Will my Muscovy hens be receptive to my Khaki drake?

[Brookenheil]

This website has been a great source of information for me for the 2 years we have had chickens, rabbits, and ducks and I can usually find the answer I need just by searching. However I decided to join today to ask a question that I could not find the answer to. We have 3 khaki campbells (1 drake, 2 hens) and 3 muscovy hens, all 4.5 months old. Over the past few weeks the drake has been mating with the khakis in our pond (much to their approval). However he has starting chasing, pinning down, and attempting to mate with our muscovies (much to their horror). We are wanting to raise the khakis for eggs and muscovy offspring for meat so we want the drake to mate with them. However we don't really care for the aggressive attacks that seem to be happening. My question is will the muscovies eventually desire the drake and they are just slower to mature, or will they always fight him? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[quackingdom]

If the Muscovy females are only 4.5 months old...I think that's too young for Muscovies to be mating. Muscovies mature later than other ducks, including Khakis. They may be more receptive when they're old enough. Muscovies start laying at 6 months old.

 

[Brookenheil]

That's actually kind of what I gathered with the research I had done, but wasn't 100% sure. Thank you for such a quick response!

 

[Buck Oakes]

This website has been a great source of information for me for the 2 years we have had chickens, rabbits, and ducks and I can usually find the answer I need just by searching. However I decided to join today to ask a question that I could not find the answer to. We have 3 khaki campbells (1 drake, 2 hens) and 3 muscovy hens, all 4.5 months old. Over the past few weeks the drake has been mating with the khakis in our pond (much to their approval). However he has starting chasing, pinning down, and attempting to mate with our muscovies (much to their horror). We are wanting to raise the khakis for eggs and muscovy offspring for meat so we want the drake to mate with them. However we don't really care for the aggressive attacks that seem to be happening. My question is will the muscovies eventually desire the drake and they are just slower to mature, or will they always fight him? Any help would be appreciated.

They won't really accept him as their male but they will be mated by him and their is usually a 30% chance of fertile offspring from the khaki cam bell male

 

[Brookenheil]

Just to clarify, do you mean there is a 30% chance of getting offspring from the muscovy/khaki cross, or do you mean only 30% of the offspring from such a union would be fertile?

 

[casportpony]

"If left to mate naturally, the fertility is only 20-30%. Artificial insemination brings the fertility up to 80%."
That's from this link:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/MuleDucks.cfm

-Kathy

 

[Brookenheil]

I've heard that, but also heard of many muscovy/khaki crosses. The husband and I have discussed candling the first few eggs and if no babies then we will get a male muscovy and eat our khaki drake (even though he is gorgeous). Do any of you think there would be huge problems with introducing an older muscovy drake into our flock? I've heard they can be a bit aggressive and don't know how my girls would react to a newcomer.

 

[Buck Oakes]

well first of all, you dont have to eat you khaki campbell drake, he can still mke babies with her but only 30% of the eggs the muscovy lays will be fertile, the others she lays you can collect and sell. so no need to get rid of your khaki campbell drake

 

[Brookenheil]

I understand, but the reason we got the muscovies was to produce meat for us. We have our 2 khaki hens for eggs (plus 4 chickens). I don't think we need 2 drakes for only 5 females as we don't want our drakes trying to mate our chickens and hurting/killing them. I guess it will just be a waiting game to see if we get babies. Thanks for everyone's help/input!

 

[Buck Oakes]

Muscovies lay or can lay eggs year round, just a little fact for you to know