Why would my broody muscovy do this ??

[chicken5]

This morning I saw one of my muscovies carrying an egg across the yard to the watering hole. Her eggs are due to hatch any time. By the time I got out there, she had made a big hole in the egg. And, dipped it in the water. Dropped it, and headed back to her nest. I picked the egg up and found a duckling inside. From what I saw, it looked fully developed, and I saw a very small amount of yolk left. Of course, the duckling was not alive. Why would she do that with the egg? Now I'm wondering if I should take the rest of the eggs???? None of the other eggs have hatched yet. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Bleenie]

I had a Muscovy hen that had obviously removed a duckling from its egg and take it about 10-15ft from, her nest and drop/leave it in the yard. it had a tiny bit of yolk too but was also dead when i found it

I still have no idea why she did it, but i think it had to do with soemthing stealing her eggs, so maybe she was trying to "save" that one?

I also have another Muscovy hen that's a terrible momma, she kept kicking her eggs out before or WHILE they were hatching!! I managed to save one that had gotten real cold because it was half hatched but the rest were dead by the time i found them...I am Very much considering rehoming her. she's REALLY mean too & all my other Scovies(even the ones I didn't raise) are very very tollerant of my removing the bad eggs or taking/checking their eggs under them.

i hope yours doesn't do it again and let's them all hatch. *Good luck vibes your way

*

 

[kitkatbahr]

I don't know. I have had my Muscovy hen (first time hatching) kick about 6 of her eggs out of the nest, during this hatch. All but one of them were yolks only, no sign of development, so she knew they were not any good. The last one, a few days ago, had a partially developed chick in it. I actually saw her carry that one out and drop it on the ground. I believe it died/quit developing, and she knew it. I think they do this so that the bad eggs/dead ones don't draw ants, and other creatures to the nest. Then, when the good eggs hatch, the nest doesn't have nasty rotten eggs in it. I truly believe they know what they are doing. At first I was worried, but then I got to thinking about it, and she seems to know. Of course, I won't know for sure until they hatch (due May 18th) and she comes out from under the hutch with a bunch of babies with her.

So, maybe yours knows that the egg quit developing and she tried to get it away from the nest?

Good luck.
Kathy

 

[sourland]

It sounds as if she is removing the non viable eggs from the nest so that they do not spoil and contaminate the rest. If she is a seasoned mother, I would not worry. If she is a first timer, I would keep an eye on her to make sure that she is not removing eggs as they start to pip.

 

[chicken5]

Thanks for the replies. She is a first-time mother. I will keep an eye on her now. I do think that the mother duck has a sense of knowing what's going on inside of the eggs. Two of my rouens have removed eggs that were not developing. But, with the muscovy, it worried me because there was a formed little duckling inside.

 

[RAREROO]

I don't know either. I have had the same thing happen twice within the last week. I saw one duck running across the yard with an egg in her mother to her watering spot and just dropped it an left it there just like yours, but she had just started and the egg wasn't forming yet. Then I had another duck who is setting on turkey eggs who are due this weekend and she had on of them out by the pool with a hole in it where she was carring it. The little poult was still kicking but there was nothing that could be done for it.