Muscovy duck egg

Hello! I have a Muscovy egg under a silkie chicken, It's a hatching related question so thought I'd be better off asking it here rather than in the duck section. Anyway, today is day 30, this morning the silkie hopped off for a stretch and I had a look at the egg and I could hear it chirping and pecking inside. So question is- how long should it be doing that before it makes its first little hole (hatching novice here!)? I'm anxious that it hasn't been humid enough to get out... I floated it in some water a few days ago and then again this morning- i read somewhere that can help with the humidity issue. If it's still not made the hole by tomorrow morning should I be worried?
Thank you!

I have hatched muscovy eggs many times under a broody hen. I did nothing extra and the eggs hatched out fine. Unless you have a dry climate I would not be worried. Sometimes to much interference can cause more problems than if the eggs were left alone. A muscovy egg should not hatch much before 35 days under a broody hen.

I have not hatched any fully Muscovy eggs (just mules) but I did notice that it takes ducks a lot longer to hatch than chickens. And I don't mean the whole incubation period, I mean from the time they start peeping and pecking to the time they break out of the egg is a much longer duration. It can be a little nerve wracking because it does take so long but as the reply before me stated, it's best not too mess with them. Good luck!

Thank you for the replies! should it be chirping and pecking inside the egg so early? The man I got the egg from said if it's doing that it should be out of the egg within about 24 hours, which is why I was panicking but it's only been 31 days so yep I need to just calm down and wait. Fingers crossed it hatches!

Keep in mind that the 35 days is just a rule of thumb. Some eggs may hatch a couple days earlier and some a couple days later. There are a lot of different factors that will affect incubation time, heat, humidity, egg size etc. Are you sure it's a full blood Muscovy too? Muscovy crosses will hatch several days earlier than full blood muscovies...don't fret, broodies are generally much better hatchers than us clumsy people...

On another note, you only have one egg under her, right? Do you plan on allowing the hen to raise it? If she has hatched chicken eggs before, she may see this duckling as something foreign and reject it. You'll know if she has accepted it when you hear her clucking softly to it. If she does reject it, have a brooder prepared just in case. And keep in mind, ducklings form extremely strong bonds with whatever gives them company for the first couple days. If you only have one, and you are taking care of it, it will forever bond to you and think it is a person (my first duckling is like this and trust me, it is not ideal https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-a-human-imprinted-duckling-howards-story). Your best bet is to get it a friend to keep company, although that might be hard to come by this time of year. You might want to see if the person who gave you the egg will have any other ducks close in age (less than a week apart, they grow incredibly fast). Fingers crossed that the hen accepts it though, then it will just think it is a chicken. Just want you to be prepared if she doesn't...

eeek I certainly don't want that, Howard sounds like a bit of a handful! I started out with three eggs but two died. I've been looking for fresh hatched ducklings and will try to find some under a week old when it hatches to put with it. This is the silkies first turn to hatch anything out so I expect she'll be ok- fingers crossed, the poor love has been sitting so patiently I hope it hatches!
You're right, it could be a Muscovy cross- the breeder has all his poultry in together so it definitely could be. Thanks for the advice!

lizzifen said:

eeek I certainly don't want that, Howard sounds like a bit of a handful! I started out with three eggs but two died. I've been looking for fresh hatched ducklings and will try to find some under a week old when it hatches to put with it. This is the silkies first turn to hatch anything out so I expect she'll be ok- fingers crossed, the poor love has been sitting so patiently I hope it hatches!
You're right, it could be a Muscovy cross- the breeder has all his poultry in together so it definitely could be. Thanks for the advice!

Click to expand...

Howard is a handful! I love him though, he greets me everyday when I come home from work when all of the other ducks ignore me. They are snobs lol
Well if it's her first, she should be none the wiser! Should be funny too, that duck will be bigger than her in a month!
Sounds likely then. When it hatches, look at the feet. My crosses either had orange feet (pekin mom), brown feet (khaki mom), or marbled brown and yellow/orange. Also, the beaks usually would match the moms as well.

It hatched!

Congrats!!

lizzifen said:

It hatched!

Click to expand...

Yeah!!!! Newly hatched baby/ies are always fun and always miraculous. Pretty neat when all goes well.