Need opinions about

[taraann81]

I have 3 Muscovies 2 hens, 1 drake. One of my hens has been setting on eggs for about 12 days. I also have 7 muscovy ducklings(eggs collected from my hens) I incubated myself, of these ducklings I plan on keeping the hens and selling the drakes.

That was just some background info I gave to help you help me with my question.
A beautiful blue Muscovy drake(young adult) has just become available. I want this drake for his beautiful color and I have been looking for a new drake to add some new blood to my small flock I will be keeping my original drake as well. When the hens from the ones I incubated and the hens from my broody mature there will be plenty of hens for two drakes to share.

How badly will my resident drake(1.5 yrs old) fight if I introduce him now?

Also would this be detrimental to my broody girl?

If anyone can tell me what could go wrong or ways that I could make this work I would appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I don't know Muscovies but I hear they can get pretty aggressive so I would be concerned about adding a mature male at this point with only ? two mature hens including a broody.
What kind of set up does your broody have? It's important to keep the male away from her and the ducklings. Sometimes there are problems with the other hens as well, including getting aggressive toward the ducklings or going broody themselves.

 

[taraann81]

Yes I only have 2 mature hens at this point. I had 7 until January when the neighbors dog came over, He killed 4 and even the 3 remaining were injured by the dog, but fortunately made a full recovery. It's just so hard to pass up this opportunity, he is a beautiful drake and will not last long. Do you think I could pen him separately until the eggs hatch? I plan on taking the ducklings from the mother anyways as their are many stray cats in the area.

She is just in the corner of my barn, I have seen no aggression or animosity towards her yet from the resident drake or the other hen.

Thanks for your help.
Tara

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

The drakes will fight but they should sort it out pretty quick, some of ours have been together for years and they still fight somtimes. It's pretty impressive to watch, they are some strong ducks

Steve

 

[Trenary Duck Farm]

From our experience with muscovies, you may have a problem. With two breeding hens along with possibly four new hens for next year, that would leave you with a total of six hens to two drakes. With that ratio, the dominant male may claim all the females as his own, and the other drake will be left out.

This is where the problem may start. The lesser males still have a sex drive, and will rape the hens when given a chance. We lost two females due to drowning (the males push the females head under water) because of the lesser drakes use of excessive force to mate before being driven away by the dominant male.

If you don't have a pond, then this may not apply.

 

[taraann81]

Well I do have a creek that runs through my property and it is pretty deep, so that might be a problem.

I think I will have quite a few more than 6 hens next year. I have 7 unsexed ducklings(hopefully some will be hens). I have 20 eggs under my broody hen and 20 more in the incubator. If all hatch(unlikely) that will give me 47 ducklings, so I could keep as many hens as would be a good number.

Trenary Duck Farm, how many hens do you think I should keep to keep these two drakes happy? What is a good drake to hen ratio for muscovies?

 

[Trenary Duck Farm]

We try for between four to five hens per drake, where as I have also read that it should be between three to four hens per drake. So, personally I would go with eight to ten hens for your two drakes because the number of available hens becomes limited as they go broody.

UC Davis Muscovy Care Practices

Oh by the way, congratulations on your successful hatch.