[Hanidu-Acres]

Give them time and start counting the days until hatching when they sit on the eggs in the day.

[MomH]

You may be gathering the eggs prematurely. I only gather the eggs when I don’t want any more hatched. Other than that I just leave them be. A duck will sit on them when they feel they are ready. Remember, they will get off the nest each day to defecate, eat, and drink.

[Myst]

How do you know??

There were 2 nests with over 25 eggs in each… They can’t possibly hatch that many…..

[Squashmania]

I am new to Muscovies. They are two days old, and I am probably being a new neurotic owner. I am looking for advice and encouragement. I have chickens and quail, and “accidentally”raised a few mallards and released them last year.(another story for another time).

I have nearly every predator east of the Mississippi, besides bear and bobcat. How do I keep them safe?

I have a quarter acre pond, and I understand they can roost in trees, but we have snapping turtles and owls. I can keep them out of the pond until they are big enough that a bass can’t swallow them whole. “Operation Training Wheels” photo below, teaching the mallards about the pond.

I had two hens killed and/or carried off by hawks a few weeks ago. Any input would help.

I am reading a ton of forums. According to back yard chickens, they are nearly impossible to hatch. I hatched 7/8. I have one with wry neck, but leg spraddle in the same chick corrected itself in the first 24 hours.

[Squashmania]

HELP!

The cute little fluffballs have had a crisis. 7 total. Approx. 5-6 weeks old. One apparent male, two are ambiguous that won’t share their pronouns, and the rest appear female, at least in size and morphology.

This morning the big one is pulling at the other’s wings during morning tub time, and continued it when returned to the living room cage, that I expanded by 70% last night. Working on building their coop this weekend, even in the rain. It’s gotta happen.

The husband comes home in between jobs today and finds that the big one has continued this today and the smaller ducks have bloody and missing feathers on or around where their wingtips rest on their back. He put the big one ina dog crate, and I have managed to keep him near his siblings but segregated, so he can’t keep harassing them. What a mess.

ADVICE PLEASE! I am new to ducks, and had no idea Muscovies were supposed to be a post graduate course.

[DoubleS]

You’re doing fine. Take a deep breath. 😊

Keep doing what you’re doing. Most likely it is a lack of space combined with boredom combined with growing pains. Once in a larger coop space, it may never be an issue again. If it is still an issue, you might have a problem duck. Which isn’t really a problem, because problem ducks become dinner. Yum! 😂

[DoubleS]

P.S. when my ducks were young and still confined to a cage I put several toys around for them. The one that really got their attention was a mirror placed at eye level. Something to consider- might help alleviate the boredom part.

[Squashmania]

Well, you were right. The male became dinner. Hateful little heathen!

The remaining 6 are girls. Lost the one who started with splayed legs and a wry neck to a fox, I believe, leaving me with 5 These have taken up the mantle of caring for the mallard ducklings that are about 7 weeks old.

Ironically, the Muscovies weren’t in the pond that much until the mallards were outside. Now they hang with the mallards in the nursery cove at night and today I caught them diving and swimming underwater having a massive duck fiesta. I got to watch, but wasn’t invited.

[DoubleS]

Glad it worked out in the end. And I bet the hateful little heathen was delicious! Watching duck fiesta in a pond is great fun.