Cajun Duck Mom has broody Muscovy!

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LTAY1946 said:
I don't know about taking an orphan. Maybe it would work better with ducks. Sometimes a newly hatched chick can be slipped under a hen at night that has an egg under her and will accept it.
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Really? That's so cool. I have been reading that someone has a hen that incubates but is not a very good mom and other hens take over. So, I'm going to look into all the suggestions.
 
LoriJoA said:
Hello BYC Peeps! I became a duck mom when I was looking to jazz up my Louisiana pond with some ducks and fell in LOVE w/flock life :) I've had as little as 5 and as many as 20 in my flock.

I've been enjoying BYC for a couple of years now but just officially joined today and I have a problem in my current 6 duck flock.

I have a Muscovy hen, Rogue, that has gone broody. She has had 2 sets of clutches in the past. The first clutch was difficult in that she had around 4-6 eggs. Only two hatched and one duckling didn't survive. The second clutch was earlier this year and she hatched the entire clutch of 12! With no casualties and every single egg hatched!

6 hens and 6 drakes were too much to add to my backyard free-range flock. So, I found a nice farmer that was looking to expand his flock and took them all. Even the 2 that had angel-wing :)

Within a couple of weeks, she was setting on another clutch, or it was the beginning stages when we went on vacation for two weeks. Then the tragedy happened. My housekeeper spotted an enormous snake in our yard that was "lumpy" like he was full of eggs. He was quickly relocated but we believe he cleaned out the coup. And after 2 months of waiting for her to lay again, poor sweet Rogue is still sitting on an empty nest.

At first, I was feeding and watering her by her nest box in the coup, until I realized she hadn't laid any more eggs. Then I took the food and water away but it didn't make much of a difference. She does come out every few days, when she's really hungry and thirsty to eat with her flock mates i.e. 3 hens and 2 drakes, none of which are setting. But as soon as I try to look in the box to make sure she hasn't laid more eggs, she hisses and runs back to her nest. Muscovy's are the only ducks that incubate for 35 days, but it's been two cycles.

I thought by not agitating her and leaving her alone to "ride it out" would work, but it hasn't. When she's not setting a clutch, she is my only flyer thus the name, Rogue. I'm worried if I lock her totally out of the coup she will fly off and make a nest somewhere else although she's stayed close to home in the past. Her first clutch was in the same nest box where she's at now. Her second clutch was in the neighbors front yard flowerbed and we had to round up her and 12 ducklings once they hatched!

Apologies for the lengthy post. Trying to give all the details as I cannot find anyone that had this type of issue. It is time for me to take a more serious approach so that her health does not continue to decline. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks-Lori
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poor girl has been through so much. I dont have muscovies but @Miss Lydia does.
with a regular duck I'd try to break her from it like you do with a chicken, by putting her in a crate or cage (with food and water) for a few days. Like going to jail :( Seems she has done more than her share of brooding this year already
 

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