Muscovy Hen's trying to sit on too many eggs?

[Mousey]

This is my first year with the muscovy girls, and with any duck going broody, so I'm not really sure what their limit is.

The first hen has been sitting for 2-3 weeks, I just got brave enough to remove her from the nest and count/candle the eggs. Was a bit shocked to find 22 eggs under her, 21 are developing, 1 was a dud, they were all warm and toasty. The second hen has been sitting for about 10 days, so while I was at it I checked hers too, she had 25, again I candled, all 25 were warm and showing development. I moved 5 to a silkie hen leaving her with 20.

My question, is 20-21 eggs too many for a muscovy hen? Are there signs I should look for that the hen has too many eggs? And if she does any hints on which eggs to removed?

 

[carcar80]

I don't know that it's too many.. My mallard usually lays about 16 or so and Muscovys are larger than a mallard, although I'm sure there's an egg size ratio also. Hmm. If all seemed warm under one I'd probably just let her sit it, personally. Unless you just want some to incubate yourself.

 

[jdywntr]

I would remove some. If you can see an egg poking out from under her, she is on too many. They have to be able to completely cover all of the eggs. She will move the eggs several times a day so if 2 eggs are not covered completely, they will "die" but be rotated back in and 2 more will be exposed and "die", etc, etc.

I think as a first time hen 10-15 is good. You want to remove any very dirty eggs, any that are smaller than others and the first 1-2 weeks of eggs that are laid as they are usually less fertile.

Make sure you have a plan for all of these babies too.

Post some pics when you can.

 

[Going Quackers]

I would remove some. If you can see an egg poking out from under her, she is on too many. They have to be able to completely cover all of the eggs. She will move the eggs several times a day so if 2 eggs are not covered completely, they will "die" but be rotated back in and 2 more will be exposed and "die", etc, etc.

I think as a first time hen 10-15 is good. You want to remove any very dirty eggs, any that are smaller than others and the first 1-2 weeks of eggs that are laid as they are usually less fertile.

Make sure you have a plan for all of these babies too.

Post some pics when you can.

Beat me to it! lol I agree... have fun! i just got a small clutch(4) 2wks ago. So she brooded through one cold Canadian winter, it is doable in the cold much to my surprise.

 

[Mousey]

Thank you for the advice.

carcar80, definitely larger, the hens I have are about 8lbs my drake is 13. We haven't had a mallard yet but the ones I've seen at the duck pond are tiny.

I'll take a second look tomorrow at the eggs, got a quick pic of one of the girls, Queenie, the other kept standing up to hiss at me when I got too close[she's very protective of those eggs], but she had hers just as covered as Queenie. My sister wants to just let it play out, see what happens. Guess if we lose a bunch at least we'll know better for next time, lol. All the eggs were developing, so fertility seems good enough, I didn't see any dirty or runty eggs yesterday but I'll definitely take a closer look when I can convince the girl to move again.

We're raising them for meat, so most of these will end up in the freezer. I do plan on keeping back a few hens so really the more the merrier.

 

[Mousey]

Twin, the one who went broody first lost one egg two days ago, she either rolled it out of the nest on purpose or it got knocked out by accident but I found it in the middle of the floor ice cold. I just assumed since it was that cold that it would be dead so I cracked it open to see if it had actually been developing normally. Naturally the poor little thing was still alive and kicking, that'll teach me. So she's down to 20 eggs, I candled them last night and they all still look good, lots of movement. Is it normal for her to be getting meaner the further along she gets? My chickens have gotten a bit irritable but never actually aggressive.

I rechecked Queenie's nest and removed 5 eggs, leaving her with 16. I think the five were put in there by my other hen, they weren't as far along as the rest and the difference was more obvious now than it was last time.

My third muscovy hen Coco has finally decided to make her own nest, so hopefully I will stop finding her donations in the other girl's nests.