Miniature Muscovies?

[casportpony]

Here's my micro/runt at seven days old:

Hatch weight was 48 grams, then it lost weight for several and dropped to 33 grams.

This little fatty is only four days old.


-Kathy

 

[buff goose guy]

wow

it looks like it will grow to a beautiful color.

 

[casportpony]

wow

it looks like it will grow to a beautiful color.

Thanks, it's a chocolate, and almost certainly female.

-Kathy

 

[Buck Oakes]

A lot of people like muscovies but don't like their large size. So I was wondering, why aren't there miniature muscovies? It seems like breeding down their size would be a fairly easy breeding project. I'm actually surprised no one has done it yet. What do you think? Would you be interested in mini-muscovies?

I have minature muscovies! and it was totally an accident just the babies that hatched last year around this time were just smaller than any i had so yeah. they are so small up till about they get 5 months old. they are smaller but they are still just below average of regular size muscovies and i think thats as small as they can get :/

 

[casportpony]

Quote: How much do they weigh?

-Kathy

 

[HeritageGoose13]

What exactly causes "runts?" Does anyone know?

 

[Amykins]

What exactly causes "runts?" Does anyone know?

In placental mammals it's usually a result of large litters, the mama's body will sometimes limit the amount of nutrients given to one or two of her fetuses to ensure her other babies are born healthy, along with preventing mama from growing weak due to overexertion. But in birds, I'm honestly not sure. Maybe just not enough yolk absorption, or they hatched too early, or too late, or were maybe just not as genetically robust. :/

 

[HeritageGoose13]

In placental mammals it's usually a result of large litters, the mama's body will sometimes limit the amount of nutrients given to one or two of her fetuses to ensure her other babies are born healthy, along with preventing mama from growing weak due to overexertion. But in birds, I'm honestly not sure. Maybe just not enough yolk absorption, or they hatched too early, or too late, or were maybe just not as genetically robust. :/

That's what I thought. Maybe it's the same principle with birds, the mother bird gives less nutrients to an egg?

 

[casportpony]

Quote: In birds i think they absorb they yolk or they don't, and not positive, but I think the birds that don't absorb all of the yolk will eventually die from infection (just lost a 10 day old that did not absorb it's yolk at all). Other possibilities are disease... had one runt with a heart defect (confirmed by UC Davis necropsy) and another with a bacterial infection, both of those were about half the size of their clutch-mates.


-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

FYI, the one with the bacterial infection was treated and caught up to the rest of her siblings.

-Kathy