Laying Habits of Muscovies?

[triplepurpose]

So...

I'm wondering, do muscoes lay in the early morning or at night like I've heard the mallard ducks do? I would like to be able to control their reproduction, rather than having them setting surprise clutches in the bushes. I have the ability to contain them in a sizable pen or let them range as necessary. (Currently they range during the day and I close them in at night.)

I have a small flock (one drakelet and several ducklets) all close to the same age, that aren't old enough to be sexually mature yet (they are between four and five months old, I think). I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what to expect with their laying habits. If it makes a difference, these ducklets are from a mixed black and white flock that lived free-range and reproduced themselves copiously for at least a couple of generations, so I expect to see strong traits of broodiness, etc. They will mostly be for home meat production, but I would also like to collect some eggs to eat, and as I mentioned, control their reproduction.

Thanks!

 

[SkyeT]

My girls lay 1 egg per day for about 10 days. Take a break and repeat. They will lay on the same spot until I take enough of their eggs that they get mad and move. We don't let them hatch, as we eat the eggs, and gather every day. They get broody and start yelling at you, and they don't even have to be on their nest to yell at you. Our alpha has a serious attitude right now and chirpyells at us if we look at her funny.

Mine usually lay by lunch, but it is never a guarantee with Salt. She has her own clock. She is also the broodiest.

Ducks are very social and love company. Ours considers us part of the flock and forage and sit next to us when we are outside. They respond to simple voice commands and sayings. When we talk to them, they stop and listen, though we probably make no sense to them.

Pekin and Muscovy will cross, but my understanding is that it is rare and the offspring will be infertile. You are going to want to get the make a few more girls. Boys are mate happy and will overmate your female, which can cause damage or even death.

If your male is anything like the one male pekin we had at sexual maturity, he will be relentless with the females. Ours got so bad we had to rehome him to a farm where he was surrounded by females all day.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 2 almost 9 yr old Muscovy an almost 8 yr old all 3 just started laying for this season. Ducks don’t go in heat they have breeding season which usually starts in spring March here and with Muscovy ends in October. Other domestics breed and will lay year round depending on the breed. You’ll need to set up a meet an greet area so your KC once old enough to be outside can meet your adults with fencing in between. It takes time an patience but they will get use to one another

 

[SkyeT]

Our girls started laying New Years day, but I also live in south Texas, so I have 1 up on many people in terms of laying season. Last year, our first eggs came Dec 25, 2018 and the last one was gathered Nov 2, 2019.

We got 3 runner chicks in the first week of Feb. They lived completely indoors for 6 weeks. Then, we began taking them outside for a few hours everyday for 1 week, to meet and explore. Last week, we set up a temporary pen so they could be outside all day, and sleep inside at night. This week, they began sleeping in the big pen, with a fence between them and the adult ducks. Everyone sleeps together safely.

Our alpha female, Pepa, has taken a few swipes at them to say she is the boss. Salt, her sister has taken one, way at the beginning, but seems to now want to hang out when she isnt being miss broodypants. Sunshine, our Rouen, is not so sure about the newbies, especially since Brownie has taken to chasing her around.

We sit outside with the newbies when they are out of the pen because we still dont want the male Muscovy, Cupcake, to get friendly with the new ones. He is at least 3 times their size and we are afraid he will squish the girls. He refuses to mount in the water, the dork. He pretty much refuses to get in the water period. We took it slow, and it is paying off. It seems everyone is getting along and wanting to hang out. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we will be confident enough for some unsupervised time outside.

 

[linen53]

I have nothing but Scovies. 6 drakes and 16 ducks. All of my girls lay at night or early morning hours before I open their house and let them out for the day. On occasion one ends up with a wacked up inner time clock and will lay in the mornings up to 9 am but then their schedules straighten up and they lay with the rest of them from then on. Scovies will often all lay their eggs in the same nest. Until someone goes broodie then get ready for some cranky dispositions. It's funny to watch.

Scovies are very broodie if they were given the chance to develop that way. I have some that I bought as adults and they are very broodie. I have others that I raised from ducklings and they are so used to me collecting their eggs daily that they couldn't care less about setting on some dumb eggs.

When they go broodie I let them have their way for 3-4 days (for a good rest) and then, if I am not planning on hatching any I distract them off of their nests for 30 minutes and then I go in and destroy their nests. Lock them out for the day and by evening they go running back in and find out their nests are no longer there. Sometimes I have to place pieces of firewood on top of their nests to keep them from re-making the nests. The thing is by getting them off of their nests their internal temperature lowers and they easily stop being broodie. Usually after they see their nests are no longer there, they say, "Ok, on with life," and walk away.

At 4-5 months old get ready for some mating really quickly. They are just about mature enough. Ratio should be 3-5 ducks for each drake but your two to one should be just fine. Scovies are very sexually active. They sometimes show preference with whom they mate with but if you isolate the drake with the one he won't mate with for awhile that should help that problem.

 

[Isaac 0]

I am new to ducks and muscovies in particular. Just got a hen and drake to add with my pekin and 4 YO Muscovy hen. Questions:
1. My Pekin lays an egg/day for 3 days, 1 day off
2. Do muscovies lay the whole nest in one sitting?
3. I would LOVE my drake to cross with my Pekin - how will I know if she was bred?
4. are ducks social? The pekin (Thelma) talked up a storm when it was her and another pekin female. lost one, got her Muscovy buddies, now she seems content
Thanks for insights

1. That seems normal to me, each bird has its own laying routine.

2. No, they will lay one egg a day until they have around 10 eggs or so and then they will sit.

3. If she lays any eggs, you can crack one open and check for a bullseye on the yolk indicating its fertile.

4. Yes, ducks are very social birds.

 

[Newbie6789]

Thanks both. a few more questions.
The older Muscovy hen (4-5 YO) hasn't started to lay. The people we got her from said she has in the past.
Could she be done or too old, or is it still to early in southern WI?
The new younger Muscovy hen is getting her fill of "boy time". How long are ducks in heat for breeding?
We are getting 4 khaki campbell ducklings (hens) in early May. if I keep them in the same hut, walled off from the older ones, will that work or will the older ones kill them?
This duck thing is fun!!! I grew up on a farm in SD with cattle, sheep, hogs, horses but no fowl. I had no idea how personable they could be!

 

[triplepurpose]

Thanks for the advice and ideas. I'm seeing the beginnings of mating behavior now, but "Draco" hasn't quite figured out how to seal the deal yet. Good news about the nighttime laying--that should make it quite a bit easier to manage, and it fits nicely with their routine already. Looking forward to some eggs and ducklings soon!

 

[Chikn-Chik]

I'm not exactly sure what time my Muscovy lays, she's completely free range and usually has 3 to 4 nests per year. With about 30+ eggs each nest. When she goes missing I know she's setting somewhere. Most of the time its in the barn loft, but last year she surprised me by making a nest under the chicken pen. Silly girl!

 

[Going Quackers]

I find at night or in the AM.. mine are locked up at night and not let out till morning.. on occasion i will have a hen sitting on a nest and then she leaves and there is an egg BUT hard to say if it was there from the night or this was an AM egg..

I'll still have the odd bird who will lay one during the day out on the ground

but fortunately that isn't happening all that often anymore.. ages of my girls.. My original pair of hens will be 1yo in May and the 3 others will be roughly a year in Mar.