Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[RichardKutz]

Here's my girls. Wish I could find a male duckling to raise for them.

 

[mrchicks]

I wish my girls had a bit of color. But I do have to say that they are the sweetest gals.

 

[ameliadanielle]

My trio of muscovies. Jack, Janet, and Chrissy is the chocolate. They are siblings, so when they hatched eggs I was expecting chocolates. Not a single chocolate. Got one black and white, and the rest were all black barred babies.

 

[ameliadanielle]

When my Muscovy lays her first egg should I let her make a clutch or should I take it and wait.

Every time I collect my girls eggs... they have to find a new nest. I don't want to raise babies right now so I let them build up in a spot for a week then I collect them, then the girls have to find another place to lay. At least mine are staying in the backyard this time. Last time I had no clue they were even laying yet, but my black white female hatched out babies in the front yard under a bush.

 

[Alex1010]

Every time I collect my girls eggs... they have to find a new nest. I don't want to raise babies right now so I let them build up in a spot for a week then I collect them, then the girls have to find another place to lay. At least mine are staying in the backyard this time. Last time I had no clue they were even laying yet, but my black white female hatched out babies in the front yard under a bush.

So it's okay for a first egg to hatch out? I want them to raise ducklings .

 

[ameliadanielle]

So it's okay for a first egg to hatch out? I want them to raise ducklings .

I do notice now that it is spring and they are laying every day, their eggs are much larger than the eggs they hatched out from their first nest. The first eggs were the size of a chicken egg. They did hatch about 50% of the eggs. Now their eggs are huge, bigger than a jumbo chicken egg. I don't know if the smaller size egg hurt the fertility rate, if the Drake was just not very matured at that point, or if her choice of a nesting space without us knowing and being able to move her to a drier more protected environment had something to do with her other eggs not hatching. Her babies hatched on Christmas Eve. I don't see why first eggs shouldn't be hatched. I'm sure I have hatched out chickens from a hens first eggs, from new layers.

 

[ameliadanielle]

If you want them to raise babies, leave them alone and don't collect the eggs. When they fill the nest with as many eggs as they can cover, they will go broody and sit on the eggs until they hatch. Mine hatched hers in chilly weather, with absolutely no protection from the elements except a bush. We only found her right before the eggs hatched. Because I didn't even expect my girls to start laying until this spring so I had no clue they had even made a nest. The first time they both laid eggs in the same nest I believe, and one took over. Because now they lay eggs separately and each have their own nests.

 

[Alex1010]

I do notice now that it is spring and they are laying every day, their eggs are much larger than the eggs they hatched out from their first nest. The first eggs were the size of a chicken egg. They did hatch about 50% of the eggs. Now their eggs are huge, bigger than a jumbo chicken egg. I don't know if the smaller size egg hurt the fertility rate, if the Drake was just not very matured at that point, or if her choice of a nesting space without us knowing and being able to move her to a drier more protected environment had something to do with her other eggs not hatching. Her babies hatched on Christmas Eve. I don't see why first eggs shouldn't be hatched. I'm sure I have hatched out chickens from a hens first eggs, from new layers.

I think I'll wait a month or two before I let her nest

 

[Ren2014]

I woke this am to find my girl scovy dead in the brooder

The male had gotten out somehow and she was still inside. So sad. I had to help both of these out of the shell so there could have been something wrong

 

[Ren2014]

Bob and BB