White Hen has never hatched an egg...
I first found out about this species of anatidae around 5 years ago when a moving neighbor gave us two black hens that they could not take with them. I did not really know anything about Muscovies and definitely did not know they could fly, I found out a few hours later when one of the hens flew off and headed back to the neighbor's house. Unfortunately, both hens were killed by a dog the next year. Two years later I bought a pair of white Muscovies, I wanted to use them to produce offspring that could be sold and used for meat. The hen was still young when I got her and did not start laying her first clutch till July, she laid an egg every other day and then set at 14 eggs. She did not use a nesting box and just set in the corner of the run, she was not successful and I did not blame her, I thought she failed because the chickens were messing with her. I thought this clutch was pretty small, one of the black hens had at least 30 eggs every clutch and laid an egg every day, a very special bird. The next clutch there was only 10 eggs, she picked a corner inside the coop, I tried to move her into a dog crate but she would not set in there, the past hens would let me move their clutch anywhere in the coop. That was the last clutch of that year and next year she started to lay in June, pretty much the same thing happened, she would pick a corner to make her nest, set the eggs, they would develop and get close to hatching but then they would not hatch. One time I found broken eggs around the coop and I assumed a chicken had eating the hatching eggs when the hen got off the nest. This year the hen started laying in late March, very early for me, she had 12 eggs and I got her to make her nest in a dog crate this time so I could block out the chickens and other birds. The dog crate was big enough for her to get off and use the bathroom and eat but she decided to just stay on the nest at all times and if she had to poop.... Well sorry eggs! So after she pooped on the eggs I cleaned them off and I started to force her off the nest once a day to eat and poop. Once a day was not enough and I had to clean poop off of eggs again, so I bumped it up to twice a day. Surprisingly, around half of the eggs made it to the final days of incubation, one even pipped. Unfortunately, I came out to find the pipped egg in the water and all ripped up, the water was bloody and the hen's face was too. I am not sure if the chick died and she tried to eat it or if she killed it. I took the rest of the eggs and tried to incubate them and one hatched but died shortly after. She set again in late May and this time she picked a nesting box in the coop, she had one egg pip but it never zipped. All the others were dead inside the eggs, they had all internally pipped but then died. She does get off the nest to eat and poop if she is in the coop but when I had her in the dog crate she would not. But, when she sets int the coop her nest is always disturbed by the chickens, ducks, and other Muscovies. I was wondering if this hen will ever hatch anything, is there something wrong with what she is doing or is there something I could do to improve her chances? I was thinking maybe next time I will put her out in one of my chicken tractors with the drake so she sets in a large area with no other birds. Or, I could let her set in the rabbit hutch but I am not sure how much she will like having rabbits running around her.
Drake thinks he is a chicken/human...
After my first year of failure with the white hen I tried to get some other hens for the drake, I bought two black hens, soon after I bought them they started to lay their first clutch. They both picked a chicken nesting box to use as their nest. The first hen finished her clutch with 20 eggs and set them, she then got sick and stopped the next day. The hen's caruncle turned pale and she stopped eating, her poop turned green. She would still drink but was not very active. She was like this for a few weeks before she died, I am still not sure what was wrong with her and I did not know about backyard chickens back then and could not find any answers through google searches. The other hen switched her nest to the abandoned nest and started adding eggs to it, she then started to set, on the night she set the eggs a raccoon broke in and killed her. I was not to happy about that and did a lot of trapping afterwords. I did not have a incubator to set the eggs in so I ordered a cheap one for $50 online, it took two weeks to ship here and when it did I set it up and started to incubate the Muscovy eggs, this was my first time incubating anything and I got all my info from the directions that came with the bator. 35 days later one egg pipped and out hatched a little pied Muscovy. He was a lonely little guy and imprinted on me, I taught him what to eat and drink and then tried to put him in a brooder but he did not like that and made a lot of noise. I would take him everywhere all day and let him sit with me in my room to make him stop calling for me but I could not let him sleep in bed with me so I would put him in a box next to the bed at night, he did not like this and would call for me all night. I got sick of it and put a young silkie Pullet, named TL, with him. He then imprinted on TL but was still imprinted on me. As he grew up he showed no interest in the other Muscovies and only played with the chickens even though the two other muscovies tried to communicate with him several times. When he reached maturity he started to get aggressive with any chicken that attacked TL and he would pin down and beat any hen who tried to fight him or peck TL. Unfortunately, the young muscovy was raped by a pekin drake, this created a fear of ducks for him and he would not go near any duck but he did not mind the other Muscovies. Once he reached sexual maturity he got in fights with the roosters and beat the heck out of each one, he then started to try and mate with TL and I had to split them up for TL's safety. Once TL was gone he started to try and mate with the chicken hens and would violently pin them down and forcefully mount them, the roosters would make alarm calls but they feared the muscovy and would never actually do anything to help the hen. If I take my shoes off by the coop he will come and try to mount them... He is a pretty confused drake. He eventually started to communicate with the other Muscovy drake and he became friends with the Muscovy hen but never tried to mate with her. I got 4 chocolate Muscovies this year and I hoped he would lose interest in the chicken hens and mate with his own species, he showed no interest in the new Muscovy hens. But his habit of forcefully mating the hens died down too and he rarely does it now. Is there anything I can do to make him stop mating with chickens and start mating with Muscovies, or is he permanently messed up?
I first found out about this species of anatidae around 5 years ago when a moving neighbor gave us two black hens that they could not take with them. I did not really know anything about Muscovies and definitely did not know they could fly, I found out a few hours later when one of the hens flew off and headed back to the neighbor's house. Unfortunately, both hens were killed by a dog the next year. Two years later I bought a pair of white Muscovies, I wanted to use them to produce offspring that could be sold and used for meat. The hen was still young when I got her and did not start laying her first clutch till July, she laid an egg every other day and then set at 14 eggs. She did not use a nesting box and just set in the corner of the run, she was not successful and I did not blame her, I thought she failed because the chickens were messing with her. I thought this clutch was pretty small, one of the black hens had at least 30 eggs every clutch and laid an egg every day, a very special bird. The next clutch there was only 10 eggs, she picked a corner inside the coop, I tried to move her into a dog crate but she would not set in there, the past hens would let me move their clutch anywhere in the coop. That was the last clutch of that year and next year she started to lay in June, pretty much the same thing happened, she would pick a corner to make her nest, set the eggs, they would develop and get close to hatching but then they would not hatch. One time I found broken eggs around the coop and I assumed a chicken had eating the hatching eggs when the hen got off the nest. This year the hen started laying in late March, very early for me, she had 12 eggs and I got her to make her nest in a dog crate this time so I could block out the chickens and other birds. The dog crate was big enough for her to get off and use the bathroom and eat but she decided to just stay on the nest at all times and if she had to poop.... Well sorry eggs! So after she pooped on the eggs I cleaned them off and I started to force her off the nest once a day to eat and poop. Once a day was not enough and I had to clean poop off of eggs again, so I bumped it up to twice a day. Surprisingly, around half of the eggs made it to the final days of incubation, one even pipped. Unfortunately, I came out to find the pipped egg in the water and all ripped up, the water was bloody and the hen's face was too. I am not sure if the chick died and she tried to eat it or if she killed it. I took the rest of the eggs and tried to incubate them and one hatched but died shortly after. She set again in late May and this time she picked a nesting box in the coop, she had one egg pip but it never zipped. All the others were dead inside the eggs, they had all internally pipped but then died. She does get off the nest to eat and poop if she is in the coop but when I had her in the dog crate she would not. But, when she sets int the coop her nest is always disturbed by the chickens, ducks, and other Muscovies. I was wondering if this hen will ever hatch anything, is there something wrong with what she is doing or is there something I could do to improve her chances? I was thinking maybe next time I will put her out in one of my chicken tractors with the drake so she sets in a large area with no other birds. Or, I could let her set in the rabbit hutch but I am not sure how much she will like having rabbits running around her.
Drake thinks he is a chicken/human...
After my first year of failure with the white hen I tried to get some other hens for the drake, I bought two black hens, soon after I bought them they started to lay their first clutch. They both picked a chicken nesting box to use as their nest. The first hen finished her clutch with 20 eggs and set them, she then got sick and stopped the next day. The hen's caruncle turned pale and she stopped eating, her poop turned green. She would still drink but was not very active. She was like this for a few weeks before she died, I am still not sure what was wrong with her and I did not know about backyard chickens back then and could not find any answers through google searches. The other hen switched her nest to the abandoned nest and started adding eggs to it, she then started to set, on the night she set the eggs a raccoon broke in and killed her. I was not to happy about that and did a lot of trapping afterwords. I did not have a incubator to set the eggs in so I ordered a cheap one for $50 online, it took two weeks to ship here and when it did I set it up and started to incubate the Muscovy eggs, this was my first time incubating anything and I got all my info from the directions that came with the bator. 35 days later one egg pipped and out hatched a little pied Muscovy. He was a lonely little guy and imprinted on me, I taught him what to eat and drink and then tried to put him in a brooder but he did not like that and made a lot of noise. I would take him everywhere all day and let him sit with me in my room to make him stop calling for me but I could not let him sleep in bed with me so I would put him in a box next to the bed at night, he did not like this and would call for me all night. I got sick of it and put a young silkie Pullet, named TL, with him. He then imprinted on TL but was still imprinted on me. As he grew up he showed no interest in the other Muscovies and only played with the chickens even though the two other muscovies tried to communicate with him several times. When he reached maturity he started to get aggressive with any chicken that attacked TL and he would pin down and beat any hen who tried to fight him or peck TL. Unfortunately, the young muscovy was raped by a pekin drake, this created a fear of ducks for him and he would not go near any duck but he did not mind the other Muscovies. Once he reached sexual maturity he got in fights with the roosters and beat the heck out of each one, he then started to try and mate with TL and I had to split them up for TL's safety. Once TL was gone he started to try and mate with the chicken hens and would violently pin them down and forcefully mount them, the roosters would make alarm calls but they feared the muscovy and would never actually do anything to help the hen. If I take my shoes off by the coop he will come and try to mount them... He is a pretty confused drake. He eventually started to communicate with the other Muscovy drake and he became friends with the Muscovy hen but never tried to mate with her. I got 4 chocolate Muscovies this year and I hoped he would lose interest in the chicken hens and mate with his own species, he showed no interest in the new Muscovy hens. But his habit of forcefully mating the hens died down too and he rarely does it now. Is there anything I can do to make him stop mating with chickens and start mating with Muscovies, or is he permanently messed up?
