Muscovy Chat

[muscovymomma]

Hi- I have 10 2 week old babies. They are all adorable and most everyone now has a prickly tummy, a few tail feathers, and bald shoulders. I ordered a straight run (just using them for company so I didn't care too much male or female). However, I have 2 that are significantly smaller than the other 8. This is my first time raising ducks, but everything I have read says that you really can not tell drakes from ducks till about 4-6 weeks. I am worried though that these are my only 2 ducks. I dont want the males to kill them trying to mate them all the time.

Any advice or tips?

 

[jennifleur]

If it does turn out that you have 8 drakes and only two hens, it will be a problem. You would need to get around 20 more hens or rehome some drakes. With 8 drakes there will be mating and pecking order drama. Very often the little drakes will be best of buddies as ducklings, grooming and snuggling. One day the mating hormones kick in and the duck drama starts. Even if they don't fight to the point of serious injury, they will spend much of the time chasing off the other drakes from their hens. Hens often only want to be with certain drakes, lots of running, chasing , grabbing, protesting, flapping and crashing around will be common. It can end up being a stressful environment unless you have a large area so everyone can spread out. Now if you had 8 hens and 2 drakes.....that would be a much better senerio. Hope things end up working out well for you.

 

[muscovymomma]

Can you really go off of size at 2 weeks old? Everything I have read says that you really cant tell till 4-6 weeks? When can you start telling a difference based off of size?

 

[kikitheduck]

Hi- I have 10 2 week old babies. They are all adorable and most everyone now has a prickly tummy, a few tail feathers, and bald shoulders. I ordered a straight run (just using them for company so I didn't care too much male or female). However, I have 2 that are significantly smaller than the other 8. This is my first time raising ducks, but everything I have read says that you really can not tell drakes from ducks till about 4-6 weeks. I am worried though that these are my only 2 ducks. I dont want the males to kill them trying to mate them all the time. 

 

Any advice or tips? 

Well if you do end up with only two ducks, the males won't kill them. But, having more drakes than females means that the drakes will fight. It's nothing bad, but they will pluck a few feathers. But keep in mind that the two that are smaller than the rest, may actually be runts.

Message me if you need anymore advice

 

[kikitheduck]

If it does turn out that you have 8 drakes and only two hens, it will be a problem. You would need to get around 20 more hens or rehome some drakes. With 8 drakes there will be mating and pecking order drama. Very often the little drakes will be best of buddies as ducklings, grooming and snuggling. One day the mating hormones kick in and the duck drama starts. Even if they don't fight to the point of serious injury, they will spend much of the time chasing off the other drakes from their hens. Hens often only want to be with certain drakes, lots of running, chasing , grabbing, protesting, flapping and crashing around will be common. It can end up being a stressful environment unless you have a large area so everyone can spread out. Now if you had 8 hens and 2 drakes.....that would be a much better senerio. Hope things end up working out well for you.

This is true.

 

[kikitheduck]

Can you really go off of size at 2 weeks old? Everything I have read says that you really cant tell till 4-6 weeks? When can you start telling a difference based off of size? 

About 4-6 weeks is right. You can see changes by the week, and the boys will be significantly bigger and have wider feet and legs. The girls, however, will start to grow their wings before the males start, and will also be smaller. Hope this helped.

 

[Ghibli]

Well something I didn't expect at all happened, she started laying eggs! I thought it'd be after winter until anyone started laying eggs, but she's laid 3 so far, seems to be every morning. The shortest day of the year wasn't long ago, so I'm not sure why she's already laying? There's no lights in their house at night, there's under 12 hours of daylight I believe, but I don't know what the requirements are. Exciting though! Got ducks for eggs in the first place, and they made good scrambled eggs, very creamy.
I assumed muscovies are seasonal layers the same as ducks, but I haven't done much research on that.

 

[kikitheduck]

Well something I didn't expect at all happened, she started laying eggs! I thought it'd be after winter until anyone started laying eggs, but she's laid 3 so far, seems to be every morning. The shortest day of the year wasn't long ago, so I'm not sure why she's already laying? There's no lights in their house at night, there's under 12 hours of daylight I believe, but I don't know what the requirements are. Exciting though! Got ducks for eggs in the first place, and they made good scrambled eggs, very creamy.
I assumed muscovies are seasonal layers the same as ducks, but I haven't done much research on that.

Yay! You know what's funny about that? My duck Bubbles stopped laying and she just started back as well! Maybe it's something to do with the climate, I'm in New Zealand so the same seasons as Aussie Congrats on her laying!

 

[muscovymomma]

If it does turn out that you have 8 drakes and only two hens, it will be a problem. You would need to get around 20 more hens or rehome some drakes. With 8 drakes there will be mating and pecking order drama. Very often the little drakes will be best of buddies as ducklings, grooming and snuggling. One day the mating hormones kick in and the duck drama starts. Even if they don't fight to the point of serious injury, they will spend much of the time chasing off the other drakes from their hens. Hens often only want to be with certain drakes, lots of running, chasing , grabbing, protesting, flapping and crashing around will be common. It can end up being a stressful environment unless you have a large area so everyone can spread out. Now if you had 8 hens and 2 drakes.....that would be a much better senerio. Hope things end up working out well for you.

Well one of the little ones packed it on this week and is now about the same size as the others. Wanda is still small but seems to be healthy and happy. They are three weeks old today and I was able to move them from the brooder in the garage to the coop on sunday with a heat lamp at night. temps here are mid 90s during the day and mid 70s at night so I will only do the heat lamp for the rest of this week. Then I will just change it out for a regular light bulb to help attract bugs. I have been feeding them twice a day and then letting them forage and also supplementing with weeds and grasses. They are so happy now!

 

[kikitheduck]

Well one of the little ones packed it on this week and is now about the same size as the others. Wanda is still small but seems to be healthy and happy. They are three weeks old today and I was able to move them from the brooder in the garage to the coop on sunday with a heat lamp at night. temps here are mid 90s during the day and mid 70s at night so I will only do the heat lamp for the rest of this week. Then I will just change it out for a regular light bulb to help attract bugs. I have been feeding them twice a day and then letting them forage and also supplementing with weeds and grasses. They are so happy now!

Sounds like a good idea! Oh so cute babies