Questions about Muscovy ducks !

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Just found out my ducks aren't as old as the guy originally told me. They are closer to 10-11 months old.. ish. He could remember specifically which hatch they are from. (Got them from my neighbour.) Their warts & colouring started filling in nicely once the warm weather hit & pond-grazing began. Will have to get some photos. Nothing makes me laugh more than seeing the ducks running through the tall grass to come & see us for 'treats' (aka duck layer feed, some corn, some worms...)
 
I have a question I bought two babies and one passed away. And now the other baby is with my geese. Should I get another on so it can have a friend of the same breed?
 
I brought him in last night and put him in a box with a light and all that fun stuff. I've been trying since last night to find him a friend but it seem like everywhere is sold out of baby :(
 
Going Quackers said:
They are capable of this but not always i have nest sized that vary, some will set with a half dozen or less others have them stacked to the ceiling, Muscovy are able to have large clutches but don't always adhere to this.
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In my experience shared nests do not end well, not once have i had one have success and Muscovy females are quite territorial over their young too.
Click to expand...

My experience is the same - this is the first clutch for both by ducks. I separated them once the first started laying, and once they both started sitting (about 3 weeks apart) they became very aggressive towards each other.
 
Well, looks like my flock has increased dramatically...
I just acquired 2 new young & laying females and a small clutch of 16 2.5wk old duckies to add to my previous trio. I hoped my previous two ducks were laying, and I just couldn't find the nests:
I set up a nest near the separated pen where the newest layers & babies are, took two new eggs from the new layer (she wasn't sitting on them) & put them into the nest I made that's accessible to my previous trio. In the morning, two eggs became three! So one of my girls decided to use the nest I made & add to it. So happy it worked. And now I know they are in fact laying.
 
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Hello, first time duck owner here. My husband and I bought a small flock of 2 week old Muscovies yesterday. They managed to escape the stall where we were keeping them overnight and we spent the whole day chasing them down through the overgrown edges of our pasture. Once we had them we put them back, they ate and drank happily and we fixed the area where we thought they escaped. When we just went back on our night rounds, they are all gone AGAIN! I am so distraught! Obviously, they are squeezing through tiny holes that I didn't think they could fit through. Clearly, I have a lot of learning to do if I'm going to be a responsible duck owner.
So, I have two questions:

1) Will Muscovies this young seek to roost at night? We don't understand why they would only leave at dusk when they were perfectly happy during the day with good feed, plenty of clean water and a place to swim.

2) Do they have some sort of "homing instinct"? This morning I went out to do chores extra early in hopes of finding them before some predator and, sure enough, as I looked out the barn door, they were headed towards it. However, they had gotten separated and one duckling was beyond the barn, so I'm not sure if they were coming to the barn because they "recognize" it as a place with food and water or if they were just coming because they heard their separated flock mate (who was on higher ground, so his call would have carried.)

I am dismayed at having spent all day hunting them down only to have lost them again. I would appreciate any help anyone can provide as to duckling behavior!

Thanks in advance,
Pam
 
Thank you for the idea about hardware cloth. We found them all again this morning, thankfully safe and sound. We are going to watch them at dusk tonight in their stall to see how they behave. Is it possible that they feel exposed since there's nothing over their heads? Again, I appreciate any info/insights anyone can provide. :)
 

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