Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[TherryChicken]

sounds like it's time to fill the freezer...

I actually have someone trading me 2 hens for the 3 drakes this saturday, trying hard to wait that long

 

[titika]

Yep it takes a while for the mama hormones to go down and the laying hormones to begin again but i'd say your close. Usually when mine have ducklings it's about 4 weeks after they hatch that she starts to lay again. Didn't she get to keep even 1? 

fiancée hates the ducks. He doesn't want me to keep the pair i have. I wanted to let her keep one but he said no. She was so sad. She looked for them for a couple days then just laid by the nest. She finally laid an egg today. She got over things quickly but it made me sad. I don't know if I'll let her hatch anymore unless i can find somewhere else to keep her so she can keep one or two.

 

[Miss Lydia]

fiancée hates the ducks. He doesn't want me to keep the pair i have. I wanted to let her keep one but he said no. She was so sad. She looked for them for a couple days then just laid by the nest. She finally laid an egg today. She got over things quickly but it made me sad. I don't know if I'll let her hatch anymore unless i can find somewhere else to keep her so she can keep one or two.

I'm sorry to hear that, my dh has his own hobbies and I have mine but it would be hard to understand why he wouldn't like the ducks since i'm the one who cares for them cleans up after them etc.

I'd just take her eggs and not let her sit, to me it's better to limit the amount of eggs they sit so I can keep a few and let her have the enjoyment of being a mama. None of my flock of ducks/ chicken s are allowed to sit eggs this year, no room for more.

 

[Amykins]

I agree with Lydia, if you have the space and can afford a few extra mouths to feed why not keep them? He sure seems like a stick in the mud. :/ My own fiancee wasn't wild with the duck idea but his heart melted when we fostered a baby gosling, and now he keeps bugging ME about how long til our little eggs hatch!

 

[kountryboy4life]

Ok guys... I have a duck that hatched out her babies about three weeks ago.. She was a good mama till a few days ago.. Now she leaves her brood to themselves and goes off with the others. She still checks back with them hear and there.. But has even stopped being with them at night.. They all just huddle up in a pile in the coop at night without her... Is this normal ?

 

[Going Quackers]

I'm sorry to hear that, my dh has his own hobbies and I have mine but it would be hard to understand why he wouldn't like the ducks since i'm the one who cares for them cleans up after them etc.

I'd just take her eggs and not let her sit, to me it's better to limit the amount of eggs they sit so I can keep a few and let her have the enjoyment of being a mama. None of my flock of ducks/ chicken s are allowed to sit eggs this year, no room for more.

I agree, i would rather break a broody up than have them deal with loss.. i just think it's mean, i don't care if people think i am projecting to much human emotion into animals, perhaps as a whole if humankind did that a little more the world maybe a better place.

 

[Going Quackers]

Ok guys... I have a duck that hatched out her babies about three weeks ago.. She was a good mama till a few days ago.. Now she leaves her brood to themselves and goes off with the others. She still checks back with them hear and there.. But has even stopped being with them at night.. They all just huddle up in a pile in the coop at night without her... Is this normal ?

It can be yes, especially if she feels where they are is 'safe' i recall my one mama putting the kids to bed in the barn and then coming back out to forage. I have two kids right now mama only checks in, she doesn't even sleep with them anymore.. they are 3wks tomorrow.. they are safe but drives me nuts but she's done this before 2-3wks she is bored lol some mums are better hanger on's than others IME.

Also as they age they don't need the heat, here it's gotten massively warm... even my call mama wasn't 'on' the kids last night..she'd of cooked them lol

 

[Lacrystol]

I locked my momma and babies in a separate coop only because my momma call did the same thing, left the kids well needless to say Two of my kids were attacked and killed by three hens and a rooster. The hens thought the babies were invading her tuff, since she had babies of her own and the Rooster was protecting the hens.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I locked my momma and babies in a separate coop only because my momma call did the same thing, left the kids well needless to say Two of my kids were attacked and killed by three hens and a rooster. The hens thought the babies were invading her tuff, since she had babies of her own and the Rooster was protecting the hens.

I'm sorry to hear that Lacrystol , when i lock my moms up with their ducklings they have their own space where no one else is. It's all temp till they are around 3 weeks old except for the lil coop that acts as hatching and growing house.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok guys... I have a duck that hatched out her babies about three weeks ago.. She was a good mama till a few days ago.. Now she leaves her brood to themselves and goes off with the others. She still checks back with them hear and there.. But has even stopped being with them at night.. They all just huddle up in a pile in the coop at night without her... Is this normal ?

I had some leave them at 3 weeks too, if you don't want to see this again then remember this mama next year and not let her sit. But usually around 4 weeks my ducklings are on their own with mom off doing her thing.