Scovy laying question

Hey guys firstly hello to all the wonderful people on BYC!!

I have a scovy who is an inside duck and has been raised from the nest by myself, naturally she imprinted on me. My question is this - what is normal laying behaviour for scovies of this nature. I'm just a little concerned because her recent behaviour seems a bit odd. But she is an odd little ducka so I'm not really surprised haha.
She has been trying to mate with me for about a month now. Whenever I try to pick her up she will get into the 'mount me' position, sorry for the phrasing but I'm sure you all know what I mean. She has been sneaking around making nests everywhere for a few weeks also. So she laid an egg on the couch the other day and wasn't interested in the egg at all. 3 days later she lays another outside in a plastic storage box with some old towels in it. This time she was very protective of it. Wouldn't let us near the box without carrying on. So no eggs for 2 nights. Then another. And now she doesn't seem to care if we venture over to investigate.

So what's up? Is this normal behaviour?

I don't have Muscovies, but she sure sounds like a first-timer, her hormones and instincts aren't quite fully developed yet.

What season is it where you are? Spring or Fall? Muscovies are seasonal layers, I know that much. They also tend to bank up a bunch of eggs before sitting, a.k.a. going broody. Talk about weird behavior, hoo boy. I have a few Runners and a Buff who go broody. Whew.

@Miss Lydia has Muscovies, as has @Scovy Momma at least in the past. I know lots of others do, too. Actually there are a few Muscovy related threads here on the forum - see if you can check in over there.

Fergusbeakley said:

Hey guys firstly hello to all the wonderful people on BYC!!

I have a scovy who is an inside duck and has been raised from the nest by myself, naturally she imprinted on me. My question is this - what is normal laying behaviour for scovies of this nature. I'm just a little concerned because her recent behaviour seems a bit odd. But she is an odd little ducka so I'm not really surprised haha.
She has been trying to mate with me for about a month now. Whenever I try to pick her up she will get into the 'mount me' position, sorry for the phrasing but I'm sure you all know what I mean. She has been sneaking around making nests everywhere for a few weeks also. So she laid an egg on the couch the other day and wasn't interested in the egg at all. 3 days later she lays another outside in a plastic storage box with some old towels in it. This time she was very protective of it. Wouldn't let us near the box without carrying on. So no eggs for 2 nights. Then another. And now she doesn't seem to care if we venture over to investigate.

So what's up? Is this normal behaviour?

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So she has just started to lay? Sounds pretty typical of an inside duck she wants to mate with who she thinks is her mate and that be you. She may go broody after she gets laying down pat but you know they won't hatch unless fertile so you have 2 choices either let her sit on eggs [fake ones will work] or take the eggs and use them for eating or baking. She may get upset but she will get over it eventually .Broody is Muscovy middle name they love to brood.

She has just started to lay and yes it's her first time. it's mid way through spring here. I'm going to let her sit on them. She seems to have a hard time deciding where to make a nest though. It's nice to know this behaviour is normal. I'm extremely attached to her so although her behaviour is not concerning me I was just curious if this is a normal introduction into what she will be like all spring and summer.

Fergusbeakley said:

She has just started to lay and yes it's her first time. it's mid way through spring here. I'm going to let her sit on them. She seems to have a hard time deciding where to make a nest though. It's nice to know this behaviour is normal. I'm extremely attached to her so although her behaviour is not concerning me I was just curious if this is a normal introduction into what she will be like all spring and summer.

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Most Muscovys are broody fanatics. so welcome to the world of Muscovy. lol If you can give her a nice safe quiet spot out of traffic with some nice soft bedding she'll probably get right to work. Keep us updated. Oh and make sure she has really good quality feed and some oyster shell on the side so she get plenty of calcium.

Just in case anyone was curious for an update... She is still laying all over the place but like I said I'm not too concerned about it. We have supplied her with a box out of the way of the chickens and people but she doesn't seem too fussed on the idea of laying in there. We are finding eggs every where. In the shed, in the ferns, one or two out in the middle of the yard in the open. There are no mature drakes around and she has imprinted on myself so I'm just assuming that she is aware the eggs aren't fertile because she hasn't mated so she is content on leaving them where they happen to plop out for lack of a better description