Muscovery Questions?

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I have a Muscovery Drake and 2 females.

One female was born with a bad leg - I keep her in with my Sebastopols becasue she does not get around as well. But my drake sits on the other side of the fence from her and ignores the other female. So here are my questions.

First - Do you think her leg problem is hereditary or a problem from in the egg?

Second - Will he only mate with the hen that he seems to be in love with or is he sneaking off when I am not looking and matting with the other girl? Will he mate with my non-Muscovey hens?

Third - These two hens were born 6/2008. Should they be laying by now? My Khaki Campbell, Cayuga and Magpie have been laying for a month now, but they are 1.5 years old.

I did do a search, but did not seem to find my answers.

Thanks!

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

IF she was hatched that way, it is either heredity or could be from incubation issues…if she was hatched the same clutch as your other two and they are “normal,” I’d be inclined to think it’s humidity or perhaps an injury from hatching?

I would cull her, personally. And I do not necessarily mean kill/butcher her—you may be able to find her a nice, pet home where someone just wants ducks to look at on their pond or something.

I’d be wary of keeping her with your Sebbies, too. If she has trouble getting away from the gander, she may end up injured from his “advances.”

Lastly, my first pair of Muscovies took two years to begin laying. I think it honestly had to do with the size of their pen. They were living in my parents’ backyard in Portland, OR in a 4’ x 6’ coop. They were allowed to range about the backyard on occasion but due to possum & raccoons, couldn’t be unsupervised. Once I moved up to Okanogan, I was able to get them into an 8 x 8 coop with an 8’ x 24’ run. They started breeding & the duck started laying almost immediately…another thing to remember is that they are seasonal layers. Weather that is too cold or worse, too hot—they will stop laying. My started in January (we had a short spell of warmer weather) and then they stopped laying for a month or so and now started again.