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Breaking broodiness without discouraging later use of nest
Hi all, I have a young Muscovy hen who hatched this spring, and she's shaping out to be the broodiest duck I've ever had! She and her broodmate started laying in November (which I expect to taper off for winter). I'm super happy they're using the shelves I installed in the duck house, which are... -
What is this duck behavior?
Hi all! I have two young blue runner males, four months old. They both have been doing this randomly for a couple weeks now. See video: sometimes they will be chilling in the pond and quite suddenly and randomly will "buck" while letting out one big squeaky honk like a donkey. My daughter is... -
Ducklings unfortunately seem to have imprinted on humans
Unfortunately I think these ducklings may have imprinted on people a little too much, would appreciate any advice. My first batch of brooder ducklings wasn't like this. Six days ago, three Muscovy ducklings hatched in the incubator. They have lived with each other from day 1. Two days after... -
Question about egg position during incubation
Hi all, I have a question regarding incubation which I can't seem to find a solid answer on. These are Muscovy eggs if it matters. When lockdown begins and autoturner is turned off, do I need to ensure the air cells are facing up, like so: Or does it not matter? Follow-on question: Do it... -
Advice needed please--egg in the process of hatching outside, but getting down to the teens tonight
Question: Should I leave the nearly-hatched egg with momma duck in this cold snap, or put it in a yogurt incubator inside? Details: I have a muscovy hen sitting in the duck house with one egg in the process of hatching. It externally pipped almost 48 hours ago and peeping inside. The thing is... -
Muscovy wet feather
Hello all, My male muscovy has a bad case of wet feather and I can't figure out why. He's otherwise perfectly healthy. His preen gland looks normal and secretes oil which I can feel on my fingers. All my ducks are 8 months old. His feathers were fine for his first few months of life, and he... -
Duck injured leg
Is there anything else I can be doing for my injured duck? A week ago one of my 8wk old muscovies had somehow gotten injured inside the duck house overnight. She will not place any weight on her right leg and her right hock is significantly swollen. After a day of no improvement I took her... -
Angel wing progress
A couple of my muscovies are starting to get angel wing. So today I got some pantyhose, and well... I'll just show you the results. I suppose I'm not looking for any specific advice (though I welcome it! The health of the birds comes first). Just started this thread to share the hilarity... -
Beginnings of angel wing?
My ducks are six weeks old. One of my Muscovy girls has some seriously droopy wings while her feathers are coming in. Possibly turning outward a bit? Should I be concerned/start intervening? Thank you! -
Question about ratios with muscovies/non-muscovies
Hi, I appreciate all the help I've gotten from this wonderful forum. I'm back with another question. So my ducks are five weeks old and I'm about 95% sure that out of eight muscovies, six of them are drakes 😭 So after I somehow rehome five of the boys, that leaves me with one muscovy drake... -
Sexing almost-five-week-old muscovies
Hi, would any of you muscovites like to take a stab at sexing my almost-five-week-old muscovies? There are eight, numbered in this video here. #2 and #4 (Mohawk and Tiny, lol) are smaller, while the rest are about the same size. Interestingly, the very biggest one (#5) is farthest along in... -
3wk old duckling suddenly having trouble walking/falling over
I noticed Cheerio the Welsh Harlequin duckling having issues when I took the crew outside this afternoon: She had zero issues this morning. Now she keeps falling on her back and walking weirdly. Not favoring one of her feet, seems to affect both sides. Ever since yesterday I noticed the... -
Does this gosling preen gland look normal?
Hi, new to owning poultry here. Thanks in advance for any insight! I have one Pilgrim gosling with my ducklings. One week old now. I just noticed her preening and rubbing on her oil gland. Does her oil gland look normal for a one week old? Does this mean she'll start to produce oil? I thought... -
Can we keep Welsh Harlequin hens with a Muscovy drake?
Hi all. New here and brand new to keeping poultry. We're planning on getting ducks this spring, and tentatively settled on ordering (from Metzer) 6x straight run Muscovy, 2x female Silver Appleyard, and 1x female Pilgrim goose. We will keep only one male Muscovy. After reading more about the...