Some Muscovies go broody on every single clutch they lay. Others only go broody once or twice a year—or never. Muscovies are generally known to go broody a lot, but not all do. I have girls that are four years old and have only been broody two or three times in their entire lives. For some reason, domestic Muscovies rarely go broody on their first clutch. My ducks will lay a clutch, stop laying for a couple weeks, and then lay another clutch. It does depend on the strain of Muscovy, though.
I would certainly suggest taking the eggs for food. Also, the drake has nothing to do with whether she lays eggs or goes broody. He only ensures that the eggs will actually hatch. Thank you for the reply. My female Muscovy finally stopping laying after 19 eggs and then sat consistently on the clutch. I candled them after 1 week and threw out 2 that looked bad. Later I threw out another 1, and finally after 32 days, 14 ducklings hatched 2 were unknown or stolen by rats.
Thanks for the advice. My female turned out to be a very good mother for her first clutch. I accidentally frightened a mallard duck while she was laying eggs — the nest has 7 eggs and she has not come back. But once my dog did scare a broody duck so badly that she never came back to the nest. If she really was broody, the eggs would unfortunately have died from going that long without warmth. I have a 13 month old runner that has never laid an egg.
She looks and acts healthy, I feed her all flock layer feed. What could be wrong? Runners normally start laying around five or six months of age, so she should have started about seven months ago. But most of those are Muscovies, which almost never lay in winter. Runners often do. Could you tell me what her living situation is like? Is she alone? Is she in a barn all day? Does she free range?
Does she have access to a pond? Just this morning we discovered that our GSD puppy has become an egg thief. Foxes have stolen quite a few of our eggs, too. Also, Runners are one of the breeds of ducks that rarely go broody and have virtually no interest in incubating. So they often just drop the eggs wherever they happen to be when they feel the egg coming. If you have a pond, she could be dropping the eggs in the pond. Is she kept in a dark barn or other dark area often?
This is what I feel is the most likely reason—the length of the day. Her feed sounds fine, although you may want to add calcium. Most flock raisers add crushed eggshells or oyster shell to be sure they have enough calcium to make eggs.
Obesity is one other possible reason she might not be laying. Stress is another major reason. Frequent weather changes might also mess up her laying. Recently, we had a series of sunny mornings, and we were getting plenty of eggs and the ducks are in a mobile pen without a roof, so they can see the moment the sun comes up. And then…bam! One cloudy morning, and we only got one egg that day. There could be other, more unusual causes, such as being a hermaphrodite or something weird, but you should rule out all the usual causes first.
My duck loses all the Young ones and when will it start to lay eggs? It is a local breeds we have in Uganda. Hi Hanna I have two Muscovy ducks that are quite young, around three months old. I bought them not knowing the sex and I am still trying to determine their sex.
You can learn more on her website www. Hi, I had an injured pekin duck arrive in my backyard possibly hit by a car. Over the past 4 weeks I have set up a old rabbit hutch and fenced a large area for him to run with a small 30 gal pond. My question is I want to get him a companion female but not really for any ducklings. Is there a good way to get him company without having broods of ducklings.
Thanks for any help because I am new to this. Happily raising both ducks and chickens. Ducks happily sleep in a run in all weather while the chickens put themselves to bed in the coop.
I keep a waterer above the coop that the chickens can get to because the ducks will 'duck up' any water they can reach in 0 seconds. I've experimented with the head hole bucket solutions, which is better than open access, but because ducks 'sluice' water with their food, if you want the chickens to have clear water, they need a source that the ducks can't reach.
That being said, I still see the chickens happily drinking from the common water as well. All low maintenance, though, and so beautiful and fun to watch in the yard. Ducks can be LOUD. Really loud. Drakes make no real sounds but hens talk a lot. Muscovies are the quietest females. And good layers. They should be separate from chickens because their water is messy.
And they need water to wash down food or they can choke. I have had ducks since Mine pretty much stop laying for the winter. They are great pets and I love having them. But they are not low maintenance. We use heated bowls in the winter and a safe birdbath heater in the pool in the winter along with flat bowls with hot water outside.
They poop A LOT. Be sure you are ready for the work. If you are, ducks are so much fun and amusement. And they are so beautiful. But they need proper care and attention. Hi Lisa, I enjoyed your article. I have raised one or more kinds of poultry most of my life and my experiences with ducks and chickens has been much the same as yours. Both are great, both are easy to raise, but like you said both have their unique requirements and idiosyncrasies. If you want a sustainable meat bird, IMHO you can't beat a duck.
Unless you get broilers which are hybrids, won't breed true even if they could breed , I've found that even large breeds of chickens like Brahmas and Orpingtons are, well, "chicken-chested". More bone than meat, especially the breast.
Email: Password:. Log in. Product Search: go. Help Me! OR: Search by Category. See Also: When do chickens start laying eggs? That Laying Feeling Most ducks lay eggs very early in the morning, so you probably won't notice her heading for her nest box. How Does a Chicken Lay an Egg? Egg Laying Frequency in Broilers.
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