Keeping a watchful and documented eye on a newly born Muscovy clutch

[ruthhope]

Those muscovy are really lovely. The mother is gorgeous and the new ducklings cute. I see you are well hooked on muscovy now, @DJBass88 !!

These are the latest photos I took of your original 2 that you rescued and treated their spraddle leg. The little one is now a normal sized black female with a lovely blue sheen. Despite your anxieties that she was too small, she was just at the lower end of the size range. The larger one is a drake, and he has a green sheen like the ones in your photos. That small female duckling is the bossy one!

They should be ready to release on private land this week. They were not ready when I took the photos, Sept 6, because the drake still had down on his lower chest and belly. He needs to be fully feathered before they can go.

They were fostered by a muscovy female who has a deformed leg after being hit by a car. The foster dad, another muscovy who had been hit by a car, took an active interest. Many ducks will not take other's ducklings or even take back their own ducklings after a week or more separation, but the foster parents have taken in lots of ducklings over the last two years. There are another two rescues that are similarly sized with them and all four may be released together

 

[Muscovy Duck Chronicles]

Those muscovy are really lovely. The mother is gorgeous and the new ducklings cute. I see you are well hooked on muscovy now, @DJBass88 !!

These are the latest photos I took of your original 2 that you rescued and treated their spraddle leg. The little one is now a normal sized black female with a lovely blue sheen. Despite your anxieties that she was too small, she was just at the lower end of the size range. The larger one is a drake, and he has a green sheen like the ones in your photos. That small female duckling is the bossy one!

They should be ready to release on private land this week. They were not ready when I took the photos, Sept 6, because the drake still had down on his lower chest and belly. He needs to be fully feathered before they can go.View attachment 3944728View attachment 3944729
They were fostered by a muscovy female who has a deformed leg after being hit by a car. The foster dad, another muscovy who had been hit by a car, took an active interest. Many ducks will not take other's ducklings or even take back their own ducklings after a week or more separation, but the foster parents have taken in lots of ducklings over the last two years. There are another two rescues that are similarly sized with them and all four may be released togetherView attachment 3944731

Wow....Im so glad they get a real chance at life. Thank you for posting these pictures and taking care of them until they can re-locate, it means a lot.

The male duck and what it went through changed a portion of my life. It fought off crows (Witnessed this), defended itself from hawks, Spraddle leg, niacin deficiency in a short amount of time. While I wont take in a duck again due to laws, I absolutely do not regret helping save that little guy and its sister. I continue to look after its three clutch mates and of course its Mama whom we are following in this thread.

For anyone else curious about the adventure:

The duckling stayed in this water for two days after falling behind its clutch mates until I witnessed it fight off 2-3 crows inspired me to do everything I could to save it.

Shortly after being rescued and lots of warming up:

2 weeks later:

 

[Muscovy Duck Chronicles]

September 16th: (Day 5, 10 ducklings)

So everything here is in the AM hours, I could not find them in the PM at all. Where is mama taking them if not the lake? May have to set out on an adventure if I dont see them tomorrow.

Anyways, Today was an eventful day. I found them on high alert and three big predator birds in the sky. I stayed nearby and eventually they left. Afterwards Mama duck trusted me so much she allowed a few babies to run up to me after I sat down at a safe few steps away from them. As such, I was able to get some great pictures and really look for distinguishing features between the ducklings. Spoiler alert: They look copy/pasted 10 times. Even the spots, Lines on their head, eyes, all look the same.

Lets get the negative out of the way. Nature is Nature. We all know and understand it. However for ducklings, I just can't stomach the idea of them getting picked up by a Heron, hawk or eagle. Any other way doesn't unsettle me but those do. So these three hawks actually circled them a few times but thought better than to make a play for the ducklings. Good decision by them. Little did they know I had rocks and I was one hell of a baseball player . After an hour they left and with them the clouds!

Time for some good ol' fashioned digging

I sat down and they actually ran up to me. I remained as still as I could so as to not trigger mama but also take a quick photo!

This one may be a little too curious for its own good. It tried to peck my pants despite the other nine beginning to move on with mama. Needless to say mama looked at me like "Don't you even think about it". What happened next was hilarious. One chirp by mama and this little baby waddled off back to its clutch but not before mama gave it a harmless peck when it rejoined.

Uh oh someones in trouble. Peck.

 

[ruthhope]

While I wont take in a duck again due to laws, I absolutely do not regret helping save that little guy and its sister. I continue to look after its three clutch mates and of course its Mama whom we are following in this thread.

If you have a duckling that needs taking in for whatever reason, @DJBass88, take it in! You can call me when its too big for you to care or if you need to pass it on for care and treatment, and I can care for it until mature enough for release. I have my places where I can legally release!!

 

[Muscovy Duck Chronicles]

If you have a duckling that needs taking in for whatever reason, @DJBass88, take it in! You can call me when its too big for you to care or if you need to pass it on for care and treatment, and I can care for it until mature enough for release. I have my places where I can legally release!!

I will keep that in mind as I roam around and observe, Thank you for the support!

 

[Muscovy Duck Chronicles]

September 17th: (Day 6, 9 ducklings)



Well it finally happened. Mama lost one. . I'm honestly surprised it took this long but so far this is probably going better than most. She disappeared yesterday by PM hours and today in the AM hours. Finally caught up to her today in the PM hours.

To make things worse, She clearly did not want me anywhere near the ducklings. She chirped and fanned her tailfeathers at me so obviously I respected her and kept distance. I assume she probably went through some sort of attack and was still in full "protect" mode.

However, an hour later once they moved back to the lake she actually moved them toward me to our usual distance and seemed calm. Not all days can be good.


"Not now human"

Yes maam.

"Alright......"

Babies didn't seem too energetic today but were still curious enough to walk up to me. Mama walked toward me as I sat and she sat too and we all kind of looked out at the lake.

 

[ruthhope]

Sad she lost one but they are so very prone to predaction, she is lucky to have gone for nearly a week with all her hatchling.

 

[Muscovy Duck Chronicles]

September 18th: (Day 7, 9 ducklings)


Nothing of note today besides some funny interactions. Mama duck seems more comfortable with me taking photos. A few of the babies are starting to grow noticeably. Been raining here for 10 straight days. yesterday and today the sun finally came out a bit.


Can anyone spot any distinguishing physical attributes?

Another hen came by and mama duck squared it up ready to attack in this picture. I was about to become collateral damage lol

After driving off the hen, she counts her ducklings.

Seems a bit weird that mama let them get so close with her sitting chill back there. I had to exercise self control to not grab one and pet it. Mama would've skinned me alive but alas I kept my movements minimal to keep mama at ease.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Makes me want my Muscovy to hatch some babies. They are so adorable.

 

[Muscovy Duck Chronicles]

September 19th: (Day 8, ? ducklings)

Completely MIA. Looked for mama and ducklings for two hours. They seem to be going to some mystery spot every now and then. I wonder where it is.

Since we have no pics, Ill share some other muscovies we have around the lake. Hopefully we can find them tomorrow

This is the mama duck with her three remaining ducklings back in June of this year. Notice who is with them?

Another hen around the lake

Another clutch from earlier in the year. One of these ducklings is not like the other three. Unfortunately it lasted 2 weeks before disappearing. The other three are currently alive and nearly to adulthood.

This is the three above a few weeks ago.