Mule duck breeding plan!

[ian4379]

Hi Bemba, i like your experiment, your as bad as me! i have half a dozen colour/genetic experiments going on.

thats a lovely coloured bronze up the top. i have one little correction though, we dont have the ripple gene in Aus, must have been barred mum.

 

[jdywntr]

With a muscovy drake and mallard derived duck, 4 weeks to hatch. With a mallard derived drake and muscovy hen- 5 weeks.

I am raising some Pekin right now to cross with Muscovy. With a muscovy drake and a large breed mallard derived duck, the offspring will be similar in size (both large), with a muscovy mother, you will see a difference in sizes between the sexes.

I am raising mine for a faster growing meat bird. I have read that fertility is much lower in the hybrids and that they do best if raised together, without other muscovy females, from a very young age. I have 2 muscovy drakelings in with my 6 pekin (4-F and 2-M) they still kind of keep apart but they sleep together and haven't quite reached breeding age.

Do remember that the offspring will be infertile and the females will lay only very small eggs, which is the reason I think many don't breed them often, you put alot of work into 1 generation. Also, if you have pure breeds that you are wanting offspring from, keeping hybrdis with them can affect the fertility of the flock drake as he would be covering more females.

 

[bemba]

Hi Bemba, i like your experiment, your as bad as me! i have half a dozen colour/genetic experiments going on.

thats a lovely coloured bronze up the top. i have one little correction though, we dont have the ripple gene in Aus, must have been barred mum.

Haha yeah always doing something different I'm working on pied and magpie call ducks ATM. What colours are you working on? and what breeds?

Here is a pic of the Muscovy girl, mother of the bronze drake, what do you think she is? I'm sure she isn't barred but I could be wrong.
Excuse pen, this is one of the night time pens for the chickens, the ducks had just wandered in so I snapped a quick shot of them in there.

 

[bemba]

With a muscovy drake and mallard derived duck, 4 weeks to hatch. With a mallard derived drake and muscovy hen- 5 weeks.

I am raising some Pekin right now to cross with Muscovy. With a muscovy drake and a large breed mallard derived duck, the offspring will be similar in size (both large), with a muscovy mother, you will see a difference in sizes between the sexes.

I am raising mine for a faster growing meat bird. I have read that fertility is much lower in the hybrids and that they do best if raised together, without other muscovy females, from a very young age. I have 2 muscovy drakelings in with my 6 pekin (4-F and 2-M) they still kind of keep apart but they sleep together and haven't quite reached breeding age.

Do remember that the offspring will be infertile and the females will lay only very small eggs, which is the reason I think many don't breed them often, you put alot of work into 1 generation. Also, if you have pure breeds that you are wanting offspring from, keeping hybrdis with them can affect the fertility of the flock drake as he would be covering more females.

Oh great news!! So these babies hatching could still be moulards!! Can you tell a mule as a new duckling?

 

[Luminide]

Watching this enthusiastically! I'd love to breed some mules of my own. Keep us updated, I can't wait to see the results.

 

[jdywntr]

I'm not sure if you can tell the difference at hatching. if you only had ducklings hatching if one particular color than any others could be hybrids. My muscovy are black and chocolate barred and all look the same at hatching. Once my hybrids are breeding I may bee able to tell the difference but even then, I don't think it would be accurate. Better to separate our mark eggs

 

[mattperth]

I don't recall the babies taking any longer to hatch when we accidentally bred them! I wouldn't give up yet, they could still be hybrids. Looking forward to hearing the results here once you know for sure mate.

 

[bemba]

I'm not sure if you can tell the difference at hatching. if you only had ducklings hatching if one particular color than any others could be hybrids. My muscovy are black and chocolate barred and all look the same at hatching. Once my hybrids are breeding I may bee able to tell the difference but even then, I don't think it would be accurate. Better to separate our mark eggs

Ok so I'm a little confused, you say once your hybrids are breeding? But correct me if I'm wrong aren't all Muscovy crosses infertile? Or have I misread your post, sorry if I have.

 

[bemba]

Watching this enthusiastically! I'd love to breed some mules of my own. Keep us updated, I can't wait to see the results.

All the eggs are externally pipped now! One has a small hole so I can see the bill! It does kinda look different? But maybe wishful thinking ? not long to go now anyway!

 

[bemba]

I don't recall the babies taking any longer to hatch when we accidentally bred them! I wouldn't give up yet, they could still be hybrids. Looking forward to hearing the results here once you know for sure mate.

I was just thinking back to that one hybrid that popped up here a couple of years back, he hatched with a group of mallard deriveds, and I'm sure it was the same time, I can't 100% remember though.