We got four muscovy/pekin crosses last year, and they all turned out to be female. Unusual, but not impossible. So by fall of last year, they were trying to set on clutches of fifteen-twenty eggs each and keeping them warm for weeks.
The ducks are easy to break of broodiness, but I wanted to see how they'd do, so I stuck some chicken eggs under them. They all got four to six, and the low hatch rates probably aren't their fault--I found a bad riboflavin deficiency when the peeps hatched.
One hatched two peeps out of six eggs, and killed a peep by pulling it out of the egg too early. One hatched nothing. One hatched four peeps and killed two by smothering(?) them. One hatched two peeps and killed them both by pulling them out of the eggs too early.
I have a low opinion of Pekin intelligence, so I'm wondering if that influenced the muscovy to make them really great setters and really bad hatchers? We have two pekin males now, and I'd love to know before they start sitting on any more fertilised nests.
Also, can I expect a staggered hatch due to the 35 day length of incubation for muscovies and the 28 day for pekins?
The ducks are easy to break of broodiness, but I wanted to see how they'd do, so I stuck some chicken eggs under them. They all got four to six, and the low hatch rates probably aren't their fault--I found a bad riboflavin deficiency when the peeps hatched.
One hatched two peeps out of six eggs, and killed a peep by pulling it out of the egg too early. One hatched nothing. One hatched four peeps and killed two by smothering(?) them. One hatched two peeps and killed them both by pulling them out of the eggs too early.
I have a low opinion of Pekin intelligence, so I'm wondering if that influenced the muscovy to make them really great setters and really bad hatchers? We have two pekin males now, and I'd love to know before they start sitting on any more fertilised nests.
Also, can I expect a staggered hatch due to the 35 day length of incubation for muscovies and the 28 day for pekins?
