'Broody' Muscovy Duck?

[silverdragonfly]

Hi

Thanks for looking at my question- hope you can help. We recently bought 3 female Muscovy ducks to roam around the garden. We've had them for about 2.5 monthes now and they've been laying a lot. The littlest one has laid 2 clutches in hidey-holes round the garden (which we removed because I knew they wouldn't hatch)- and seems okay mentally despite the loss. I placed 2 nesting boxes (the 20 liter buckets) next to their pond and now one duck (not the little one) has been almost solidly living in the buckets for 2 weeks. She is not on eggs but hisses when we come near and only leaves once or twice a day. We're getting worried that she'll never come out or roam the garden with her flock-mates- is this unusual behavior - is she trying to lay eggs? Should I remove the boxes?

Thanks so much- if anyone has any input at all please let me know. Still new to poultry and may be missing something obvious.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/793066/how-to-break-a-broody-duck

Hi
Glad you joined the flock. I would try to break her of this broodines. The above link is about broody ducks. I would remove the nests and be extra diligent about collecting eggs hopefully she will come out of it

 

[Trent Hardy]

On this note, has anyone ever heard of the practice of putting broody chickens in pillow cases and hanging them up for a while to stop them being broody? It's not anything I'm condoning or anything, but my grandfather told me that's how they used to do it...

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

On this note, has anyone ever heard of the practice of putting broody chickens in pillow cases and hanging them up for a while to stop them being broody?  It's not anything I'm condoning or anything, but my grandfather told me that's how they used to do it...

No I can't say I've ever heard of this before. I wouldn't try it either.

 

[dotporter]

You'd be surprised what and where a Muscovy can hatch. I've seen them go broody like this, it just means they REALLLY wanted to keep that nest and now they're pretending they still have one. If you have a cage and a heavy sheet or blanket you can try to reset her a little. Put her in a cage with food and water in a safe place like the garage or a mudroom, cover the cage so it's dark and keep her there for two days. If it's not dark, it won't work. Or, if you have the time and a fertile chicken egg, put a chicken egg under her and let her hatch it. good luck with the new girls.

 

[Going Quackers]

Classic Muscovy behaviour they are broody crazies. Seriously, just like silkies...(chickens lol)

I usually remove eggs if i don't want a clutch, some will break others don't... if you don't have a drake there is little point in allowing it to continue unless you plan on buying eggs that are fertile. I don't have nest boxes not that will stop them, we actually just thwarted another nest from a lady i let sit a clutch in the summer.. under a tarp covering a farm implement , she did her last nest there... so i guess she figured try again lol

 

[dotporter]

Muscovy are almost human in their personalities. You get the normal hens who just go out and socialize and do their thing... then sometimes you get the complete nutcase. I think that's why people like them so much. I look at my ducks and a lot of days I can honestly say "Yep, that's how I'm feeling today." From days when prissy is sulking in a corner knocking the crap out of anyone who gets within fifty feet of her to those days when you just want to jump a little higher to catch that butterfly... of course I don't usually EAT them when I catch them, but that is NOT the point. wait, did I have a point? Oh, ya, Muscovy are nuts.

 

[silverdragonfly]

Hi guys,

Thanks so much, took the nest away and although she made lots of noise,she is now sulking with her flock under the deck. Never thought that ducks could have such personalities, we only started because our neighbor was looking to get rid of her adolescent ducks- and we thought they would eat the snails in the veggie garden (then they ate the veggie garden). Its been great and having the duckies follow us around the garden is super cute.

Thanks again for the friendly advice- really look forward becoming a better duck owner on here.

 

[dotporter]

hehe, I've learned that the Muscovy are only allowed in the garden with corn which is high enough for them not to eat it, squash which isn't in the sweet squash varieties (they LOVE acorn squash), they usually don't eat too much of broccoli, they don't really bother radishes, but they'll eat carrot greens to the ground... Yep, Muscovy are great in gardens, so long as you aren't growing anything they LIKE. Oh, and they don't really bother green zucchini but they ate my silver zucchini. Go figure.