What Happened with Iris’ 1st Clutch?
We are very excited about our 1st ducklings. That being said it did not go as well as we had hoped.
Now let’s get into the nitty gritty about what happened and what we are going to change for the future. Since we created our aviary we have had to make a few changes. One of the biggest was the nesting boxes. Originally, we thought we could use 5 gallon buckets but logistically speaking it wasn’t working out well. We took those out and cut out doorways in these damaged Rubbermaid totes we already had and flipped them upside down. This was our first mistake, though we didn’t know it at the time.
Our ground is pretty soft, mostly sand. This caused the eggs on the bottom of the nest to sink into the ground and we are assuming they didn’t get turned or got too cold because of the freezing temps we’ve had this week. Either way none of them hatched. The few we candled were very dark so either mostly developed or rotten.
(We had to clean out the nesting box, it STANK.)
Iris ended up hatching out a total of 6 ducklings. As it turns out she was laying on 18 eggs not the 12 we thought so that brings our hatch rate to 33% which is absolutely TERRIBLE for a Muscovy. I’ve been told by other Muscovy enthusiasts that late season hatches always do poorly compared to spring hatches. It was also her first so that could have also contributed to our poor rates. I can’t help but think that the nesting box situation played a large role.
We have hopefully fixed that issue by putting the lid on the bottom so they don’t have direct contact with the ground. We had planned to trade 6 ducklings for a trio of meat rabbits and keep the rest of them for eggs or eating depending on gender. Some of that might change as the person with the rabbits only wanted 2 male ducklings at most. I will keep you guys updated as that unfolds!
1st Babies on the Homestead!
The Homestead Sees Freezing Temps!!
Homesteading Goals 2018
I2017 Egg Totals
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Oh, they're so very cute!
Six is better than none. I learned the hard way with my latest hatch too. I guess the silverlining is that perhaps Iris will have another clutch in spring and they might do way better? I cannot wait to have my own muscovies so living vicariously through you at the moment.
She is my absolute favorite one we have here so some of her babies are definitely staying just not sure about these ones yet. I'm so excited for you to get some haha There is a wonderful muscovy group on facebook if you're interested. A lot of wonderful people with a lot of knowledge!
Learning is all apart of homesteading. Embrace that beautiful creature. I will pray you have more success in your future attempt. Gosh I wish I was allowed to have them on my property......Time to move.
Hopefully some of the others will have some this spring! Do it!! I'm convinced muscovies are the perfect homestead animal haha
maybe six instead of eighteen ducklings is the universe saying go slow! Those six chicks will get much more individual care and help you on the learning curve of growth. Next brood will be bountiful!
haha my husband and I got to talking about it afterwords and with this crazy cold snap we've been having we can't possibly imagine Iris would be able to keep 18 ducklings warm enough!
Would you just look at that face?! How adorable!!
I know! I was just able to get another peek at them. They've been hiding under mom a lot
Brilliant photos. Take good care of them. I just love such cute ducklings. Keep on posting about these cute ducklings.
We definitely will!
I always like ducks because they are very funny and also reminds me of cartoon character Donald Duck hehehe
pretty cool
Adorable!!! And a good article, too
Thank you! They are too stinkin cute!! My husband keeps wanting to go pick them up haha
They really are the sweetest looking things. Your photo makes me want a few! They seem like great creatures for a homestead. A friend shared a photo of their ducks sunbathing in the snow after a big winter storm. Our chickens won't set foot outside of the coop and get their feet cold but these ducks were happily making the most of a cold yet sunny day.
They are really awesome. Even through the freezing temps we had we were getting 1-2 eggs a day from 6 hens!