Muscovies - fertility question

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I'm wondering if Muscovy hens will retain viable sperm from matings as do chickens, allowing them to keep producing fertile eggs for a period of time even in the absence of a mature male. Anyone's direct experience and observations to share would be greatly appreciated. If they do, I'd love to gain some idea of how long the mating can remain utilizable.

I am looking at possibly obtaining several females from different sources to keep the genetics diverse up front, and if I can get away without having a drake on site for the initial phase I'd prefer to go that route. They'd all have been with mature males where I'd obtain them from. I'll be breeding them for meat, eggs , their utility against slugs because my chickens are wishy washy about eating the damn things, and fertilizer production.

I've had a single Muscovy drake, a rescue/rehab in the past who lived with Lavender Turkeys because we had no other waterfowl, and he believed himself one of them. Never had the opportunity to breed the Muscovies back then though. Looking forward to it.

 

[sourland]

Duck hens will retain sperm for a period of time. Exactly how long, I do not know. I would guess not much longer than a couple of weeks. The problem is that after being rehomed, if laying to begin with, they will most likely stop laying. Change in environment does that to birds. A better plan might be obtaining and incubating fertile eggs.

 

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Ya, I have been considering this. Problem is all I have are bantam Silkie hens to hatch them out. I'd probably be lucky to get a whole 3 eggs to fit under any one of them! One of them is still raising a young cockerel chick, one just gave her two kids the boot to fend for themselves and the other lady just got scared off a nest I painstakingly set up.

Because I've been sick and unable to walk I've unfortunately had to have someone else caring for my animals, and they allowed stupid, totally preventable events to occur that disturbed her enough she bailed on sitting.

So consequently the likelihood of getting anyone to sit in the near future is questionable. Oh, how I wish an incubator were an option! We're still stuck under a tarp without electricity because of the volcanic eruption earlier this year, so there's zero chance of that.

Thank you for the information you've provided. I'm actually forming another potential plan now with it. =)