Help: My Muscovies aren't going broody!

I recently (one month ago roughly) acquired four muscovy hens and a drake. They're all one year old. The hens have made little nests and have filled them with eggs but haven't started setting.


Is this normal? Should I take the drake out in case he's bothering them when they try to set? I have incubators but am hoping to not have to use them.

Have they set yet? (your post was 3 weeks ago and I only just saw this) Weather is certainly a factor, but so is personality.

I normally collect my Muscovy eggs and leave them a couple of golf balls. When they start leaving down in their nest, that's a signal they're thinking of setting. Day 1 a little down, day 2 lots of down, day 3 you'd better be ready to very gently put your hand under her to swipe the golf balls and replace them with 8-10 of the eggs you were saving. First time moms usually get fewer, more experienced moms get more.

I *always* put my hens in protective custody. If you go to this post: https://permies.com/t/141128/Trouble#1107818
you'll see what my set-up normally looks like. You want to keep the other hens as well as the drake from hassling her or adding extra eggs to her nest.

Hopefully the girls were just waiting for warmer weather and have decided the time is right already. I trust you do know that they take 5 weeks to hatch? I strongly recommend you start a spread sheet of date of setting, # of eggs (but be aware they may drop another egg or two after setting) and expected due date. Two days before they're due, I put a small baby waterer and feeder in. We just use unmedicated chick starter crumble - chicken meds can kill ducklings - as we know they'll be out on grass the day after hatching so any extra vitamins and minerals will come from the environment.

I use my Muscovy to hatch other eggs also. Two days ago Bishop hatched out 4 Khaki Campbell/Golden 300 crosses and they're already in a bottomless portable shelter learning about duckie bathtime and how to poke in the dirt. Muscovy ducklings are pretty sturdy little things.

They're setting! But they were inconsistent at first so we'll see if it works

What age do you butcher at? It seems different than mallard types

James Landreth wrote:What age do you butcher at? It seems different than mallard types

Ahhh... when the weather's right... when I have time... when the males are getting big enough they might start fighting... when I have help???
There are times when they have 'starter feathers' growing in which makes them much harder to pluck, so the goal is to avoid that time. However, I've got different coloured Muscovy and they develop slightly differently, so two "brothers" born at the same time, may not be at the same "feather point" at the same time. Also Muscovy seem to *always* be growing new feathers somewhere, unlike chickens who seem to molt and get it over with. We can only process for our own use, so you learn to accept a less than perfect looking bird.

Muscovy and Noisy ducks have waaayyyy more feathers than meat chickens do, so the Muscovy males who are larger I take the time to pluck, but the females I just pluck the centerline, split the skin and harvest the breasts and leg/thigh combos and compost the rest figuring that they feed the soil. The breast can be ground for all sorts of nice things like spaghetti sauce and sometimes I brine the leg/thighs to make a "corned beef" equivalent, or I've got a nice recipe called "Maui'i Duck" using pineapple juice and slow cooking which makes the otherwise quite chewy legs melt in your mouth. These ducks are *real* meat - a small quantity is satisfying because they get exercise and eat grass.