Broody Muscovy Hen

[Peep Talk]

My chocolate pied muscovy hen just started laying eggs about 2 weeks ago. Well, she hasn't been coming into the coop to roost at night for the past 4 nights, so finally my daughter found out where she was going. She is sitting on a nest of lord knows how many and what kind of duck and chicken eggs. She has all kinds of down feathers in her nest and she is an absolutely die-hard broody. Do muscovies usually go this broody this quickly? I will hopefully be able to keep this thread updated with pictures and I will take some tomorrow when it is daylight. As for the chicken eggs, once she hatches them, I am going to take the chicks from her and let her keep the ducklings. Otherwise, she will lead them to the pond and drown the poor babies. Is there anything else I should consider during her broody escapade?

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Those chicks will hatch before the othe duck eggs & Scovy eggs. Scovy's eggs take 34-35 days to hatch. Your hen may abandon her duckling eggs or kill the chicks. I was unaware that one of my EE's had laid an egg in my Scovy's nest. Chick hatched and Charlotte threw it out before it could even dry.

I would take the chicken eggs out now at the very least or make another plan to get them out of the nest fast once they hatch.

 

[Peep Talk]

keeperofthehearth, thank you for the information! I am going to candle the eggs tomorrow because I'm not sure exactly how long she has had this nest to be honest. If the chicken eggs end up having development, I am going to get my incubator started up so that I can transfer the eggs from the nest to the incubator.

Do scovys normally go broody this easily and do they make good moms? This is the first time I've had a duck go broody ever, so I'm a big newbie with the ducks. I'm assuming it would be pretty much like having a chicken hen go broody, which I have had many times. Is there anything else I should consider while she is broody?

Thank you!

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Scovy's make excellent moms. VERY protective and territorial though. Keeping them fm going broody when you don't want them to is the hard part.

Try to keep the chooks fm laying in her nest though. Don't know WHY some of them prefer to lay their eggs in the duck nest.

Silly girls!!!

 

[Peep Talk]

I don't mind her going broody at all. I like the idea of her being a mom

And I have enough chicken eggs coming in to cover for her not laying.

As for the chickens laying in her nest, I don't know what the deal is, but the hen that is laying in her nest is my Easter Egger hen. LOL! Guess those EE's like to lay in someone else's nest.

I will go out there tomorrow and see what is going on with the egg numbers. I'm just hoping that some of those eggs are fertile.

She is such a sweet girl and lets me and the kids walk right up to her and pick her up and give her love.

I'd love for her to be a mommy.

 

[keeperofthehearth]

It was my EE's also who always want to sneak their eggs in the Scovy nests. Light blue and green eggs hide real well in amongst Scovy eggs!

 

[Peep Talk]

LOL! This is true! And she has them tucked in the middle where you can't really tell.

Silly girl. She thinks she can handle them all. Before I take them from her, I will take a picture and post it of the whole nest of what she has gathered. Then I will mark the eggs that she has so I can take the ones that aren't marked each day. Silly chickens. THey should just go broody if they want their eggs to hatch

Lazy bums.

 

[brahmapapa]

Muscovy ducks make great mothers, it sometimes amazes me how many they can cover and hatch. One word of caution, do you have a big drake, most of them are. As you know they are great at catching insects etc. what you may not know is they are also great mousers. Back to the word of caution...Ihad a great duck set a large clutch of eggs, i knew when they were to hatch and when they were hatching i left her alone to do her thing. She hatched them all but I never got a single one. The day she hatched them i was walking down to the barn and i could see the drake tossing each one into the air and swallowing them down. He ate the entire clutch. I don't know if this was an act of protection, some animals would rather kill thier young than lose them to a predator, in this case the predator might have been construed to be me. He may have just been eating them as he would a mouse, which i had seen him do in the past. I guess the word of caution is keep the drake away from them or you might lose them. BEST OF LUCK......TOM

 

[Peep Talk]

Tom, thank you for the word of caution. I sure hope nothing like that happens. I'm thinking about seperating her from the flock as my chicken girls are being a true pain! They keep kicking her off the nest, stealing her food, spilling her water. Do you think this would be a bad idea? Right now, it is pooring down rain outside and I had to put a shelter over her little head because she decided to make her nest in between my two out buildings. Should I try to scoop up her and her nest and stick her inside a crate out of the rain and away from the others so they can't mess with her?
Please let me know what everyone thinks! This is my first time with a broody duck and she is so laid back. She doesn't fight off the chickens to protect herself and I worry about her all night long.

 

[Suzie]

I have a Muscovy sat on eggs at the moment - she stays inside at all times - she has freedom to roam but she prefers to sit on her eggs and only comes out to bathe and poop - she has food and water in her accommodation though - I have had one Muscovy broody before and she was much the same - wanted to be isolated from the rest.

I will keep her separated until she has raised her chicks long enough so that they can (hopefully) be old enough to escape from and male Muscovy that may take a dislike to them, I have to say however that Elvis is normally a gentleman..... I still won't risk any potential problem though!

My Muscovies don't tend to hatch their own - they hatch Indian Runners - don't tell Elvis though...... I have never had any success with a Muscovy egg hatching despite the fact that the Muscovy duck has been sitting on eggs for 32-40 days - all of the eggs were infertile... and Yes... they smell awful when they are opened - usually by a bored Muscovy female.. the smell is something to forget