Weak Legs Nesting Muscovy

[Amalthea666]

Hi All,
I need advice.
I have a female Muscovy nesting at the moment. She spends most of the day on her 1 egg.
She will get up every now and then, but I have noticed she will start eating, but she'll sit down.
Is it common for nesting ducks to get weakness in their legs because they sit on the nest so long?
She's still eating...........and biting. Just worried.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When my Muscovy is brooding I make sure she gets outside at least once a day to eat, bathe and poop.
What is she eating? I've never had one get weak legs from brooding but I know it can happen. You may want to get some good poultry vitamins to add to her drinking water also.
Is the egg fertile? no sense letting her get run down if not.

 

[Amalthea666]

When my Muscovy is brooding I make sure she gets outside at least once a day to eat, bathe and poop.
What is she eating? I've never had one get weak legs from brooding but I know it can happen. You may want to get some good poultry vitamins to add to her drinking water also.
Is the egg fertile? no sense letting her get run down if not.

I feed her and her boyfriend kale, parsnip, cucumber, zucini, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and pak choy in the morning and peas and corn at night.
Her boyfriend is a Mallard x Saxony, so I've been told the egg won't be fertile.
Should I try to get her out of her broodiness?
I know she gets up at least twice a day.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Yes, break her from the broodiness - don't let her brood an egg that isn't fertile. Even brooding a single egg isn't the best practice. However, a mix like that wouldn't be infertile - their offspring would be. Now a muscovy mix would be infertile. Saxony is of mallard descent.
Also, are you feeding any actual feed or just all the goodies listed above? That's not a complete diet and she's missing vital nutrients if that's all shes being fed. She will show symptoms of deficiencies and one would be weakness of the legs due to a lack of niacin.

 

[Amalthea666]

Yes, break her from the broodiness - don't let her brood an egg that isn't fertile. Even brooding a single egg isn't the best practice. However, a mix like that wouldn't be infertile - their offspring would be. Now a muscovy mix would be infertile. Saxony is of mallard descent.
Also, are you feeding any actual feed or just all the goodies listed above? That's not a complete diet and she's missing vital nutrients if that's all shes being fed. She will show symptoms of deficiencies and one would be weakness of the legs due to a lack of niacin.

She is getting a Duck Pallet and poultry mix as well. She has all the grass she can ask for. They also have meal worms as snacks and a few mixed in with breakfast and dinner.
Even with the Duck pallets is there a possibility she's still not getting enough niacin?
I really appreciate this information. I'm still fairly new at this Duck Mum stuff.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

She is getting a Duck Pallet and poultry mix as well. She has all the grass she can ask for. They also have meal worms as snacks and a few mixed in with breakfast and dinner.
Even with the Duck pallets is there a possibility she's still not getting enough niacin?
I really appreciate this information. I'm still fairly new at this Duck Mum stuff.

Whenever you feed anything outside of prepared feed, it is considered a treat. All of the treats take away from the duck's nutritional needs. Technically besides foraging in the grass, they should only have 10% of their food come from treats. The duck pellets could be enough and you don't need the poultry mix. But, without knowing the brands or the ingredients, I couldn't tell you if she were getting enough niacin. I'd stop the treats for now until you figure out the leg issue. Feed the duck feed and get some nutritional yeast or a super complex b - here in the states, I would recommend the liquid variety, but I'm not sure what you have access to.

 

[Amalthea666]

Whenever you feed anything outside of prepared feed, it is considered a treat. All of the treats take away from the duck's nutritional needs. Technically besides foraging in the grass, they should only have 10% of their food come from treats. The duck pellets could be enough and you don't need the poultry mix. But, without knowing the brands or the ingredients, I couldn't tell you if she were getting enough niacin. I'd stop the treats for now until you figure out the leg issue. Feed the duck feed and get some nutritional yeast or a super complex b - here in the states, I would recommend the liquid variety, but I'm not sure what you have access to.

They have constant access to the pellets. The brand is Peckish Produce Duck Pellets. The poultry mix is Peters Free Range Poultry Mix. They predominantly get the pellets, they get the poultry mix if I run out of pellets.
I'm in Melbourne, Australia.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

They have constant access to the pellets. The brand is Peckish Produce Duck Pellets. The poultry mix is Peters Free Range Poultry Mix. They predominantly get the pellets, they get the poultry mix if I run out of pellets.
I'm in Melbourne, Australia.

Right. I saw your location on your profile. But, I'm not familiar with the brand. Is there a list of ingredients? A guaranteed analysis? To be safe, I would add nutritional yeast (vitamin b3) to their feed and cut out the extras for now. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but when you give too many extras, the ducks will fill up on that vs their duck feed. Then, they will have nutritional deficiencies because they aren't getting the nutrition and vitamins from the feed. The feed is balanced nutrition. A lot of issues surface from feeding too many extras.