How long do Muscovy ducks lay eggs?

[Connie White]

I have some beautiful Muscovy's who have started laying eggs - one a day right now! My question is - how long will they lay eggs? Are there any cycles - I mean - how can my one duck hatch out all these eggs and yet lay one per day still?

Thanks for any help that you can provide on this - I want to start selling the eggs, but have no idea how long my supply will last. All my gals are almost 1 year old by the way - free rangers. They've been laying for a month now.

Connie

 

[learycow]

Laying depends on many factors.
In ideal settings, it also depends on your location (climate, weather, etc)

Here in New England, muscovy ducks tend to start laying in March/April and will lay until October/November.
If you collect the eggs daily, they will lay anywhere from 4-7 eggs a week (zero to 1 egg a day) assuming they are 1-4 years old (they tend to lay less as they age once they reach peak age).
I have found that if I let them sit on their eggs, they will sit on and hatch anywhere from 5 eggs up to 30+ eggs (the more eggs they have in the nest, the harder it is for them to keep all eggs warm so you may have a bad hatch. If mine sit on more than 25 I take some away). If you have other ducks or chickens laying in her nest, and can't move her nest to a place where she won't be bothered, then mark the eggs that are hers and you want her to hatch. Then go in every day and take out the "new" eggs that the others add. That way she is only incubating her eggs and not everyone elses.

Also, I have found that once they hatch, I generally leave the ducklings with momma duck for 2-3 days. Then I take them away and put them in the brooder. They usually will lay eggs and set again depending on how late in the year it is.
I have 2 ducks that hatched clutches about 3 weeks ago. I took the ducklings on day 3. Both ducks have already made new nests and have started to set on them. So they usually will set again as long as you don't let them raise the ducklings. If you do, then they will take care of them until they are 2-3 months old. If it's early in the season, I've had ducks raise babies to 3 months, then leave them to start another nest. But not all will go back into broody mode.

 

[Cass]

Thanks for all the info...I am new to ducks and wish I had gotten them before I got chickens. I would have skipped the chickens. I LOVE my ducks.

Funny story about ducks and chickens living together. My duck started laying in the run. I took her eggs. She decided that was not to her liking so she started laying in the coop, UNDER the nest boxes....I figured that was a GOOD place for a nest so I let her start a clutch of eggs under there. The chickens started laying there too. I just took the chicken eggs away...since duck eggs are much larger (and white) it was easy to pick out the brown, blue and green chicken eggs. After she got 10 eggs under there a chicken decided that she wanted to sit on them and hatch some babies. (She was one of the ones laying in the clutch) So she started to sit there and gave the duck a hard time when she came to lay another egg. Once the clutch was 19 eggs the duck started to sit. So now I have a duck and a hen sitting on 19 eggs and shifting them back and forth depending on who was sitting at the moment. 2 weeks into the 30 days ANOTHER chicken, who had been laying there, decided to butt in and sit on the clutch. LOL So I go away for the weekend and assure my boyfriend that the ducklings won't hatch while I was gone. I should have kept my mouth shut. They hatched that night. I get home and boyfriend is yelling "get over here, NOW". I am like "why?" He says "there are ducklings ALL OVER THE PLACE". ROFL. He didn't lie. The 3 mommas were fighting over the ducklings and they were kicking them all over the coop. I gathered them all up. Put them in a laundry basket and took them outside to a secure area. THEN I had to pick up one really peeved Momma duck (watch out for that defensive pooping) and put her out with the ducklings. 19 of 19 hatched. I didn't want that many ducks. Ever. So I sold them as day olds. She was allowed to keep 5 of them. That's enough ducks for my small set up.

I will tell you that she looked and looked and looked for the babies as I sold them. I would go in and catch the ducklings to sell and she was not happy with me at all. I can't imagine if I had taken them all....she never would have forgiven me. Ever.

So I think next time I allow them to hatch ducklings I am going to sell some of the adults and keep the babies, cuz if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Right?

 

[Michael Stamati]

hello,i have 6 muscovies , 3 drakes and 3 hens , they started laying eggs, in April 2013, but only 1 duckling hatched,which died 3 days later....now 28/07/2013 , i am waiting to start laying again...tell me please if anyone know,when probably will lay again ?????and if will brood again the second clutch of eggs ???
thank you ,greetings from Greece !!!

 

[Hopmeadow]

I hope someone can help me
I have a year old ( presumably) Muscovy female duck that I rescued a year ago
She spends half the year at our farm in New York and half the year in our backyard in Miami.
She follows me everywhere and hangs out in the living room whenever I am not looking with the dogs
She started laying one egg a day a few months ago but a few days ago she laid 2 soft eggs.
Her diet is live meal worms ,snails plus I try and give her scratch and some egg maker - but she doesn't like it. I give her dried cat food too.
I have tried fresh veggies and fruits ... She shakes her head...
Any ideas?
She sleeps in the house at night in a big cage... She is very comfortable in there .. I do that because she is afraid of the dark and stands at the back door
Any help would be so greatly appreciated.

 

[Going Quackers]

I chose Muscovies because they are quiet and less messy with water than other ducks. "Pretty" is in the eye of the beholder.

Muscovies come in many colours and patterns, so you'll likely find one that is attractive to you and your mother. A boy is not needed if you are just wanting eggs. Where I live the boys are raised for meat.

Can someone inform mine of this?

Muscovy are decent layers and are more quiet than other ducks, females do honk/quack but mostly use a trill, chirp, coo, drakes only hiss/huff, technically they are not even ducks more lean towards to the goose .. as they are not mallard derived birds. If you want eggs you'll need females, as SA said you don't need the drakes to produce the eggs, both sexes can be equally nice.

As for mess, ducks are messy period. They need water to consume food, water to bathe in and adore mud and mucking about. If your used to chickens ducks will be that terrible house guest lol Plus sides, ducks are hardy, good foragers and generally speaking less prone to disease.

 

[outlawking]

I have about 200 muscovy hens that start laying same time every year around march and stop early September. Been that way 20 years, I'm in California.

 

[Amy1634]

I am still fairly new to raising Muscovy ducks, but I have a question hopefully someone could give advice on.... I recently build a new enclosure/coup for my birds and I need to move them to it. They have a nest in the chicken coup where they have been for several months and now that I’ve moved them they rush to the chicken house every morning to lay eggs. Is it possible to move the nest to the new enclosure? Is there a specific way to do it? Thanks in advance!!

 

[Alikatmb]

Hey there! My female muscovey has chosen to sit on an egg in a very open spot. Can I move the egg and show her where or is it best to leave it and build a protective fence around her? (We have coyotes roaming around...)

 

[Miss Lydia]

You say she laid an egg in an open spot does that mean there is only one egg and she isn't sitting on it? If so take the egg and put it inside their coop sometimes hints make the difference, make sure if she has started a nest where she laid in the open that you tear it up to discourage her from going back to it.