Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Kathy farms]

Two of my girls have been laying at the same spot inside the main coop the past 8 days and there are 16 eggs today. There are four questions I need your help with:
1. How many eggs should be enough for one duck to sit on?
2. Should I wait for the laying girls to go broody before i move the eggs to a new location or it can be done now?
3. Should I split the eggs between them when they have laid enough? (based on the recommended number for question 1)
4. Can the other non laying girls sit and hatch the eggs that are not theirs?
Thank you, any advice on these is mostly welcomed.

 

[mymilliefleur]

I have the best drake ever!

My drake always sits at the door into the duck coop on guard duty... the other day one of my kids saw a little ermine try to dart into the coop, the drake pinned it down with his hooked bill and then stomped it to death.

He wouldn't eat it though, even when my kid encouraged him to... so my son tossed the body down our slope.... silly boy, I told him that we could have turned it into a hat band!


(my drake is called Drake)

Sounds like my drake (also named Drake). He's always looking out for his ladys, and lately he has decided that my tom turkey is a dangerous intruder, and had been following him every where, snapping at the poor toms tail.

 

[Alaskan]

Two of my girls have been laying at the same spot inside the main coop the past 8 days and there are 16 eggs today. There are four questions I need your help with:
1. How many eggs should be enough for one duck to sit on?

Depends completely on the duck. Some go broody as soon as they have only a few eggs, some refuse to sit until the have a mountain (like 23 eggs). A good EXPERIENCED duck can easily hatch out 15 ducklings, and some can actually hatch out 20. Younger less experienced mothers can hatch zero or just a few, it is a learning thing, as well as a personality thing. (some are simply better mothers than others)


2. Should I wait for the laying girls to go broody before i move the eggs to a new location or it can be done now?

It depends on how you want this to work.

Muscovy are pretty smart when it domes to their eggs. They want to brood where it is safe and secure for the ducklings. If you mess with them a great deal, they might decide that the spot is unsafe.

I have always found that putting the eggs where I want them to brood works, but I usually do that when there are only 4 eggs not when they already have such a large pile.

If it is a totally different location, you might have to show the duck or ducks where the eggs are now. When they see that the nest that they were using was robbed, they can get very unhappy and try to find a better hiding spot to lay eggs, or even completely stop laying. That is why it is important that they know that you moved the eggs, but that they still have eggs.


3. Should I split the eggs between them when they have laid enough? (based on the recommended number for question 1)

You could set up two nests right next to each other, if your ducks like each other and get along well. Then the ducks will choose which nest they want to brood on, and brood when they feel like it. However, it is a VERY individual kind of thing. I have a small flock of muscovy... I think several started laying at once, but after the nest got close to 20 eggs in size, only one duck went broody. Only now, almost 3 weeks after the first has gone broody, does a second one look like she is starting to think about going broody.

4. Can the other non laying girls sit and hatch the eggs that are not theirs?

My non-laying/young ducks have never wanted to go broody... but I had one try to mother the ducklings when their actual mother disappeared for 6 hours... she couldn't figure out what to do though. When she was older and hatched out her own eggs, she was a fine mother.

Thank you, any advice on these is mostly welcomed.

 

[RyanGriffeth]

Thank you very much for the info. I'm up to 7 eggs in 3 days in three nest locations so it is very exciting . Is it ok that the 3 nests are only 3 feet apart from each other? My drams get along quite well so i'm guessing it should be fine.

 

[Alaskan]

Last spring was the first time that I had two ducks set on eggs right next to each other.

they did fine.... I think the one maybe stole all of the ducklings and gave all of the eggs to the other.....


but no ducklings were hurt or killed, and everything worked out very nicely.

 

[Kathy farms]

Thank you a lot. The info is of great help.

 

[Buck Oakes]

Last spring was the first time that I had two ducks set on eggs right next to each other.  

they did fine....  I think the one maybe stole all of the ducklings and gave all of the eggs to the other.....


but no ducklings were hurt or killed, and everything worked out very nicely.

I've had a way different experience, when 3 of my females set next to each other one would go over into either of the other twos best and eat eggs, I'm pretty sure they did it for their vitamins and stuff even though I gave them enough start n grow baby feed ( which is packed full of vitamins) but she did it when the babies were a week or two away from hatch, anyway nevertheless I haven't had good luck when it comes to females setting next to each other

P.s all the females who set next to each other were super close, like emotionally, they were in the same harem ( which is a male and his group of females) an rye ere hatched together so I dot think it matters how close they are when it comes o not messing with the others nest

 

[Miss Lydia]

I've had a way different experience, when 3 of my females set next to each other one would go over into either of the other twos best and eat eggs, I'm pretty sure they did it for their vitamins and stuff even though I gave them enough start n grow baby feed ( which is packed full of vitamins) but she did it when the babies were a week or two away from hatch, anyway nevertheless I haven't had good luck when it comes to females setting next to each other

P.s all the females who set next to each other were super close, like emotionally, they were in the same harem ( which is a male and his group of females) an rye ere hatched together so I dot think it matters how close they are when it comes o not messing with the others nest

My females would never share a nest with another no matter how close before brooding boy they are territorial when it comes to their nest. If another female is sharing a stall with one that goes broody she has to sleep somewhere else or gets tormented by the broody.

 

[mymilliefleur]

My females would never share a nest with another no matter how close before brooding boy they are territorial when it comes to their nest. If another female is sharing a stall with one that goes broody she has to sleep somewhere else or gets tormented by the broody.

My ducks can be like that too, though I did have a Game hen share a nest with one of my ducks once. The very first duck hen I had go broody, hatched 8 ducklings and after about a week, another one of my duck hens stepped in and co mothered the ducklings with her until they were old enough to go out on their own. I can't wait to see how things go with my ducks this year.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My ducks can be like that too, though I did have a Game hen share a nest with one of my ducks once. The very first duck hen I had go broody, hatched 8 ducklings and after about a week, another one of my duck hens stepped in and co mothered the ducklings with her until they were old enough to go out on their own. I can't wait to see how things go with my ducks this year.

They sure are a hoot. i have 2 Muscovy's sitting on fake eggs and they are just as protective of those eggs as they are of the real thing. [I give my girls fake eggs and let them go through the 35 days of broodiness then on day 36 take the eggs, they come right out of it, where is I try to break them it never works.] I'd love to let them hatch and have duckling every year but don't have the room. And I have a very hard time letting them go once hatched..