Ducks, Geese and Turkey Setups

[Justhunt]

Also a lot of our hens will not sit on eggs until they have 10 or more. After the hen has a bunch and starts setting my wife will mark the eggs. They like to steal other eggs and my wife likes to have them all hatch within a few days of each other. They have a long incubation period of 35 days. If they do crossbreed with other duck species the offspring will be a mule.  Hopefully this is all helpful info.

[Machias]

Wow, you guys have the prettiest Muscovy's I've seen!! Ever sell any?  Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!!!

[Machias]

Are the buckets with the nipples homemade or do you buy them that way, if so, where?  Any chance when you have time you could take a close up of those?  Thanks again!!

[Justhunt]

When I get home from work I will talk to the wife about the buckets. She does sell birds. I think she has sold 6 or more hens this year and she had another person get ahold of her last night about buying more. I know she has 4 eggs in the incubator and another hen setting on I think 8 more right now. There are some others (I think 12) that have not feathered out yet. She will not sell them until they are feathered out because she has a good amount of ripple and barring patterns and I know she sells them for more. She even got a drake last year if I remember correctly that was a blue looney. He expressed both the ripple and barring patterns at the same time.  People were bidding on that drake because it is really hard to get one like that. I know some of the drakes in the one pic are for sale I just don't know which ones.

[Machias]

 

[Justhunt]

Can't read the label on the buckets anymore so my wife looked them up on her phone. We got them at our local feed store. She didn't give me the link because she has never bought them online.

[Machias]

Awesome, thanks!

[Machias]

The ducklings are growing fast, getting quite a few feathers.  Love the colors on these three.

[Machias]

Put a roost in and the one hen really likes hanging out up there.

[Machias]

Got 8 new chicks

[Machias]

@Justhunt is your wife able to look at these and tell if they are hens or drakes?  If she needs better photos or different angles let me know.  They are 8 weeks old.  Supposed to be all hens, but I got them when they were 2 weeks old and have since learned there is no way to tell at that age.  I think the lightest one is a drake, but not sure about the slate colored one or the dark brown one.  Thanks!

[Justhunt]

I will talk to her and see what she says. I know she will want to see the legs and feet in comparison to the others of the same age (drakes will be thicker legs and have bigger feet than hens). Also the primary feathers of the three birds, if I remember correctly the hens will grow them first. With that info it is still a guess.

[Machias]

That's my problem, they all seem about the same.

[Justhunt]

Are all the wing primary feathers about the same? I see one pic of the dark chocolate that you can see the primary feathers starting to grow, are others the same? A hen will grow those feathers before a drake. The drake is only trying to put one body size. My wife said at 8 weeks old you will see a big difference between the leg and foot size between a drake and a hen. She said the pics are hard to tell that. She also said a drake at 8 weeks will have legs that are as thick as a full grown hen.

[Machias]

I'll try and take some better photos.  They all three look very similar to me in size and growth.  I joined a Muscovy Facebook group.  Several there thought they were all three drakes, but a few thought the slate colored one might be a hen.  Thanks for checking them out.