Hybrid hen is laying eggs

[Kessel23]

I am not sure if these guys normally lay eggs, I know they are sterile like a mule and I assumed the hens did not lay. A broody Muscovy hen hatched two Muscovy x Pekin ducklings very late last summer and one ended up being a drake, he hisses and I have seen him mate, he missed so I unfortunately got a good look at his junk. The other hybrid is much smaller than the drake and quacks like a mallard derived hen so she has traits of a hen from both species. I moved the pair into my second coop with the mallard derived ducks and soon after I found a small egg in the run, found one again the next day to. I was not sure who was laying them but then today I say the hybrid pop one out while walking.

Took me a few hours to find the first two so they popped from the polar vortex stuff. These are very small, a normal muscovy egg is 3 times the size. These are around the size of a bantam chicken egg.

I filled up a tub for the ducks today, because it is 34F right now which is a huge jump from the -50F on Wednesday. Anyways, the pair of hybrids is to the left of the tub.

 

[Kessel23]

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I am not sure if these guys normally lay eggs, I know they are sterile like a mule and I assumed the hens did not lay. A broody Muscovy hen hatched two Muscovy x Pekin ducklings very late last summer and one ended up being a drake, he hisses and I have seen him mate, he missed so I unfortunately got a good look at his junk. The other hybrid is much smaller than the drake and quacks like a mallard derived hen so she has traits of a hen from both species. I moved the pair into my second coop with the mallard derived ducks and soon after I found a small egg in the run, found one again the next day to. I was not sure who was laying them but then today I say the hybrid pop one out while walking.

Took me a few hours to find the first two so they popped from the polar vortex stuff. These are very small, a normal muscovy egg is 3 times the size. These are around the size of a bantam chicken egg.

I filled up a tub for the ducks today, because it is 34F right now which is a huge jump from the -50F on Wednesday. Anyways, the pair of hybrids is to the left of the tub.

You had me curious so I just checked the Duck Bible, Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread. It says that hybrids produced by a Muscovy drake x Mallard-derived-female are large, infertile and usually do not lay. But, “Mallard-derived-drake x Muscovy female produces offspring that take approximately 5 weeks to hatch and have considerable size difference between the sexes. The resulting hybrid females usually lay small eggs that do not hatch. Males from this cross are sometimes fertile.”
Love the pictures btw!

 

[Kessel23]

The dad was a Pekin and mom was a muscovy, so hopefully she will start laying normal sized eggs soon, I will put some in the incubator if she does.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

The dad was a Pekin and mom was a muscovy, so hopefully she will start laying normal sized eggs soon, I will put some in the incubator if she does.

I don’t think you read that quite right. She will continue to lay small eggs and they will not hatch. Your male mule might be fertile though.

 

[Kessel23]

Yeah, read it wrong. Well I will see if the male is fertile this spring. Does it say anything about weather I should breed him to muscovy hens or mallard derived hens? Or does it not matter?

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Yeah, read it wrong. Well I will see if the male is fertile this spring. Does it say anything about weather I should breed him to muscovy hens or mallard derived hens? Or does it not matter?

Good question! Unfortunately, I quoted all it said so I don’t have a good answer.

 

[ANightPerson]

Yeah, read it wrong. Well I will see if the male is fertile this spring. Does it say anything about weather I should breed him to muscovy hens or mallard derived hens? Or does it not matter?

I'd try with both, put him in with females of each species. Or, you can try putting him with whichever he acts like most. I've heard of mallard-derived breeds having a bit of Muscovy in them, but never Muscovy with a bit of mallard. It can't hurt to try.

 

[chickens really]

@sourland
He knows about Mule Ducks..

 

[HuffleClaw]

Sterile doesn’t mean she can’t lay eggs. It means infertile or unable to produce offspring. So in my opinion, it was totally normal for her to lay. Congratulations on those eggs btw