Is my Muscovy hen a cross breed? How can I tell and does that make her infertile??

[WhistlePig]

I am brand new to Muscovy ducks and only have one at the moment:

When my drake lost his mate I thought I'd get him another and a nearby Craigslist post led me to a flock of muscovy ducks. I assess the seller as a nice enough person and it all seemed innocent BUT... he showed me his flock of Muscovy ducks hatched out in "late fall/early winter", making them somewhere around 4 months now. I was looking for a female so chose a pretty little grey hen with minimal red around her not-so-prominent bill. That was all I had to go on to ensure I got a girl.

It's been 4 or so weeks since I got her and she has bonded well with my drake, surprisingly. I am sure she is female but my issue lies with her getting older and older and basically NO redness is spreading around her bill, NO caruncles around the eyes or bill at all. The only redness is a bit around the top of the bill. ALSO, when the guy caught her for me she quacked! (She does do that sweet little noise girls make)

At first I took that as a good sign that she was a she as in my experience with other ducks drakes make the raspy noise and ducks quack and that's the best way to tell. Now I'm thinking maybe that's a sign she's a mix. I would have no issue with her being such except I read that when you breed regular ducks with Muscovies they produce Mule-like offspring in that they can't reproduce. I've also heard wonderful things about Muscovy mamas so it would be great to let her try at some point.

So here are my questions:

Is there a definitive way to tell she's not full Muscovy? (I'm probably not going to bother the guy from CL.)
Should she be more developed in the caruncles/redness by now? Do some full Muscovy hens not get very red?
Do Muscovy crosses lay eggs even though they're "infertile"?
When do Muscovy hens start laying normally?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Image?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Muacovies don't quack. They make other sounds like hissing

 

[Canadian Wind]

I've found my females won't develop much caruncle growth until a bit later. Also, I have heard mine quack when stressed (such as being picked up) and I know mine are pure Muscovy. It's just very rare, they usually will just make their sweet little trills or hiss.

A picture would definitely help though. What colour is she?

 

[WhistlePig]

Image?

Yeah that would help I should have taken one before they were locked up for the night. I can get one tomorrow for sure.

 

[WhistlePig]

I've found my females won't develop much caruncle growth until a bit later. Also, I have heard mine quack when stressed (such as being picked up) and I know mine are pure Muscovy. It's just very rare, they usually will just make their sweet little trills or hiss.

A picture would definitely help though. What colour is she?

Thanks, that is good info as I was pretty worried that it was unheard of in Muscovies. The only time I've heard her quack was when she was caught. I can get a pic out tomorrow when it's light for sure. She is a beautiful dappled grey w/white. I guess that makes her a piebald but it's more grey than I've seen in pictures of that coloration. Isn't that trill precious?? I am so surprised at how much I like her, it was one of those necessity things and I didn't have much expectation except that she might fly away!

 

[Canadian Wind]

I shall await the posting of the picture tomorrow! Can't wait to see her, I love the blues (as you can tell by my avatar)

If you worry about her flying, you can clip her flight feathers. And yes, the trill is what made me fall in love with them. So sweet! In fact, one of my first Muscovy is named Sweetie because of her soft trill!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have heard my Muscovy females shoot out a quack when picked up.

 

[WhistlePig]

Sorry all, yesterday was busy but I got some today. It was hard to get close to these two and my camera only zooms so far but here you are! I am really partial to her now. The fact that she bonded to my drake and is really very quiet and sweet is much of it but she's very beautiful too, in my opinion. Under her wings the body is a dark, evenly dappled grey.

Anybody know if she will lay eggs if she IS a cross? I'm having a hard time finding clear info on this.

 

[Canadian Wind]

She is beautiful! And I think she is indeed full Muscovy.

Cross-breeds will still lay eggs, btw. They just won't be fertile.