Muscovy Madness!

[Miss Lydia]

Got it -- Thank you!!! I submitted it - let's see if it gets picked

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is Ruth Ann she’s 14.

 

[BlueHorse17]

This is Ruth Ann she’s 14.View attachment 2778192

Beautiful! I hope mine live that long. Currently they are…two months lol.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I can hardly believe mine are the age they are. Gosh the years fly by. My very first rooster another rescue, will be 12 on Sunday. He's only one left out of my first chickens.
I hope you have many years with yours they really are a special breed.

 

[BlueHorse17]

I can hardly believe mine are the age they are. Gosh the years fly by. My very first rooster another rescue, will be 12 on Sunday. He's only one left out of my first chickens.
I hope you have many years with yours they really are a special breed.

Thank you so much! Do you have any tips or a secret on keeping them at optimal health? I want to do the best that I can for them. It was between them or Golden Cascades and the Muscovies seem much more gentle. They also appear to have a great personality!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Is your egg in your avatar quail?so pretty.

Muscovy are very healthy birds Most of my females have lived over 7 yrs I lost 2 to egg laying problems but my 4 girls I have now are still laying at 10 and 9 yrs old Ruth stopped laying around age 10. I mean they lay when they aren't broody. I still have one hold out hopefully soon she'll give up.
I do think exercise is critical to keeping them healthy, although last few years my Muscovy don't go up onto the back part of their fenced property like they use to. They have to climb a hill to get there. lol They are dif. not as active as my Runners and Buffs.
Good feed, exercise and genetics play a role in them being healthy. They Haven't been messed with like other breeds have and they are later to mature too, I have never had a female lay an egg until the year after she was hatched, so usually around 8-9 months old.
So keep us updated on your babies I'd love to follow along with their growth and when they begin to lay. I'm sure others can add their thoughts on this too.

 

[BlueHorse17]

Is your egg in your avatar quail?so pretty.

Muscovy are very healthy birds Most of my females have lived over 7 yrs I lost 2 to egg laying problems but my 4 girls I have now are still laying at 10 and 9 yrs old Ruth stopped laying around age 10. I mean they lay when they aren't broody. I still have one hold out hopefully soon she'll give up.
I do think exercise is critical to keeping them healthy, although last few years my Muscovy don't go up onto the back part of their fenced property like they use to. They have to climb a hill to get there. lol They are dif. not as active as my Runners and Buffs.
Good feed, exercise and genetics play a role in them being healthy. They Haven't been messed with like other breeds have and they are later to mature too, I have never had a female lay an egg until the year after she was hatched, so usually around 8-9 months old.
So keep us updated on your babies I'd love to follow along with their growth and when they begin to lay. I'm sure others can add their thoughts on this too.

Yes it is a quail egg ! I hatched quail for the first time almost two months ago and they just started laying last week. I'm pretty excited to have such small eggs! That and that quail have been great! This is their daddy. Well... Will be a father once I do another batch of eggs in the incubator. His name is Pretzel.

What ratio do you recommend for drakes/hens? I ended up settling on one male and four females. I'm hoping that would be enough females for him. I heard that ducks can be a little aggressive when they are mating. They have a little pool that they hang out in, but I noticed they don't seem as want to swim as much as the Cascade ducklings I had. They are on a diet of Purina duck food. I was giving them chick starter then I switched over when I heard they needed niacin. Here is a photo of them. I'm wondering what colors they will end up being? I'm assuming the black one will be...black. The bigger light brown one, maybe lavender?

 

[CRmuscovy]

Beautiful! I hope mine live that long. Currently they are…two months lol.

Me, too! I don't know the parents' age, but they were under a year old when we got them. The teenagers are 15 weeks, and the babies are 1 week old today!!

 

[BlueHorse17]

Me, too! I don't know the parents' age, but they were under a year old when we got them. The teenagers are 15 weeks, and the babies are 1 week old today!!

Happy 1 week!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Me, too! I don't know the parents' age, but they were under a year old when we got them. The teenagers are 15 weeks, and the babies are 1 week old today!!

1 week babies have we seen them?