AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hello folks

I'm new here - this is my first post. We have seven Muscovy ducks. Two of these are drakes.
Three of the girls are about nine months and the other two are almost 12 months. They've just started to lay - we're very excited! They have been building nests all over the garden. One has been happy to lay in one of those plastic dog kennels, they have a large shelter and we've been trying to build them some other sheltered nesting spots but all these weeks of rain has made it impossible! The result is we have ten eggs in five different spots in the garden (finding them is like going on an easter hunt!).

Here are my questions:
1. We do want them to incubate the eggs, so we've been leaving them where they are. Is this ok? With more rain coming I'm tempted to move the more exposed eggs. Or perhaps just build a little shelter over the top? I guess in the wild they don't have a shelter.

2. will it be ok to leave the two drakes in with the girls? We're breeding the ducks for meat and eggs. We were going to remove one of the drakes for eating but haven't 'gotten around' to it. What is the optimum age for eating with these animals? These two are at about 8-9 months.

Apart from this, they're all doing great. We're completely amazed to learn about their engaging personality. They have become a much loved part of our little farm.
Thanks
Leonie

Hello LeonieC, Welcome!

Congratulations on getting Muscovies - I love them!

In general, I have found them to be great mum's, and most of them seem to know what they're doing. Generally, it is better to collect all of their first lot of eggs, as the eggs are smaller, and while some of mine managed to hatch their first batch, they were a lot smaller, and had a lower survival rate during the first week!
I'd suggest collecting the eggs you've got now, but if you want them to keep laying in a particular spot, buy a large fake egg, and put it in the nest. If you want to eat the ones already out there, float them in a large bowl of water - if they float, chuck it, if they stay on the bottom, they're fine to eat tho eat them soon.

Question 1:
Moving them probably won't work, as the nest has been 'disturbed'. Once a duck has started sitting on a batch, you can put some more under her, and she generally will accept them. They can sit on as many as 18 or more - tho mine only about 12.

I had a duck successfully hatch her first batch under a hedge in Townsville summer rain, so I would suggest that a bit of water is ok, but not out in the open. you can try putting stuff over the top, but that might disturb it again - up to you.

I've also successfully used mower catchers collected from the dump with bark chips, grass clippings etc inside to use for nesting material.

Question 2:
If you want to incubate eggs, leave the drakes in with the girls until they start sitting on their nests - you will see the drakes starting to chase them off all the time to 'play'.

I believe optimum age would depend on how much meat you want and how fat they are! I think officially, you can start at about 12 weeks old. We ate a drake which would have been about 1-2 years old, and he tasted great and had heaps of meat! The trick is to cook them SLOWLY! as they get older tho, they get tougher like chickens do, so I would suggest eating them at the age that they turn 'mature', as they have done 'most' of their filling out.

I'm no expert on this, but this has been my experiences so far!

have fun with the egg hunts... my girls are very clever with hiding them!!!

Deb

I don't know if it's true but I was told the latest age to eat duck is 9 mths. It gets tough after that.
Anyone have other info on that?

Val

Thanks Val and Deb

We love our Muscovies too. They have such charming personalities!
Interesting what you say about their first eggs - they are bigger than a chook egg by about half again. But I'm not sure how big they are supposed to be?

Even more eggs appearing around the garden. Must be interesting for them to work out what's going on too!
Will let you know how it goes.

cheers

Duckie...

I think that 9 months would probably be for best flavor... not sure, but I do know that I ROASTED a muscovy drake that was DEFINITELY over a year old, and he tasted great (my husband wants me to cook another like it, but I can't remember how I did it! ), so I guess it would depend on what type they are, what they've been eating (grain fed, or more free range etc), and how old they are etc. I've got an old drake, and I know that I'll be slow-cooking him (10-12 hours).

LeonieC...

I've just had another duck hide her first batch of eggs on me again, and of her eggs (not sure how many as they were under the laying house, but probably about 10-12) 5 sucessfully hatched. I found them wandering around the pen yesterday. Mum duck was still sitting on more eggs back on her nest. Of the 5, when I collected them and put them in a small cage for the night, one died because he was simply too small and weak. The other 4 are going ok tho. The other eggs today had failed to hatch, and she had abandoned the nest.

My suggestion is that generally their first batch of eggs are smaller, and the ducklings have less of a survival rate (older ducks hatch 10 out of 11 eggs). Less may hatch, and not all are strong enough to survive the first few days. If you were to take these first eggs until they stop laying, they will stop for a month or two and then lay again.

Cheers.

Wow, lots happening! I might have misread this sentence but did the ducklings have a heat source overnight? They need a heat source for a couple of weeks because they are too small to generate their own body heat properly. Hopefully Mum took the babies back after abandoning the nest. Good luck with the rest of your hatches.

Roova:

I found them Sunday afternoon when I went to feed the other birds. My guess is that they hatched on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and wandered away from the nest. Mum, still sitting on the remaining eggs let them go. I've seen this once before with another duck... I don't think I'll be keeping this one for breeding!

Yes there was a heat source. I put the 5 ducklings in a cage with a light, and some water and food. One went straight to the water and started drinking, but the one that died was weak, and already couldn't hold his head up properly.

Hi all
Just an update to my post back in Sept. Three of our girls managed to hatch nearly 27 ducklings between them! We were surprised to find the little ones were'nt at all fussy about staying with their mum like chickens do.They just took off everywhere. The popped through the fence and some even managed to find themselves way down in the big paddock dam. The weather grew wet and cold, and we lost many of the ducklings before we could build a better sheltered pen for them. The weather also prevented us getting outside to do the building. We managed to save just nine by putting them in a box with a heat lamp. Lesson learned here: we often have late winter bouts in Oct/Nov where we live, so we won't be letting the ducks sit on eggs till the weather is better. We have one last female sitting on eggs that are due to hatch any day now. We have a duckling pen ready for her and babies when they do.

The mulberry tree is fruiting and one of the funniest things is to see the ducklings running to pick up fallen berries first thing in the morning!

Thanks all for your comments and advice.