Mule duck breeding plan!

[bemba]

I have always been really fascinated by mule ducks (Muscovy cross mallard derived duck) so I have decided to do the cross myself and see what I get!

A lot of the mules and hinnies I have seen are very striking birds, and variation between them is so varied depending on the parents used. I will have to stick to moulards (Muscovy father) as none of my mallard derived drakes wanted to take part in breeding with a scovy female LOL, Which is a shame because the female hinnies would have been more what I'm after, as they are smaller and lay eggs apparently unlike the moulard females. None the less it's going to be very interesting to see what I breed and what colours etc they will be!
Ok so here is the father and mothers to be! PS girls are both laying and the drake has successfully mated both of them. PPS he is not a huge scovy drake and the ducks are bigger than my scovy females so mating was not an issue nor was it cruel to the ducks.

Here is my scovy boy I'm using, I think he is a bronze? His mother was a blue ripple and his father wild type.

Here is the first female I'm using, she is a runner x


And here is the second duck (dusky pied)

 

[bemba]

Anyone else have any experiences with mules or hinnies? Would love to hear other stories

 

[bemba]

Got my first couple of eggs from the girls this morning, it is possible they are still fertile from their proper mates, but I'll set them anyway just in case!

 

[Call Queen]

Oh how interesting!! I don't think I've ever seen a mule duck before. Beautiful ducks and good luck with the breeding

 

[mattperth]

That runner cross is a stunning duck! I can't wait to see the offspring, these colour combos should produce some interesting mules!

 

[mattperth]

When I was younger, our khaki drake jumped all my Nanna's muscovy ducks, lol. Accidental breeding at its best, however the offspring were amazing birds, lightweight ducks of mainly pastel type colouration and heavy drakes in black and white. The females laid lots of eggs and went broody easily, they also flew like wild ducks. The drakes just sat around eating and getting fat!

 

[bemba]

Thanks for the comments That's awesome Matt! Do you have any pictures of them? I went to a friends place yesterday, she has a flock of mainly Muscovy ducks, but she also has about 10 mallard derived's they were all quite big like pekins but all coloured, and about 10 mule or hinny ducks! She couldn't tell me which they were but I suspect they were hinnies as the only 2 females were half the size of the males! My friend has a great heart but I had to laugh when she told me that one mule was the father of most the others and how a black and white mule had Muscovy parents, I didn't go on about it with her. I did however take my camera and snapped a few pics......

One of 2 female hybrids she had there, quite pretty!

One of the drakes, love the sheen on them!

The other female, quite small... about half the size of the drakes.......

This one was massive! I love it's markings....

The size difference makes me think they are hinnies...

 

[mattperth]

Ill have to dig out old photos from years ago and see if I can find any!
Interestingly I took a photo at a local lake yesterday of a hybrid female! I will post her up for you to see, but I have no idea of her history, I assume she is muscovy mother/mallard drake due to her size and shape, but could be wrong!

 

[bemba]

Ill have to dig out old photos from years ago and see if I can find any!
Interestingly I took a photo at a local lake yesterday of a hybrid female! I will post her up for you to see, but I have no idea of her history, I assume she is muscovy mother/mallard drake due to her size and shape, but could be wrong!

Wow interesting! She definitely is a Muscovy cross that's for sure!

 

[bemba]

Well I set 18 eggs and about a week in a few died, then have lost the odd one here and there along incubation, plus 2 got crushed by the chicken setting. I'm down to 9 eggs, and they are internal pipped and one external and it's day 26, so not looking like there will be any mules at all, does anyone know if moulard and hinnies take the same amount of time to hatch or if they are different?