will my ducks lay

[ButtaCup]

27 eggs and hatched 26? my goodness that's alot of ducklings, I'm thinking they aren't pets? I only have 15 Muscovy and we're maxed out for now Mine won't even get to hatch any this year although they sure will try. As you can probably tell we don't eat ours and I have a hard time letting them go when hatched out. One of my Scovy girls last year started out brooding my gooses eggs. they ended up not being fertile so I gave her 4 eggs from her sisters and she hatched all 4. They sure do make wonderful brooders and mothers.

Oh no, we don't eat any of them. We have white, blue and chocolate muscovy and we breed for show. I only have 14 girls right now with 4 drakes. We trade a lot of them to keep up our breeding and we also trade for other types of show birds with the 4H kids. We sell a few, but if we trade or give them to the 4Her's it gets more kids interested in poultry. We have only eaten one and she was an unusually mean duck, so we didn't feel too bad. She did make really good duck dumplings.

 

[ButtaCup]

I don't use lights with my hens and though laying was light over the past few months will molting thrown in too, they are beginning to pick up in laying. I just feel lights keep them from having their natural down time over winter when they need to give their bodies a rest, Not saying using light is wrong for ya'll but I just prefer not to use them, but I also have some hens that don't lay anymore so egg laying although a great plus to having chickens isn't top priority with me, I just like their company.

I understand completely. We have one hen that is 8 now and I know she will never lay another egg, but I love her too much to get rid of her. We have several small coops and only the laying hens have the light. But it is also a part of my daughter's 4H project, this is the first year that we have had a light over the winter.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh no, we don't eat any of them. We have white, blue and chocolate muscovy and we breed for show. I only have 14 girls right now with 4 drakes. We trade a lot of them to keep up our breeding and we also trade for other types of show birds with the 4H kids. We sell a few, but if we trade or give them to the 4Her's it gets more kids interested in poultry. We have only eaten one and she was an unusually mean duck, so we didn't feel too bad. She did make really good duck dumplings.

duck dumplings that' s funny, we usually have extra rooster dumplings, I would love to see some pics of your Scovy's we even have a thread dedicated to Muscovys and showing off your birds so feel free to share we love to see beautiful Scovy's. I never seen an ugly one actually.I love the idea of kids taking an interest in showing their ducks/chickens so much better for them than other things out there in the world, I have white/blue and chocolate also and blk and white and a couple of barred thats whats so nice about scovy's all the colors they come in.

 

[creaturelife]

i have 2 black and white males and a black and white female i have 2 that are very weird one of them is gray and white and the other is a gray mix with a bit of chocolate and has some white i have never seen this befor i know last year i lost 11 ducklings that i got 6 i hatched and 6 i bought i had a dog come over and kill alot of them i took it back to the owners of the dog they got mad at me for bring the dog over there and telling them what it done i havent seen that dog agian

 

[Miss Lydia]

i have 2 black and white males and a black and white female i have 2 that are very weird one of them is gray and white and the other is a gray mix with a bit of chocolate and has some white i have never seen this befor i know last year i lost 11 ducklings that i got 6 i hatched and 6 i bought i had a dog come over and kill alot of them i took it back to the owners of the dog they got mad at me for bring the dog over there and telling them what it done i havent seen that dog agian

Well hopefully they got rid of it, we spent a small fortune putting up no climb horse fencing last spring because our welded wire fence was taking a beating from blk bears climbing on it to get inside the property so far they haven't been able to climb on this fence, to me stray dogs are the worse for killing flocks though . I have a fawn Scovy duck that looks like she has a bit of grey in her feathers. Can you post some pics I'd love to see them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I only have 4 ducks laying right now, but they are laying an egg a day. My white Muscovy(Prissy) has 18 eggs right now and she still hasn't started setting. Last year her largest clutch was 27 and she hatched 26 of those. Most Muscovy get very broody and will hatch any egg you put under them once they start setting. Prissy has hatched several clutches of chicken and Cayuga eggs for me and she will raise all of them. That is the great thing about Muscovy, they are wonderful mothers.

you maybe able to post here soon. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/661872/old-fashioned-broody-thread-for-ducks/460#post_12621381

 

[Miss Lydia]

creaturelife and ButtaCup here is the Scovy thread if you'd like to share pics.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/130753/muscovy-keepers-share-your-pics

 

[ButtaCup]

This is Ms Prissy, she is the oldest of my ducks and definitely the alpha-female.

 

[creaturelife]

i will have to take pics and post them tomorrow its dark out and before i put a pic up my coop is still being build i just have it fixed to block the wind off and keep them in i am making my coop bigger plz dont judge my duck house lol not the best at making a coop but half was already built when i moved here i will put up a pic of my mallards and there mates as well and you guys can tell me what you think

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is Ms Prissy, she is the oldest of my ducks and definitely the alpha-female.

Very pretty girl.