Muscovy drake broody?!

[rubber duk]

Hi everyone, this is my 1st post although bred most types of poultry for 20 years or more as an amateur.
Presently just have 3 Muscovy's, 2 females & a Drake, all 4 months old.
20 or so eggs in shed in nest, the ladies show no inclination of going broody but the drake does! It's as if he is showing them how to do it although he only sits & goes through the motions for minutes at a time!
This is the 1st time I've ever seen this happen.
no not doing the business...................drake sitting on eggs!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi everyone, this is my 1st post although bred most types of poultry for 20 years or more as an amateur.
Presently just have 3 Muscovy's, 2 females & a Drake, all 4 months old.
20 or so eggs in shed in nest, the ladies show no inclination of going broody but the drake does! It's as if he is showing them how to do it although he only sits & goes through the motions for minutes at a time!
This is the 1st time I've ever seen this happen.
no not doing the business...................drake sitting on eggs!

If they are laying and mating then I would say they are more than 4 months old. unless in France they mature quicker. I have 2 drakes and have had as many as 4 mature drakes at one time and can honestly say only 1 of them has ever even gone into the nest box with the girls and it's our 1 yr old. He will go and lay with them while they lay and even turn the egg after they are through but has never sat on one even for a minute. Now my rooster is another story. LOL Very pretty Muscovies too.

 

[PetesMom]

I want to say they are older then 4 months old too....my girls didn't start laying until they were 9 months to a year old....They just look a little more mature then 16 weeks old....I have 12 week old drake and he isn't even close to having that much carruncles on his face

 

[Miss Lydia]

I want to say they are older then 4 months old too....my girls didn't start laying until they were 9 months to a year old....They just look a little more mature then 16 weeks old....I have 12 week old drake and he isn't even close to having that much carruncles on his face

My 14 week old doesn't have carnicles that red or that many, and he is just starting to notice the girls. I did say notice too. lol

 

[Going Quackers]

Yeah, that drake looks like my 15mth old drake! my ducks started laying at 4mths but it was the following year they attempted nests...

 

[PamelaJaye]

my duck didn't sit on her first clutch (right word?) she waited for her second (couple months later). As we were taking all her eggs, and we were new to ducks, we were confused for almost a whole day when she stopped eating, starting tossing her food into her bed, started squeaking a new squeak and started biting if I came near. It wasn't till that night I noticed she was all flat and spread out. Aha! She is sitting on the eggs she doesn't have. So we gave her one back. She sat for 2 weeks, then broke it open at 2 am and ate it.
Now we give her a wooden egg to sit on.

As I got her in July and she didn't lay till spring, she was over 5 months. She laid about 30 and then went on with her life.
Honestly we didn't know she was a girl till February. And she never got caruncles. I used to think she was a mix...

 

[rubber duk]

OK they may be 4 months old not more I know the drake is huge but that normally depends on parents. The girls are small I think!!

Before the avian flu problem when I had to put down all ducks & geese I had over here, the girls laid & hatched the 1st year, as did the geese but I never experienced a drake or gander sitting on eggs as now. He looks as if he's showing the 2 girls what to do, he pets them if he's anywhere near the nest, when they show no interest he sits on eggs. I did read somewhere else drakes have been known to go broody.

 

[ian4379]

there was a thread a while back about someone who had a drake doing the "broody" thing, i cant remember what it was called, someone else might though. pretty odd.your ducks are probably 5 monthish, ive had em lay at 5 and a half months.

 

[rubber duk]

Hi Chillin',
Thanks for your reply, it's possible they're 5 months because the place I bought them from can be a bit unreliable to say the least. Some years ago I was buying some pintards & they asked me if I wanted some with 1 leg for 1/2 price, they were serious!!
Actually today a girl sat on the eggs for a few minutes for the 1st time under the watchful eye of the Drake/Nigel.
I seem to have acquired a strange trio because also a few weeks ago a girl tried doing the business with the other! Now I know this is not so strange as the drake being broody!
I was going to suggest people posting more photos with the posts. I then went to your blog & see you had a that great idea..............many photos, I looked briefly, is it possible to catagorise them?
Say, Everyday, Humorous, Strange, Unusual, or something similar?

 

[Miss Lydia]

My 10 week old Muscovy duck was sitting in the nest box today for a brief time. I don't know how long she would have staid but my EE was very insistant that she get up so she could lay her egg.