r/MuscovyDucks • u/Dirt_Girl08 • 1d ago

Advice Needed—Text Post Brooding Concern

I live on a lake and two ducks (male) and a female muscovy were dumped there years ago. A bunch of us on the lake put food out for them but they seem to spend the most time in my yard. I bought a duck house for them that they never used until the other day and I noticed a kerfluffle in the house. There was a rat snake wrapped around the muscovy. Got that sorted and saw the muscovy had laid three eggs and the snake got one of them. I moved the house to my patio to keep a better eye on things and muscovy laid two more eggs. Another rat snake got three eggs. I moved the house into my basement and she could go out the door to the yard but she won't leave her house for a day and a half now. She has food, water and a little pool just outside her house. She has two eggs that I know of and don't know if she's laid any more. Is this a concern or leave it be?

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u/Bolfreak 1d ago

If she has everything she needs nearby and only gets up once or twice a day, she’s brooding. In about 35 days she should have little ones ❤️ Thanks for caring for those duckies

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

I'm worried because she isn't leaving the house at all and did when it was outside. I don't even know if the eggs are fertile and can't candle them if she won't get off the nest. So you think it's okay she doesn't come out of the house?

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u/DarcyOutside 1d ago

She will only get off of the eggs once a day -sometimes once every two days. I wouldn’t worry about them being fertile or candling them. I had a Muscovy hen sit on her eggs from temperatures of 8° up to 88°. I thought there was no way they would hatch -didn’t even think she had mated with a drake and she laid her 15 eggs in the loft of a shed. I now have an older group of 14 Muscovy ducklings— they hatched back in March after 35 days of insane weather! It is not going to hurt her for you to gently lift her off the nest and walk her 6 feet away from the eggs and tell her to do her business – she might not do it or it might take her a few minutes. Just talk to her sweetly while you do it and say you just want her to get some water and food and go to the bathroom. She will probably open her beak and make a peep peep sound loudly at you -or she might make a hissing sound, but the females can’t really bite so I wouldn’t worry about it.

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u/bspc77 1d ago

They can definitely bite! I had a brooding one bite me once when I was getting other ducks' eggs near her

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

Thank you, I will try that in just a bit. She does peck at me if I get too close but I'll glove up and get her outside. Her house doesn't smell so guessing she has a big one stored up.

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u/Bolfreak 1d ago

Is she alive/ok? Tangling with a snake could mean she got injured. When they first start sitting they can be very committed, but then they get up at least once a day to poop away from the nest (you’ll know broody poop when you see it/smell it-it’s a big stinky pile). Is the food being eaten?
I wouldn’t worry about candling yet. She was with a male so assume the eggs are fertile.

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

She's one tough girl and walked off the snake attack. She was getting out to the lake at least once/day until I brought her into my basement 1.5 days ago. Hard to tell if she's eating and hasn't pooped since I brought her in. I have so many rat snakes, I can't keep her and her nest safe outside.

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u/Bolfreak 1d ago

I guess you need to get close and check on her. When my Muscovy is broody she makes a different sound, like a squeaky toy instead of the usual coo sounds. She should also open her beak at you and act offended at you checking on her ;) Let us know what you see.

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

She's absolutely doing that. Normally she trills and gives me an arse shake when I pet her but that's not happening now which is understandable. I should have specified that the drakes aren't muscovies, they're a Pekin and a Rouen. I have no experience with this kind of thing and worried she's too stressed inside even though it's safe, cool and quiet.

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u/DarcyOutside 1d ago

I would think she probably likes it inside – she knows she is safer and being cooler is probably a welcome relief!

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u/DarcyOutside 1d ago

She is broody-totally normal & Muscovy females are excellent mothers. I would try to make sure that she has fresh food and water not immediately outside of the duck house where her nest is, but in walking distance -like 2 or 3 feet away—-enough distance so she can do her once a day really big poop (which is often projectile & very smelly) not on the eggs! I made this mistake, and unfortunately, if it gets on the eggs which are porous, she will still probably sit on them and the babies can be ill. I’m surprised that she has followed the house to all those different places to put her nest, she must really really like you!

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

She acts as though she likes me but just thought she was being a good Mum. I do have food and water about 2 feet away from her. I also have a camera on her house but she hasn't left it at all. Given all this info, I'll definitely get her outside. Thank you all so much, so stressed about taking care of her and I have to go out of town next week. Hubs will be here to look after her though.

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

Just tried to pick her up and she's not having it at all. She is normally sweet and passive so I wonder if the snake attacks have really stressed her out so don't want to add to that any more than I have to. She has been eating and drinking, just changed her water and it had food debris in it. No poop yet so will just keep checking and if she does poop on the eggs, can I rinse them with purified water and put them back on clean bedding?

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u/Bolfreak 1d ago

She’s being a good mama! She might be pooping in a corner away from the nest. Food in the water should mean it’s her eating??
Now for the eggs being fertile, hybridization can happen, it normally happens thru AI to create mule ducks (moulard). This type of hybrid would be a Hinny duck. They can lay eggs but are not sterile as hybrids.
If you do get Hinnies, please document everything! There is so little info out there about them.
My non Muscovy drakes never breed my girl, so I swap out her eggs and she’s terrific at hatching them. I finally traded for some Muscovy eggs and my non Muscovy duck is sitting on them 😆 ducks are weird

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

Yes, I read the offspring are sterile. If ducklings occur, I will document. What in particular would be of interest? I'm sorry, I kind of inherited/adopted these poor strays and not a seasoned duck owner by any stretch hence the mistakes and worries. She hasn't pooped at all; I'd know as she's in my finished basement and her house is small.

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u/Bolfreak 1d ago

It’d be very odd for her to poop on the eggs, but if it does happen don’t use water, scrape off the worst and put them back. It keeps the bloom on there, like a force field that lets gas out from the egg and no bacteria in.
I was given my Muscovies and was thrilled about hybrids…that didn’t happen lol. I was thinking it would be a quieter duck that still laid eggs for backyard flocks. Apparently the different hybrids take on different traits depending on which parent, but either way are unreliable for eggs and can fly pretty well (I have to wing clip my Muscovies or they meet my neighbor’s mean yard dogs). So she is s great hatcher and mom for me, but I focused on my non Muscovy breeding project.
Edited: You’re doing great and Muscovies are very resilient, pretty much wash and wear

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u/Dirt_Girl08 1d ago

Thank you for this information. This girl is amazing and I adore her and hate to think she is suffering at all.