Muscovy Acting Weird

[franrose]

Hello! I have a female Muscovy duck and a female Saxony. They have always gotten along quite well. But, this spring, the Muscovy is acting very strange. She is sitting on a very feather-fluffy nest, with NO eggs, and has not even laid an egg for a couple of weeks. She only comes off her nest about once a day and when she does, she acts very male and attacks my other duck. Pulls her feathers out, pushes her down in the pool till she is saturated, and just won't leave her alone. Finally, I have to separate them. It appears her hormones have gone nuts!! Any suggestions? I put a ceramic egg in her nest, thinking it would calm her, but made no difference so I took it out. Any suggestions??

 

[nao57]

Well...the most obvious question is are you sure its a female? How sure are you?

No offense. Had to ask.

 

[franrose]

Well...the most obvious question is are you sure its a female? How sure are you?

No offense. Had to ask.

Absolutely! She was laying a lot of eggs up until now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have one just like yours. Muscovy are a sight when broody and yes mine is brooding on nothing too. She comes out everyday and jumps on which Muscovy female is closest to her holds them down and just works them over for a few minutes Doesn’t hurt them just acts like she’s nuts and she is! You did the right thing if she is carrying it to extreme with your Saxony. I just leave mine alone and let it run it’s course. I would step in if she was hurting one but she is just roughing them up not injuring them.

 

[franrose]

I have one just like yours. Muscovy are a sight when broody and yes mine is brooding on nothing too. She comes out everyday and jumps on which Muscovy female is closest to her holds them down and just works them over for a few minutes Doesn’t hurt them just acts like she’s nuts and she is! You did the right thing if she is carrying it to extreme with your Saxony. I just leave mine alone and let it run it’s course. I would step in if she was hurting one but she is just roughing them up not injuring them. View attachment 2092164

Any idea how long this will go on? It's been over two weeks now.
She's definitely 'horrmones gone nuts'.

 

[Isaac 0]

Any idea how long this will go on? It's been over two weeks now.
She's definitely 'horrmones gone nuts'.

I had a hen go broody on nothing for one month and a half, even though of my countless attempts to take her off the nest. Who knows?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well it may run the whole 35 days. One year I had one go broody in the spring and stayed that way all the way till Fall. I tried everything to break her and finally just gave up. She even missed her molt that fall. Yep they are nuts! I love my Muscovy they can sure be a handful

 

[Miss Lydia]

Main thing is that they come out an eat and bath.