Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Pyxis]

I think about the only way to tell if an egg is fertile is by either breaking it open and looking for the bulls eye or candling on day 7.

X2 I do a lot of hatching and the shape of the egg can't tell you if it's fertile. Some shapes are better for hatching than others, but any shape could be fertile.

 

[buff goose guy]

I think what buck is trying to say If the egg is too small and too round it's most likely not going to hatch from deformities in that baby or it's just infertile

 

[MsPoultry]

X2 I do a lot of hatching and the shape of the egg can't tell you if it's fertile. Some shapes are better for hatching than others, but any shape could be fertile.

I agree and I've got question what makes Muscovy eggs so difficult to hatch I want to hatch some in the future and I want some tips,thanks

 

[Miss Lydia]

I agree and I've got question what makes Muscovy eggs so difficult to hatch I want to hatch some in the future and I want some tips,thanks

Good reading.. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubating-and-hatching-muscovy-eggs

 

[MsPoultry]

That is a good read and very helpful I know how important humidity is because I've had so many bad batches it was so sad I was so close every time then I got a hygrometer hatches have been really good my last hatch was 100%(I don't count infertile eggs because they never had a chance in the first place) and my incubator has some tricks of its own I had to learn thanks .

 

[houdiniduck]

Thanks for all the replies! I don't think that first egg will amount to much, it is half the size of all the others she has laid. I went out today and gathered them all back up again. I want to take 3 for the family to eat. The others I am going to let her keep to see if she wants to make me some babies. The eggs were spread out again somewhat and buried in the straw, but I am marking them with the dates so I know what was laid when.
I have a couple more questions, if y'all can bear with my newbie-ness!

1) should I cover the eggs back up after i do my daily hunt? I live in AZ and the temps are in the 80's during the day, but it gets down in the 50-60 degree range at night. Is she covering them to hide them or just kicking things around when trying to get comfy to lay?

2) today the house had a poop in it, kind of on top of a couple eggs. was she trying to discourage me from going in there? I scooped out the poop, but didn't do anything about the dirtied eggs. you can't wash them off right?

3) if she goes broody will she gather the eggs back up or should I keep putting them back in a pile? If I find the unmarked egg first I can just leave the rest if need be... I like the idea of the dates being on them so I prefer to keep looking and marking the new eggs. I also don't want to have a house full of rotten eggs if she doesn't brood.... I think that if she lays more than 20 eggs I should take the rest away, so I kinda need to find them all each day.

4) What else, if anything, do I need to do besides what I am doing now.

Thank you so very much for all your help! This first time duck breeding is filling me with a ton of questions!

 

[Rachele anne]

I would get an incubator if you really want babies incase she doesn't go broody

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for all the replies! I don't think that first egg will amount to much, it is half the size of all the others she has laid. I went out today and gathered them all back up again. I want to take 3 for the family to eat. The others I am going to let her keep to see if she wants to make me some babies. The eggs were spread out again somewhat and buried in the straw, but I am marking them with the dates so I know what was laid when.
I have a couple more questions, if y'all can bear with my newbie-ness!

1) should I cover the eggs back up after i do my daily hunt? I live in AZ and the temps are in the 80's during the day, but it gets down in the 50-60 degree range at night. Is she covering them to hide them or just kicking things around when trying to get comfy to lay?

2) today the house had a poop in it, kind of on top of a couple eggs. was she trying to discourage me from going in there? I scooped out the poop, but didn't do anything about the dirtied eggs. you can't wash them off right?

3) if she goes broody will she gather the eggs back up or should I keep putting them back in a pile? If I find the unmarked egg first I can just leave the rest if need be... I like the idea of the dates being on them so I prefer to keep looking and marking the new eggs. I also don't want to have a house full of rotten eggs if she doesn't brood.... I think that if she lays more than 20 eggs I should take the rest away, so I kinda need to find them all each day.

4) What else, if anything, do I need to do besides what I am doing now.

Thank you so very much for all your help! This first time duck breeding is filling me with a ton of questions!

First off I never let my first time mamas have more than 4-8 eggs to sit, They need the experience before having to care for alot of babies. Just me though. When I decide to let one of my ducks brood I let her build her clutch go in daily and mark the eggs then when she begins to sit when she has gone out for R&R I go in and remove the oldest eggs till I get the clutch where I want it. She never seems to notice some have disappeared lol Until she begins to sit there really isn't any reason to cover the eggs back up nothing is happening yet.
Can she get outside anytime she wants to poop? most broody's won't poop in their nest they like t keep it pretty tidy, so she maybe giving you a warning but just take a dry paper towel and get off as much poop as you can because amazing as it is ducklings hatch out of pretty nasty eggs. I know when I have to physically remove any of my broody's [sometimes they just don't want to leave their nest] If I don't get her outside fast enough she'll do a broody poop inside and man is that nasty.
Are you marking each egg as it's laid?
Mostly leave her alone once she begins to sit, other than making sure she comes out daily for food and bath time and of course getting rid of that poop. Make sure she is in a secure place where none of the other flock members will bother her or the ducklings when they hatch. And good luck nothing more special that seeing a mama and her ducklings waddling around the homestead. keep us updated.

 

[Buck Oakes]

Quote:
no what i meant is a round egg is infertile

 

[Buck Oakes]

Quote:
okay i don't know why that would upset me, but like in my experience every time my females layed a round egg like close to a golf ball shape and size its been infertile, so my experience is obviously not like yours so...... I'm not saying every round egg is infertile but by the most part they are, and every regular size egg isn't fertile right, there are some infertile regular size eggs. But the majority of regular sized eggs are fertile as long as you have a male with the female that layer them.