Muscovy Incubation, by Broody or Incubator

[Ren2014]

I haven't had much luck with incubating Muscovy eggs myself and my first broody was killed by a snake

I could tell by the disarray of her nest that she fought a great fight, RIP BB. I now have a second broody and am doing everything possible to help her succeed.

I know there are Muscovy threads where we talk about incubating eggs but I wanted to start a thread solely for incubation. Please join and share your experiences whether you have a broody or you are using an incubator to hatch Muscovy eggs. I would love to see/hear about everyone's story and advice on Muscovy incubation; both, by broody and artificial. The next topic we need a thread on is Muscovy colors

Thank you for stopping by

This is Blanche. She'd only been with us for 2 weeks and she went broody. She's a serious sitter. She built her nest in a spot that I knew I should have blocked off because I myself could not reach it and I wanted to be able to count her eggs, and help her, lol. My DH and brother in law helped me move her successfully to a better location. During the move I pulled 6 eggs to incubate in case she abandoned. She went bolistic at first but then settled down. I locked her in so she really didn't have a chance to abandon

By candling, all 6 eggs were fertile, active and appeared to be on day 8. I have since moved the eggs back under her. She came out today for a stroll, bath and to POO

Man or man did she poo. There's nothing like broody poo

Sitting on original nest


This is where she started

 

[2crazyflockers]

Here's a question ....seems like my girls (muscovy) have been sitting on eggs for a VERY long time. How long does this take ?? I feel like its been well over 40 days. I can only get to 1 nest the other is unreachable for us. They are free range always. We only pen them in the winter for safety.
TIA !!

their normal incubation under mama is 35 days and then you have to be sure As to when she started sitting she will sometimes sit for a few while laying an egg but not truly be sitting! We marked our calendar the second day she didn't leave the nest for anything longer than a drink and some food and we ended up being Right on time! It does seem to take forever though waiting for those fuzzy little babies!! We had to keep checking the calendar to only find we had just checked it a week ago but it had felt like an eternity!!

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Broody #2 confirmed. Babe is sitting on 12 eggs

She is a Blue Pied. I've noticed about a million mosquitos in her house. Is there anything safe you can do to get rid of them around ducks?

Awesome! Hopefully, it will be ducklings galore around here soon. I stuck some fake eggs (a.k.a. store bought eggs) in my empty nesting boxes hoping to get a duck to go broody in there. I still have those 18 eggs I need to get under a duck hen soon.

To go the natural route, you could try some lemon eucalyptus oil or lavender bouquets. If possible, get rid of any standing water around the house. I wish I had some better answers for you....

 

[Ren2014]

she did !! I could watch them for hours

A lot of my house work goes undone because I am watching my ducks, lol. It's great therapy so I have an excuse, lol.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

for you!

Were do you buy lemon eucalyptus oil?

Sure will. When I checked on them last, she must have rolled the pipped one over because I couldn't see it. Everything I know from incubating the pipped side should be up. I sure hope she knows what she is doing, lol. Given my Muscovy hatch rate in the incubator I am not going to give her any advice, lol

It will be interesting to see what colors I get. She went broody within a week of me getting her. She was with some chocolate drakes. Bob, black pied, is the only drake of breeding age here. Of course, it's always interesting to me to see what colors little ones are.

I'm an Amazon/Ebay shopper, but I suppose you could check out Target and Walmart. You might actually have better luck with Walmart.

Very exciting, Ren! I bet you'll get some blues and blacks. But who knows what recessive genes are hanging around.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

AWESOME! I am so happy it turned out well

How soon after hatching do they start laying again?

As soon as days afterwards they can start laying another clutch. Once I put the other eggs out there, both hens went right back on them. It's nice to have two mom's as they take turns eating, drinking, and bathing. It gives them more time off of the nest. Once these hatch in the next week or two, I'm going to try and break their broody streak.

 

[Miss Lydia]

3rd one sold, I'm so sad but they're going to a great home.

It kills me to have to find homes another reason for birth control lol

 

[Patriciaallison]

I want muscovys so bad! I can seem to find them or geese.
P

 

[Ren2014]

I want muscovys so bad! I can seem to find them or geese.
P

For some reason Muscovy babies don't ship well so it's hard to find a breeder. Check Craigslist.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

She has a nice clutch of eggs there!

@Patriciaallison , if you're on Facebook, there's more than likely many poultry groups specific to your state that you can find waterfowl on. You can try your luck locally that way as well.