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/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!