Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[hennypenny99]

Hennypenny99, They can take up to 37 days to hatch! It's horrible

!! lol, but SO totally worth the wait. They are so much cuter than other baby ducks I have hatched.

I have 2 girls due between now & friday. =D

37!!! & I am hatching them in a Little Giant Still Air and hand turning!

I drive my DH nuts. I call him from work everyday at lunch and again in the afternoon to ask "How's the incubator? What is the temp? Did you remember to open the bedroom door and turn the fan on?" I know he is sick of it because he told me next year I was getting an expensive incubator that he wouldnt have to check on on the time. If I had a big incubator I could hatch out tons of babies. A friend of mine has lots of Muscovies so I have incubated eggs, swapped eggs, ate eggs, and even boiled them for easter.

She won't let me pay her for the eggs so in about 2 weeks I am bringing her and her husband some guinea keets. They are really excited about getting some guineas. They have two old guineas on thier property that take care of their Scovies. She said the Scovies listen to the guineas and when they start hollering the Scovies listen and take off running to the barn. They know if the guineas are cackling something is wrong.

I have read that ducks are slow to hatch.... are Muscovies even slower? I am going to be a nervous wreck! I mist them every other turn and my humidity is about 55% and I will up it to about 75% during lockdown. At day 24 my air cells are small... maybe about the size of a quarter? That seems small to me, do you think my humidity is too high?

 

[Scovy Momma]

I agree she is absolutely adorable. How did you train her to dance like that? I'm thinking of trying a dog clicker with my ducks.. lol am I crazy? well maybe just a little

Thank you! I trained her the same way I trained my dogs. I waited for them to do something then gave it a command name. I had only had her for about a day or 2 & after she got used to me bribing her with treats she stomped her feet like they tend to do when they are happy. I said "happy dance" whenever she did it after a treat & now she figures that's what it's called. Now I tell her to do something before she can get a treat.

She will sit if you pat the floor in front of her or pat her feet. Knows her name. She knows at least 2 colors. She can tell the difference between red & blue. I have cheap plastic cups that are all the same look. I keep a red one on my night stand with water. I got a blue one for her to have her own water when she's on the bed. If I try to offer her the red cup she gets all huffy,mohawk-y & refuses to drink. Grab the blue one & she will rush over cooing & beg for water. I'll hafta record it,it's funny.
I put her on the bed one time after diapering then went to make up the dog's bed. Stinker duck walked to the side of the night stand,swept her head to knock over the red cup of water & climbed on the stand to drink out of her blue one. Hates red toys,loves blue ones & her green jingle ball. Brat

I can totally see clicker training the ducks,I believe I saw a video of a runner duck that was. You can train just about anything you're willing to put the time into. I had trained goldfish before.

They may only be able to do so much but anything with a brain can be conditioned to repeat tasks. I have coworkers that prove that

& as for crazy,we're on a forum going ga-ga over duck pictures.Some might think that in itself is nuts

 

[TheRookie]

Thank you! I trained her the same way I trained my dogs. I waited for them to do something then gave it a command name. I had only had her for about a day or 2 & after she got used to me bribing her with treats she stomped her feet like they tend to do when they are happy. I said "happy dance" whenever she did it after a treat & now she figures that's what it's called. Now I tell her to do something before she can get a treat.

She will sit if you pat the floor in front of her or pat her feet. Knows her name. She knows at least 2 colors. She can tell the difference between red & blue. I have cheap plastic cups that are all the same look. I keep a red one on my night stand with water. I got a blue one for her to have her own water when she's on the bed. If I try to offer her the red cup she gets all huffy,mohawk-y & refuses to drink. Grab the blue one & she will rush over cooing & beg for water. I'll hafta record it,it's funny.
I put her on the bed one time after diapering then went to make up the dog's bed. Stinker duck walked to the side of the night stand,swept her head to knock over the red cup of water & climbed on the stand to drink out of her blue one. Hates red toys,loves blue ones & her green jingle ball. Brat

I can totally see clicker training the ducks,I believe I saw a video of a runner duck that was. You can train just about anything you're willing to put the time into. I had trained goldfish before.

They may only be able to do so much but anything with a brain can be conditioned to repeat tasks. I have coworkers that prove that

& as for crazy,we're on a forum going ga-ga over duck pictures.Some might think that in itself is nuts

Well nice to know I wont be alone in this. I'm hoping to go to college to become certified as a dog trainer so this will be good practice. My poor dog is tired of tricks. He just runs through his routine so he can get his peanut butter snacks lol
I can't wait til the 28th.. that's when I'm getting my first babies

 

[Bleenie]

The only slow-to-hatch ones that I have had were ones that were either turned around, shrink wrapped or had a deformity(wry neck usually). I have the same incubator as you and have had very good hatches in it. I hand turn & mist the eggs once a day.....this is because I watch my ducks too much and thought it would be good to wet the eggs like a momma does after she's bathed and goes back to the nest.

I also talk to mine everytime i turn them, weirdo embarassing things lol but i think it gets them used to my voice like a momma peeping at them.

Here's a video I took last year, just to make you EVEN MORE EXCITED!!!!

=

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you,Miss Lydia! I just adore yours,too!
Do you have any new pics of your babies?

MY newest babies are 8 months old now, but my youngest [7] are waitng to hatch out under Emmie Lou my duck. lol and now another is broody she had 5 eggs as of yearday when I marked them. what am I going to do with all these ducklings?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you! I trained her the same way I trained my dogs. I waited for them to do something then gave it a command name. I had only had her for about a day or 2 & after she got used to me bribing her with treats she stomped her feet like they tend to do when they are happy. I said "happy dance" whenever she did it after a treat & now she figures that's what it's called. Now I tell her to do something before she can get a treat.

She will sit if you pat the floor in front of her or pat her feet. Knows her name. She knows at least 2 colors. She can tell the difference between red & blue. I have cheap plastic cups that are all the same look. I keep a red one on my night stand with water. I got a blue one for her to have her own water when she's on the bed. If I try to offer her the red cup she gets all huffy,mohawk-y & refuses to drink. Grab the blue one & she will rush over cooing & beg for water. I'll hafta record it,it's funny.
I put her on the bed one time after diapering then went to make up the dog's bed. Stinker duck walked to the side of the night stand,swept her head to knock over the red cup of water & climbed on the stand to drink out of her blue one. Hates red toys,loves blue ones & her green jingle ball. Brat

I can totally see clicker training the ducks,I believe I saw a video of a runner duck that was. You can train just about anything you're willing to put the time into. I had trained goldfish before.

They may only be able to do so much but anything with a brain can be conditioned to repeat tasks. I have coworkers that prove that

& as for crazy,we're on a forum going ga-ga over duck pictures.Some might think that in itself is nuts

okay now more videos..

 

[Miss Lydia]

The only slow-to-hatch ones that I have had were ones that were either turned around, shrink wrapped or had a deformity(wry neck usually). I have the same incubator as you and have had very good hatches in it. I hand turn & mist the eggs once a day.....this is because I watch my ducks too much and thought it would be good to wet the eggs like a momma does after she's bathed and goes back to the nest.

I also talk to mine everytime i turn them, weirdo embarassing things lol but i think it gets them used to my voice like a momma peeping at them.

Here's a video I took last year, just to make you EVEN MORE EXCITED!!!!

=

Adorable

 

[hennypenny99]

The only slow-to-hatch ones that I have had were ones that were either turned around, shrink wrapped or had a deformity(wry neck usually). I have the same incubator as you and have had very good hatches in it. I hand turn & mist the eggs once a day.....this is because I watch my ducks too much and thought it would be good to wet the eggs like a momma does after she's bathed and goes back to the nest.

I also talk to mine everytime i turn them, weirdo embarassing things lol but i think it gets them used to my voice like a momma peeping at them.

Here's a video I took last year, just to make you EVEN MORE EXCITED!!!!

=

How Cute!!! I can't wait!! I am going to start talking sweet to my eggs too.

Now they probably hear me hollaring more than anything. It seems like every time I go to candle my two year old comes in the room opening doors and turning on the lights trying to figure out what I am doing.

I've tried locking the bedroom door when I am looking at them and my husband came knocking on the door!

I have to figure out what I am going to use for a Brooder - Pronto!

 

[Miss Lydia]

How Cute!!! I can't wait!! I am going to start talking sweet to my eggs too.

Now they probably hear me hollaring more than anything. It seems like every time I go to candle my two year old comes in the room opening doors and turning on the lights trying to figure out what I am doing.

I've tried locking the bedroom door when I am looking at them and my husband came knocking on the door!

I have to figure out what I am going to use for a Brooder - Pronto!

What ever it is it better be big..

maybe just use a spare bedroom with that many.

 

[Scovy Momma]

Quote:

okay now more videos..

Okay! Sorry for the poor video (not my phone) & all the junk on the night stand,I was at home with a bad cold at the time.
I called my friend to post the video I took with his phone right after she knocked the red cup to the floor. I hadn't even gotten to clean up the water when I grabbed the phone to record this. I will try to get her reaction to the red cup one of these days.