying yet. Their eggs are sold at a farmers market. Ducks are fun to keep and IMHO better than chickens due to the ease of keeping and consistant laying.
They spend the night in a hutch and we let them out around 9 to 10 am, they will have laid their eggs in the hutch by then. However, we used to let them out earlier and they would hide eggs all over the yard and were slightly protective.
Ours take about 4 months to start laying.
You need a place for them to spend the night, water deep enough for them to dunk their head in, and it is much easier if they are fenced in. However, livestock always escape.
How interesting! Thanks for the information and for posting! It's certainly a new idea for me to think about. Been considering chickens in the future but don't have the space where I'm at are currently. One day tho.. I will definitely look more into this.