Muscovy nesting question

[Aedwards]

Hi all,
I am new to muscovy’s and obtained 3 adult hens and an adult drake earlier this year. Two of the hens came with hatchlings; one had 13 and the other had four. After those babies were raised and the ducks were comfortable in their new home, all three hens started lying. Between the three nest there were approximately 50 eggs out of those 50 only two babies hatched. It seems the hens frequently rolled the eggs out of their nest and cracked them until there were either none left or a handful left that never hatched. I know that they will remove eggs from the nest that are rotten. Recently, the mama that managed to hatch, the two babies has started laying again and has gone broody. She started with 13 eggs in her nest and is now down to three or four. I know muscovy’s are prolific and it’s blowing my mind at this many eggs have been bad. The original mom that came to me with 13 hatchlings was not able to hatch a single baby on her first nest here and then laid a second nest here, but never went broody so the eggs went in the incubator. I was hoping to get some insight from people experienced with muscovy’s on what could be going on.

 

[Yardmom]

They are not going to hatch if the mom has more eggs than she can handle. They keep rolling them, so all the eggs get to cool at some point. You should pick eggs even when you intend for them to set. (Leave A few in the nest if you are trying to encourage broodiness). Then once the hen is broody give them a dozen or so of the freshest eggs.

 

[Canadian Wind]

What is your nest set-up? Also, since you want them to brood their own, you'll have to keep the females separated as they will all lay in the same nest and there will be too many eggs of various ages.

I use storage bins with a hole cut in the narrow end. It prevents eggs from rolling out.

 

[Aedwards]

What is your nest set-up? Also, since you want them to brood their own, you'll have to keep the females separated as they will all lay in the same nest and there will be too many eggs of various ages.

I use storage bins with a hole cut in the narrow end. It prevents eggs from rolling out.

I currently have four plastic dog houses set up for them to lay in. They seem to favor one specific house over the rest of them for whatever reason. The younger females that i bought with their mother as hatchlings are starting to lay and i noticed they had a line formed outside of the favorite house the other day. I definitely have to expand with more nesting areas now.
How do you keep your females separated? Currently mine free range.

 

[Aedwards]

They are not going to hatch if the mom has more eggs than she can handle. They keep rolling them, so all the eggs get to cool at some point. You should pick eggs even when you intend for them to set. (Leave A few in the nest if you are trying to encourage broodiness). Then once the hen is broody give them a dozen or so of the freshest eggs.

I will try this next time and see if i have better luck. I assumed since the one female successfully hatched 13 on her first clutch she could handle a larger clutch.
Have you had issues with the summer heat effecting hatches?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Have you checked for fertility?

 

[Canadian Wind]

I currently have four plastic dog houses set up for them to lay in. They seem to favor one specific house over the rest of them for whatever reason. The younger females that i bought with their mother as hatchlings are starting to lay and i noticed they had a line formed outside of the favorite house the other day. I definitely have to expand with more nesting areas now.
How do you keep your females separated? Currently mine free range.

I didn't separate this year and had the same issue.

I want to build some runs with a secure hutch for each of them, but this year has been really bad for many reasons and wasn't able to. Most of the babies I hatched were from the incubator.