ADVICE PLEASE! My 9 month long Muscovy has been laying eggs for an entire month!

[AmyA248]

Hello to all!

I really need some help and advice.
My 9 month and Muscovy girl has been laying eggs for almost a month!
She never went broody and this is her first clutch.
She lays them everywhere she pleases and if I try to gather them and put them in her brooding box she kicks them out and scatters them.

I’m very fearful that this is too much on her body and I separated her from our male this. Morning and brought her into the warm and comfortable barn with plenty of healthy treats, as I believe she needs a rest.
She has laid 26 eggs and my incubator is currently full with all different ages of fertilized eggs.
Sadly they all pass away between day 15 - 21, no matter how hard I try to keep the temperature and humidity perfect.
We want these ducklings so badly and I’m failing terribly at keeping them alive and I can’t figure out WHY they are dying and what I’m doing wrong!
I’m at a loss, as just when I think one may make it, it dies. It’s very sad and hard on the children and myself.

Could someone PLEASE tell me the correct temperature and humidity for Muscovy eggs?
Everything I read is contradictory.
Should I be misting and cooling or not?
What is it about this stage of development that they are not making it?

I really need help badly!

Thank you and blessings to all.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She will go broody when the conditions are right. As long as you are feeding a good ration formulated for waterfowl and offer oyster shells free choice she will be fine. For now she's just laying, which shows she's healthy. Most muscovy wait for warmer weather to brood. I'd put her back outside.

 

[AmyA248]

She will go broody when the conditions are right. As long as you are feeding a good ration formulated for waterfowl and offer oyster shells free choice she will be fine. For now she's just laying, which shows she's healthy. Most muscovy wait for warmer weather to brood. I'd put her back outside.

Hi!

So she’ll be ok with my male on her constantly? And laying for a month?
I worry that she’ll get worn out because he won’t leave my poor girl alone.

Thank you so much!

 

[Miss Lydia]

It isn't a good idea to only have one female to drake ratio your right in thinking he will wear her down. Young Muscovy drakes should have at least 4 females or more depending on space. My Muscovy drake is going on 12 yrs and he still has 3 females and still mating. He had more but they died of old age. He isn't near as aggressive a breeder as when he was young though. Thank goodness. When you female goes broody you'll have to give her space and privacy so he won't be messing with her once she starts sitting and also after hatch you want to keep dear ole dad from having access to the ducklings so he doesn't try and harm them. Drakes can be unpredictable. You want him to be able to see them but not be able to get to them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hi!

So she’ll be ok with my male on her constantly? And laying for a month?
I worry that she’ll get worn out because he won’t leave my poor girl alone.

Thank you so much!

If you can separate him out or get more females like @Miss Lydia suggested that would be best. The egg laying is okay. Constantly being mated is not. I should have clarified that. Sorry. As far as hatching I always let my females do it so I'm no help there.

 

[AmyA248]

It isn't a good idea to only have one female to drake ratio your right in thinking he will wear her down. Young Muscovy drakes should have at least 4 females or more depending on space. My Muscovy drake is going on 12 yrs and he still has 3 females and still mating. He had more but they died of old age. He isn't near as aggressive a breeder as when he was young though. Thank goodness. When you female goes broody you'll have to give her space and privacy so he won't be messing with her once she starts sitting and also after hatch you want to keep dear ole dad from having access to the ducklings so he doesn't try and harm them. Drakes can be unpredictable. You want him to be able to see them but not be able to get to them.

Thank you SO very much for getting back to me!
I am currently searching for a few more adult females. Sadly out other lovely girl was killed by a hawk in October. I had them out of the coupe to let them forage and enjoy our small pond. I always am right by their side, but I had to walk away for literally only 2 minutes to get my daughter’s bike out and by the time I ran back there was a giant hawk on top of her! But it was already too late and it was my fault! These hawks watch me and it saw it’s opportunity.
We were absolutely devastated!

We live in Connecticut and plan to get 3 more female ducklings as soon as they are ready, but I’m going to have to keep them in their brooder box and wait until they are ready to safely go outside.
I’d love to be able to locate a few adult females but I can’t seem to find any available.
For the sake of my girls health my husband insisted on separating them and giving her a break.
She’s already eating better and seems more comfortable and rested. I don’t know if get separation anxiety or if she’s going to get depressed and lonely. I wish she had gone broody so she could concentrate on her eggs, but seeing this was her first clutch it didn’t happen.
May I ask if her laying eggs for a full month is dangerous for her? I feel like she’s exhausted. Is this normal?

In changing the subject, as you know I am currently incubating staggering ages of eggs. My oldest is 23 days old. Sadly, I have not been able to get them to live past 22 days. They all have gotten to that age and then they pass away. I just can’t figure out what it is about that time period!
We now have a new incubator from Truck and Tractor Supply. He purchased a very good one after speaking with an employee.
I washed it and got it calibrated and ready.
But I’m reading so many conflicting opinions regarding what the correct temperature and humidity should be for Muscovy eggs. I honestly don’t know what the actual correct temperature and humidity should be.
Could you please tell me what is correct?
Right now it’s at 99.5 F and 40% humidity.


Thank you so very much!
Kindly,
Amy

 

[AmyA248]

It isn't a good idea to only have one female to drake ratio your right in thinking he will wear her down. Young Muscovy drakes should have at least 4 females or more depending on space. My Muscovy drake is going on 12 yrs and he still has 3 females and still mating. He had more but they died of old age. He isn't near as aggressive a breeder as when he was young though. Thank goodness. When you female goes broody you'll have to give her space and privacy so he won't be messing with her once she starts sitting and also after hatch you want to keep dear ole dad from having access to the ducklings so he doesn't try and harm them. Drakes can be unpredictable. You want him to be able to see them but not be able to get to them.

Here’s our new incubator!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Do you have a separate thermometer and hygrometer in there? If not, you will want to get at least one or two others to put in different areas of the incubator. Incubators are often inaccurate, unfortunately. That might be your issue there. It might be saying one thing but really could be way off. Hopefully that will help.

 

[KelseyBoxer]

Thats a good one! The temp and humidity sounds good to me. I have only hatched a few pekin ducks but lots of chicken eggs. Maybe Muscovy require different settings.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

She may be exhausted from being overmated, but not from laying. Muscovies can lay up to 180 eggs per year. With the day light hours increasing ducks are often laying daily this time of year. For the incubator you purchased 99.5F is the correct temperature and 40% humidity is perfectly fine. A lot of information online has the humidity for ducks very very high. The idea behind the high humidity is that ducks are often in the water and then combined with their body heat increase the humidity for the eggs. To text this out I bought a small round humidor hygrometer because I was curious just how humid it gets under a broody duck....The result? Under a broody duck is no where near those high humidity reccomendations. The humidity under my broody duck was almost the same as the ambient air temperature outside (give or take 1-2%). Since that little experiment I started dry hatching and have had a lot better hatch rates.