Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[hennible]

I have, and sometimes they never came back like, something got them. I know they were nesting because they would come back home every now and then from the neighbors and also they would make those high pitched whines when a male came near them ,and then, I never saw them again

I'm going to look for her, the weather isn't great yet and lots of predators could snatch her in the next 35 days... She must have laid close to home I never noticed her absence during the day, always seemed to stick around. Thanks for the reply.

 

[jennifleur]

Mine try to hide their nest all the time. I hope you find her.

 

[jennifleur]

Sorry, just had to post some more pictures. Guess I'm just missing the ducklings.


Blossom and Buttercup, all grown up and just starting to lay eggs. It's strange how the feathers around the eyes turn white just before being replaced by the red mask. Has anyone else noticed that? You can see it more in Buttercup, she's in the rear.
They are smaller than my other females. I wonder if it's because they were from a 100% lavender pen. I've read that breeders will cross the lavenders back to a black duck with good body confirmation, and than breed back the splits to get a lavender with the right body type. Is it because they would just keep getting smaller in a lavender x lavender cross? Mini muscovy? Do lavenders fade? So far mine haven't.


Meg and Hunter

Earlier pic of Hunter (renamed by hubby from Coriander because it was too girly) and Meg. They have really faded in the sun. Hunter's head is almost a copper color now. His long wing feathers used to be dark blue and are now tan.


Willow was the top duckling with darkest face slightly above two barred ones.


Willow. I'm still not sure what color she is. She was a light tan atipico/dusky pied duckling. The down on her head was darker than anywhere else on her body, but you could tell she would have a white bib and neck. She feathered out right away with a white head. Now she is getting some darker feathers sprinkled over her neck and head. The individual feathers are all solid color with out shading. She isn't fading to tan, like my ducks with blue or brown. Does that mean she might be a pastel color? I think she is pied and not Canizie (sp). Normally with a dusky duckling you get an idea of what color pattern they will be as adults but in her case the dusky masked her white head coloring.

The ducklings are all gone.... Sage is already trying to go broody again. Maybe I'll let her hatch a mixed batch

from Meg, Willow, Blossom and Buttercup.

 

[hennible]

Mine try to hide their nest all the time. I hope you find her.

She's back with the flock, no idea where she was or if there's a nest... Her face is darker than the other girls though, hmmmm. Beautiful pictures by the way.

 

[jennifleur]

When you say her face is darker, do you mean redder? I ask because when my girls are breeding the mask deepens from a rose-ish to a bright red. When they go broody it gets paler, almost an orange color. She might not be broody yet, just off exploring and trying to find the perfect hidden spot for a nest. Mine test out a number of spots before they settle on one. For me it's a sure sign they are about to start laying when I find them off by themselves in a really odd unexpected place.

I just wanted to add that if I take all of their eggs, they sometimes stop laying for a period until they find a new improved spot that they are sure I'll never find.

 

[hennible]

Her sisters have bright red faces, her face has gone deeper red, or perhaps has stayed a deeper red. I had some egg confusion a month or so ago when the ducks all stated laying again, I mistook the muscovy eggs for blue sweedish cross eggs for awhile, so I was taking all the eggs. She may not be laying yet, or she stopped... the 3 yr old scovy hen hasn't started as far as I know. Thanks for the help. I had read about the Orange broody face but colour is pretty subjective, lol.

 

[Harborotter]

Hey, my first hen finally started laying. She had 3 eggs in her nest as of yesterday. How many do they usually lay before they start sitting?

 

[Buck Oakes]

It depends on her, I've had a female set on only 1 egg and some set on 15 also I don't know what it is but mine has large clutches

 

[Harborotter]

I wish I could slip some of my other duck eggs in with hers but being there is different incubation periods, I know it wouldn't work.

 

[hennible]

I wish I could slip some of my other duck eggs in with hers but being there is different incubation periods, I know it wouldn't work.

You could if you added them a week after she started sitting. She may or may not let you though.