Duck Breed Focus - Muscovy

[Ren2014]

Just a few questions. I'm new to duck ownership and definitely new to Muscovies. I've never even heard of them until I got 3 of them. All of my ducks are about 10-11 weeks old. (Approx)
1) can I leave them out at night? I live in western NH and have a 5 foot fence around their area. It gets about 35-40 degrees here at night, and for now they go to bed by themselves when the sun goes down. I have their heat lamp in there that goes on around 7:30/8pm. I would love to be able to keep the door open to their house to let them free range at night too, but I'm not sure if that's ok. I also have 4 khaki Campbell's.
2) when will I know who is male and who is female? And when will they start mating? I plan on letting the mama incubate the eggs herself when it's time, but having an approx time when they start mating would be wonderful. Given i have a female at all.
3) will they breed with my khakis? My scovies are all white with black patches on their head. I think if they bred with my khakis it would be a beautiful combo!

Your pen sounds like it does a good job but not sure of what type of predators live in your area. We lost a drake this past December after being left out at night. Wrong time to realize you have fox in the area. On that alone, I would provide shelter for them at night. Muscovy also are originally a tropical bird; they do okay in the cold but they are not winter hearty like other types of water fowl. You should be able to tell between the ducks and the drakes now. Females stay small, with smaller legs and feet. And their voices should also be developed in the next few weeks that will give you a clue as well. Soft whispery twills are the girls and soft quite hisses are the drakes. If you have drakes, they'll breed with just about anything. You'll want to keep a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio to be on the safe side for your girls. The higher female to male ratio the better for them. They'll potentially over-breed otherwise. They'll probably breed the Khakis but more than likely the offspring will be like a mule and unable to reproduce. Hope this helps and answers your questions.

X2 I would definitely lock them up at night. It's a hard lesson to learn so trust us that have

Post a picture if you can showing their body lengths and we can help you with determining male or female.

And

good luck with your new babies

 

[anniemg89]

X2  I would definitely lock them up at night.  It's a hard lesson to learn so trust us that have:/   Post a picture if you can showing their body lengths and  we can help you with determining male or female.

And   good luck with your new babies

I think I'm too new to post photos :-(

 

[Ren2014]

Do you have this "insert image" option in your tool bar when replying? If so, just click it and you can upload pictures.

 

[anniemg89]

Do you have this "insert image" option in your tool bar when replying?  If so, just click it and you can upload pictures.

i do but nothing uploads :-(

 

[Ren2014]

Does it give you the "upload files" option after clicking on it?

 

[hennible]

I just had a rather interesting occurrence... I had a pair of muscovy brooding 34 eggs (it was both their first time sitting). They had 10 hatched out when one mama repeated left the nest leaving one baby with a number of eggs (some with pips others yet too), he was cold and the eggs were cold so I took the eggs and the hatchling and put them in my incubator. Little cold guy, once warm went back to the coop as did the rest once dry (a total of 22/34 eggs hatched). The mamas had no problem with these babies and were happy to have more it seems, both went back to mothering the whole group. It's a day later and a friend and her kids came over, her girls each held a duckling which seriously ticked off the mamas... Any way this evening when I go to close the coop, those two ducklings had been crush to death. Was this a fluke? Or was it because strangers held these babies? My son had also held a duckling the very first day of hatching in plain veiw of the mamas (hatching took place over three days) and they had no problem with that... Any way I am dumb struck by it and wondering if anyone has had a similar experience.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I just had a rather interesting occurrence... I had a pair of muscovy brooding 34 eggs (it was both their first time sitting). They had 10 hatched out when one mama repeated left the nest leaving one baby with a number of eggs (some with pips others yet too), he was cold and the eggs were cold so I took the eggs and the hatchling and put them in my incubator. Little cold guy, once warm went back to the coop as did the rest once dry (a total of 22/34 eggs hatched). The mamas had no problem with these babies and were happy to have more it seems, both went back to mothering the whole group. It's a day later and a friend and her kids came over, her girls each held a duckling which seriously ticked off the mamas... Any way this evening when I go to close the coop, those two ducklings had been crush to death. Was this a fluke? Or was it because strangers held these babies? My son had also held a duckling the very first day of hatching in plain veiw of the mamas (hatching took place over three days) and they had no problem with that... Any way I am dumb struck by it and wondering if anyone has had a similar experience.

May be a fluke, but I have found Scovy hens are very territorial and most won't accept a duckling they didn't brood. It may very well be the smells and scent of the unknown children caused the mothers to reject the ducklings. I have had incubated duckling hatched at the same time one of the girls were brooding ducklings. She knew who was hers, and wanted no part of the additional babies. I have had best luck at night to handle ducklings from a brooding duck.

 

[Ren2014]

I just had a rather interesting occurrence... I had a pair of muscovy brooding 34 eggs (it was both their first time sitting). They had 10 hatched out when one mama repeated left the nest leaving one baby with a number of eggs (some with pips others yet too), he was cold and the eggs were cold so I took the eggs and the hatchling and put them in my incubator. Little cold guy, once warm went back to the coop as did the rest once dry (a total of 22/34 eggs hatched). The mamas had no problem with these babies and were happy to have more it seems, both went back to mothering the whole group. It's a day later and a friend and her kids came over, her girls each held a duckling which seriously ticked off the mamas... Any way this evening when I go to close the coop, those two ducklings had been crush to death. Was this a fluke? Or was it because strangers held these babies? My son had also held a duckling the very first day of hatching in plain veiw of the mamas (hatching took place over three days) and they had no problem with that... Any way I am dumb struck by it and wondering if anyone has had a similar experience.

sorry for your loss.

 

[DuckyGaze]

Hello everyone.
I have a big problem. I have a muscovy on a huge clutch of eggs but today I noticed she has a huge abscess on the side of her head.. it is big, pink and shiny and looks so painful. I do not know what I should do about it. Do I risk her leaving the clutch by bringing her inside to lance the boil or do I allow it to naturally break on its own and leave her in her nest??

I also noticed the way she plucked her own down to make her nest. It is very fascinating to see a muscovy make a nest just like rabbits do.

 

[DuckyGaze]

I am very interested in the answer for your question since I also have a muscovy on a huge clutch soon to hatch...will be nice to know what to expect. Sorry to hear about the deaths of the little ones..always hurts me to see a tiny life fade away.