Muscovy keepers share your pics!

checked on the ducklings and all of them might be full white :D also three have poked a hole through the shell but one, the membrane feels sticky and is stuck to the ducklings beak, i moved some of it so the duckling could breathe... i dont know help?
 
please answer, it very sticky and feels tight
Bunny how did you make out with this egg? If the membranes are leathery, you would have a shrink wrapped baby, but this looks a little more like a slow hatcher. You can keep the membranes moist by dabbing a little Vaseline on them and putting the egg on a moist paper towel. I can't quite see from the pic - are there any vessels visible in the membrane? If the membranes look clean, the vessels have completely receded, and the baby isn't progressing, then open the egg up a little more. The chick needs to kick out on their own if at all possible for healthy leg development. Just make sure they don't dry out, and watch them for signs of distress. Good luck!!
 
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Bunny how did you make out with this egg? If the membranes are leathery, you would have a shrink wrapped baby, but this looks a little more like a slow hatcher. You can keep the membranes moist by dabbing a little Vaseline on them and putting the egg on a moist paper towel. I can't quite see from the pic - are there any vessels visible in the membrane? If the membranes look clean, the vessels have completely receded, and the baby isn't progressing, then open the egg up a little more. The chick needs to kick out on their own if at all possible for healthy leg development. Just make sure they don't dry out, and watch them for signs of distress. Good luck!!
there was alot of blood vessels before now there isnt that much near its head
 
there was alot of blood vessels before now there isnt that much near its head
When they are ready to finish the hatch, the vessels will be gone from the membranes - the process can take hours. I will assist when they have been hanging around in their shells not doing anything for the better part of a day, or if they are calling in obvious distress. The duck we assisted last year fell into that category - she pipped, then didn't go any further, and stayed there in her egg calling. Her vessels had been completely absorbed, so I had my daughter and husband assist her. While they were fussing over her, her brother blew out of his egg before they even realized that he had pipped. I've had other birds that just pip, then do nothing for over 24 hours. When I pulled back shell to assist their membrane blood vessels were long gone. The hardest part is waiting for those membranes to clear up and become blood vessel free, but if you intervene too early, the baby has a pretty high risk of dying somewhere in the process. I hatch a lot of shipped eggs, and so I pretty much expect that someone will need help at hatching time (The saddle shaped air space has become my arch nemesis), the trick is helping out at the right time. If your baby is still hanging out in the egg now, you can comfortably finish the assist. It's been about 10 hours, and the vessels were receding nicely from what you described. Just take the shell back slowly until about half the duckling is out, and then pop them back into the incubator to finish the job themselves. If you see bleeding, stop, put them back in, wait an hour or so, and check again, but I doubt there should be any bleeding at this point.
Let us know how it goes!
 
hi guys gonna be getting some muscovys soon and was wondering if anyone can help me out, i have a large garden at the bottom is a shallow creek about a meter wide and 20 to 40cm deep in places but deeper in the winter, it is open at both sides and one of those sides goes to my neighbors garden and the other to a small overgrown patch of land would the muscovys try to follow the creek down stream or would they know were home is and stay in yard, thanks in advance dan.
 
hi guys gonna be getting some muscovys soon and was wondering if anyone can help me out, i have a large garden at the bottom is a shallow creek about a meter wide and 20 to 40cm deep in places but deeper in the winter, it is open at both sides and one of those sides goes to my neighbors garden and the other to a small overgrown patch of land would the muscovys try to follow the creek down stream or would they know were home is and stay in yard, thanks in advance dan.
Having an open water way will be very alluring they may decide to follow it just having fun exploring,but they may come home if you train them where home is. Don't just bring them home let them out and expect them to come back you'll need to teach them where their house and pen is you'll need a pen so you can keep them up for a couple weeks with their food and water close by, that way they will associate home with feeding. only feed them in the pen so when evening comes[before dark] they are inside eating then you can just close the gate and herd them the rest of the way inside their house. Making sure they are safe from predators will ensure you will have your ducks for many years. All the best.
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we have a mountain river about 150 yards from our home and I don't let my water fowl go down there. It runs pretty fast and I worry they would get down stream and I wouldn't be able to get them back home so they have kiddy pools and seem to love them.
 
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thanks for the reply, have another thread open were we were discussing the possibility of a suspended coop,we thought this would be beneficial to keep them out of the reach of foxes (only real threat to chickens in the uk) we decided that i would keep the new muscovys in the coop for about a week maybe 2 so they imprint that as their home then start letting the out about a hour before dark and feeding inside the coop, every week or so i would raise the coop bout a foot at a time until they are no longer able to get into it due to its high but i thought i would ask someone who has owned muscovys how high do you think that i would be able to get the coop into the air before it was to high a roost for them?
thanks dan
 
hi guys gonna be getting some muscovys soon and was wondering if anyone can help me out, i have a large garden at the bottom is a shallow creek about a meter wide and 20 to 40cm deep in places but deeper in the winter, it is open at both sides and one of those sides goes to my neighbors garden and the other to a small overgrown patch of land would the muscovys try to follow the creek down stream or would they know were home is and stay in yard, thanks in advance dan.
I would keep them fenced in for the first week so that they know where home is, otherwise randomly wandering the creek would be irresistible to them. (I say that having chased new muscovy additions all over the fields, people's backyards, and anyplace they thought they could hide). Once they know where home is, they may play in the water, but they won't go far.
 

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