How broody are Muscovys?

[RAREROO]

I have a little assorted flock of ducks that I just let free range and over the past 3 mos, 3 of them have gone missing and I'm down to a Blue swedish drake, a black swedish hen, a rouen hen, and two buff hens who are great broodies. One of them is setting for the third time this year and the other is barely old enough to lay and she has started setting.
So anyway I like broody ducks and I heard that muscovys are great broodies and I would imagine their size would allow them to set a lot of eggs, and they roost in trees so predators won't get them.
So I think I may be interested in getting a few blue and chocolate pied ones if I can find some to set duck eggs and other fowl, I wanted to know how often they set and any other pros and cons about them.
I would also like some pics of blue pied, choc. pied, or any other interesting colored and pied muscovys.
EDIT

I thought of a few more questions:

Are they as messy as other domestic ducks?
Do they grow as fast as other ducks?
And can they be kept in an uncovered pen if I decide to pen them up? will their wings need to be clipped?

 

[abluechipstock]

muscovies are very broody often raising 20 ducklings at a time also raising 2 to 3 broods a year, i had beautiful ones, chocolates and blues, i lost a few when they went broody and a fox grabbed them off the nest at night, made me furious, they would roost on top of the house when they weren't breeding, you know you're a redneck if you have ducks on the roof!

 

[TK Poultry]

VERY they go broody constantly

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

These are not pied but the pair hatched 30 together

the 2 white chicks are becomming pied

 

[Weewanona]

Very!

Here are some pics of just some of this years hatchlings. We had over 70 babies this year.

 

[becky3086]

Wow, that is a LOT of ducklings, lol.

Seems like they would make a very good animal for us self sufficient minded people.

 

[rainplace]

On a related note, will they sit on another duck's eggs if they are put in there?

How territorial is the female muscovy? I'm scared to incubate and was thinking about getting a female muscovy to set my runner's eggs.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
They are more likely than other ducks to defend their nests and they fight like game cocks when needed. those sharp nails make for perching in trees are their best tools! I always used heavy gloves and long sleeves when 'interacting' with broody hens. keep in mind that their own eggs take 5 weeks to hatch while other ducks only take 4 weeks. if you can, wait for a week before slipping the runners in with hers. Or you can try to change runners for all her eggs. The important thing is not to get her confused with a early runner hatch while her own eggs are a week away from hatch.

 

[rainplace]

Sorry to hijack this thread but...

I had forgotten about the different hatch times. What's a good broody duck then?

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
The muscovy hen.