Questions on Muscovy's

[ZimDuck81]

Morning all

I have a few questions about muscovys..I have 5 breeding females and one drake! My questions are about the girls because my Drake seems to be doing his job perfectly..

My white female is an excellent mother and is super aggressive and so far her first clutch of 10 hatched and have survived to 5 weeks so far.. she is great and obviously my favorite!

My Black female has just hatched 3 ducklings out of a clutch of 11, not a great ratio and is not aggressive at all and doesn't seem nearly as maternal as my white one!

My one female has also recently hatched her second clutch and again is not very maternal at all and will often leave them in the care of the sole surviving drake from her last clutch of 6( I had a very hungry mongoose that was a problem) Although its very sweet of him to look after the babies he is destined for a greater more delicious purpose.. He is 12 weeks old and currently sitting at 7lbs!

The other two females are still sitting and out of 24 eggs 15 are showing life, 9 eggs were from a nest that they just decided to not lay in anymore and were a couple weeks older than the others..

Is it normal for them to be hatching such a small amount from a clutch of 10-12 eggs?? I also thought they would be more aggressive mothers.. At this rate I'm going to demote them to egg duty instead of raising the babies! Its hard enough keeping them alive from hawks, eagles, pythons and cobras.. So far all the females out of the babies I will keep but the males are destined for the kitchen! Im aiming for 12-14 females and two drakes!

If any Muscovy Gurus can give me advice on on them being better mothers I would be grateful..

cheers

ZimDuck81

 

[Miss Lydia]

My experience with my Muscovy's is some just are better moms, Those that are get to do it again those that aren't don't. As for hatch rate I am not sure what could be the cause.

Beautiful scovy's

Welcome to BYC

 

[quackingdom]

With natural incubation, I've always gotten a 100% hatch rate (of fertile eggs). My ducks have never failed to hatch a fertile egg, with clutches of up to 18 eggs.

Some have been more protective or aggressive than others. Some of my ladies will try to rip your hand off if you stick it in their nest. Others complain about it but don't put up any fight and never peck. Regardless, all have done their job.

I'm sure it's possible to find Muscovies that aren't very good mothers, but I don't think it's exactly normal.