Muscovy keepers share your pics! - Page 464

Oddly enough, muscovies are thier own offshoot of ducks - every other breed is mallard based.  So any other cross, it's a bit like breeding a horse and a donkey - you get a mule that is sterile (F 100% & M 99%).   

Fortunately scovies carry genes for every color under the sun.  Chocolates, Buffs, Cream, Bronze , Septia etc. are all naturally occuring tho some are found in some areas of the world and not others.  Chocolate is sex-linked, single in F and double in M.

There's a wealth of genetic/color info on this thread with links to sites.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713647/muscovy-color-pattern-mapping-calling-all-scobie-breeders-for-input/20#post_10534779  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heat 

Guess who gets to bring home 4 new Muscovey ducklings this weekend??

<---- This happy, crazy poultry lady :-D

 

They will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday, so I am planning on having them in a brooder for a few weeks... how long should they be under a heat lamp?

love to see them!

I did A quick peek at the eggs under my broody, something is happening lol i didn't want to move them so i just used a flashlight and my mad sight skills...

She is coming off much less now, so i gather it won't be to much longer... oye. For the 2nd?(3rd) day in a row i've had to break another chocolate broody, this is nuts!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Going Quackers 

I did A quick peek at the eggs under my broody, something is happening lol i didn't want to move them so i just used a flashlight and my mad sight skills...

 

She is coming off much less now, so i gather it won't be to much longer... oye. For the 2nd?(3rd) day in a row i've had to break another chocolate broody, this is nuts!

I know what you mean, they just cannot understand we don't want to populate the world in Muscovy's. Right now other than my broody I only have 1 that is still a wanna be, and I heard that tell tale broody noise coming out of another one this morning I quickly got her egg. Whew.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaitngirl 

My chocolate hen quit laying after I clipped her wings. The black hen still lays an egg a day. Either that or the chocolate has a nest hidden really well (I've walked the property and part of my neighbor's twice). Neither are interested in sitting a nest yet, but they are only a year old. Any suggestions? I really don't want to pen them again - they are doing fairly well following the rest of the flock around and coming in at night now . . . The drake seems to prefer the chocolate hen from what I've seen (he's busy with her more than with the other hen), so it seems like that would stimulate her to lay.

None of my yearlings have shown any interest yet in brooding, all subject to change at any moment though. Glad to hear they have finally settled in and it isn't un common for a drake to have a special duck. My 1 drake the dominant has 3 girls, his son 1yr old has 2 and my oldest drake at 9yrs has 5 but 2 of the youngest in his group often play around with the young drake too. Sly girls
Muscovy's are one of the best for hiding their eggs though so you might want to just wait a little longer in the morning to let them out and see if you can get them into the habit of laying inside. Do your other ducks lay inside?

They were both laying in an old composting bin that I removed the bottom from and put straw in for nest material. The black still goes in to lay her egg there but the chocolate - nothing. I have tomorrow off so I may program the coffee pot extra early and go sit out on the deck and watch the flock. Maybe I can see where she might be hiding her eggs. My old Pekin hens hid their nests all over the yard and beyond. I would come across a nest with 10 - 16 eggs after searching fruitlessly for a week. I mowed today and paid extra attention to areas that my Pekins used to like to lay but found nothing . . .

I need to name these 2 girls but so far I haven't thought of anything that suits them. The drake is Razzy (my son called him Rasputin and I shortened it).