How long do Muscovy ducks lay eggs?

[Miss Lydia]

I hope someone can help me
I have a year old ( presumably) Muscovy female duck that I rescued a year ago
She spends half the year at our farm in New York and half the year in our backyard in Miami.
She follows me everywhere and hangs out in the living room whenever I am not looking with the dogs
She started laying one egg a day a few months ago but a few days ago she laid 2 soft eggs.
Her diet is live meal worms ,snails plus I try and give her scratch and some egg maker - but she doesn't like it. I give her dried cat food too.
I have tried fresh veggies and fruits ... She shakes her head...
Any ideas?
She sleeps in the house at night in a big cage... She is very comfortable in there .. I do that because she is afraid of the dark and stands at the back door
Any help would be so greatly appreciated.

sleeping in a big crate is fine keeps her safe from predators at night, sounds like she maybe lacking in calcium which is very important with egg layers. have you tried offering her some oyster shell? not in her reg feed but just a bowel by itself. My Muscovy's will eat it as they need it. you may want to cut back a bit on the worms and snails to see if you can get her to eat more egg maker, I know they love the protein but she really needs the extra calcium right now from the egg maker and also the oyster shell. It's like a child if you put a good hearty meal on the table and some cookies guess which they will go for, Not saying the worms and snails aren't good for them just cut back a bit till you see her egg shells harden up again. My Scovy's love dried meal worms.

 

[BlackChicken]

Ok - that seems to be the consensus on hatching them out.  I have one duck doing that right now in an isolated area, she's on her own 10+ eggs - but have another duck trying to - but she cannot because other chickens lay eggs in the duck spot - and so she ends up with chickens always by her laying eggs - worse - it's the favorite laying spot - they all line up for it like women at a restroom!  What do you do in this situation?  Thanks for the info!  

Don't know what part of Canada you're from - but I went to Vancouver a year ago - WOW it was beautiful!

Did you ever figure out what to do about the chickens laying in the duck's nest? We have the same situation going on! We added a box so our duck would lay in it, but now all the chickens are also using it (even though they have their own nesting boxes that they used to use before this new box was added). We are currently collecting all of the eggs because they would freeze at night, but I don't know if the chickens might discourage the muscovy from becoming broody in the future since they all want to use the same box.

 

[puppies9099]

coop up the chickens with other nesting spots until the duck sits on her eggs

 

[allenk44]

I might be able to get ducks for my bday in May n I'm just wondering what kind I should get
-needs to be a good egg layer
- pretty
- quiet
Are girls or boys nicer? Whatever one is than that one
- not so messy my mom will get mad
Any suggestion is appreciated thanks

 

[SunnyAlberta]

I might be able to get ducks for my bday in May n I'm just wondering what kind I should get
-needs to be a good egg layer
- pretty
- quiet
Are girls or boys nicer? Whatever one is than that one
- not so messy my mom will get mad
Any suggestion is appreciated thanks

I chose Muscovies because they are quiet and less messy with water than other ducks. "Pretty" is in the eye of the beholder.

Muscovies come in many colours and patterns, so you'll likely find one that is attractive to you and your mother. A boy is not needed if you are just wanting eggs. Where I live the boys are raised for meat.

 

[Going Quackers]

I chose Muscovies because they are quiet and less messy with water than other ducks. "Pretty" is in the eye of the beholder.

Muscovies come in many colours and patterns, so you'll likely find one that is attractive to you and your mother. A boy is not needed if you are just wanting eggs. Where I live the boys are raised for meat.

Can someone inform mine of this?

Muscovy are decent layers and are more quiet than other ducks, females do honk/quack but mostly use a trill, chirp, coo, drakes only hiss/huff, technically they are not even ducks more lean towards to the goose .. as they are not mallard derived birds. If you want eggs you'll need females, as SA said you don't need the drakes to produce the eggs, both sexes can be equally nice.

As for mess, ducks are messy period. They need water to consume food, water to bathe in and adore mud and mucking about. If your used to chickens ducks will be that terrible house guest lol Plus sides, ducks are hardy, good foragers and generally speaking less prone to disease.

 

[livinthedream2]

I have 2 Muscovy ducks - 1 male 1 female. She is sitting on the eggs (20 or so) and I think the hatch date is around 4/29.
I candled 2 of the eggs and there were definitely live embryos.

At night they are in a secure pen approx. 12' x 15', in the daytime they can be out and about.
Question: Will the male bother the ducklings after they hatch? Does he need to be separated from the mom and babies?

My Midget White turkey is sitting on eggs but I think most of them are duds -- we candled and removed 12 eggs of hers and left 4 because we were unsure.

Only at this for 6 months -- SO much to learn!

 

[Aberhard]

Hi, I'm a beginner with a question about Muscovy ducks. At what age will my drake be fertile? I have 9 girls with 1 drake. 2 proven broody layers with their 5 daughters from a different drake. Then I purchased a young unrelated drake who was sold with 3 young girls. The Drake does not yet have the red colour all the way up his face, so I know he is still young. What age can a drake mate and fertilise eggs? One of my girls has 8 eggs in a clutch and is laying one per day. I don't know whether to leave them for her to hatch or not? We are in Melbourne Australia thanks Jo

 

[ladyarabella]

I got my big drake some gals a month ago, he was trying to lov on my eight chooks, aurora my grey gal was laying every day with out fail, the other gal Tilly shud b laying she a little younger but
Could my 8 month old drake hav impregnanted them already he def jumps them, if so shud I separate them from the chooks, now to get them comfortable to nest? Or could they just b having a break from laying
I live in Australia and it's getting warmer
I free range them in a large backyard lock them away at night, I recently added a coupe in the their night enclosure that the chooks seem to huddle down with all three ducks
squirt My drake always lays at the entrance ( like his protecting all my gals) but Aorora stop laying prior to this change, but not having her own private nest could this b a factor?

I feed them all sorts of food scraps laying pellets and mash, calcium grit and all the egg shells, meal worms and occasionally crickets, the gal ducks r very healthy looking and hav no signs of over harassment
Neither hav low bellies but it's only bin two weeks since the last duck egg
Any advice or reassure ment would b welcome
Also wats the recommended amount of pellets per duck/ chicken mayb I'm not giving them enough grains
And could wild birds giv them worms again even though I wormed the a month ago

 

[ladyarabella]

I'm pretty sure it's bout 8 months