Muscovy Duck Forum

Muscovy Central => Breeding => Topic started by: charlindabob on March 30, 2010, 12:25:53 am



Title: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: charlindabob on March 30, 2010, 12:25:53 am
Just a thought.....wouldn't it be great to cross a Muscovy with a Khaki Campbell?  You might get a duck that lays eggs most of the year and is quiet too.  Be great for those of us that live in fairly close proximity with other folks.


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: DUCK_GARDENER on April 01, 2010, 12:33:37 pm
Would be great, if crosses were not sterile! :'( they are like donkeys/horses and mules! to close not to cross, but too far to be fertilie!) my mule laid 6 gumball sized eggs without yolks, then stoped laying for the season. She seems to be getting ready to lay again, but could be just getting fat!


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: charlindabob on April 01, 2010, 08:26:54 pm
Muscovys would be perfect if they laid year 'round like the Khaki Campbell.  Khakis are just so noisy.  Even if the cross was sterile, if only the eggs were normal size, but one can wish.......


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: DUCK_GARDENER on April 01, 2010, 11:15:19 pm
They may not lay year round, :( but we have gotten 10 or so eggs and 15 ducklings from one mussie duck this year already! ;D We just put her back in the adult night pen, so in another 2 weeks or so she should start to lay again, then collect them or wait and get more ducklings in 2 months or so? We have found homes for most of the babies, so we only have 4 culls left to process in a couple of months, so we will probably let her set another clutch. Our chocolate duck sat on 10 eggs and only hatched 3 ducklings and we want another chocolate duck, so we have to keep one of her drakeletts to breed back to her. Will be pretty, but if this is an indication of fertility, not very productive! She did not care for our black drake, but she is very small and he is 20+ lbs! At least we got 3! I guess if you select for fertility, then you could get quite a few eggs from a mussie! Just don't forget that the drake is very important to fertility and egg production of his daughters! At least according to Mr. Holderread! He says that you can breed for up to 125 eggs per year from a muscovy. Just give them warmth and light!  :)

But yes, in a perfect world...
DG


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: charlindabob on April 03, 2010, 12:50:00 am
I have 4 Muscovy females of laying age, one drake the same age and 3 almost grown ducks.  I am breeding for a certain color, brown and white with a brown head, and 1 of my older ducks and the three coming of age ducks are that color as well as the drake.  I have over a dozen fertile eggs in my incubator now from my brown and white duck and brown and white drake.  The daily eggs I get from the 3 black and white ducks, I eat, had two for breakfast just this morning.  Eventually I will have all brown and white Muscovys. Just a personal preference.  Perfect size flock for me would be around a dozen including the single drake.  That should supply my family with enough eggs during their laying seasons.  I just put in 20 khaki Campbell eggs in the 'bator and am expecting a good hatch from them also.


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: DUCK_GARDENER on April 03, 2010, 01:40:20 am
You must have a large family or eat alot of eggs! a 20 campbells as well as7 mussies? That is a lot of eggs! There are methods of preserving eggs for upto 6 months as if fresh on the web, ie water glass, which should help spred the harvest out, but the problem would them be storage...you will need a second referidgerator.(sp?)

 As to the brown and white, I have 3 chocolates(2 brown and white(with canize) and one totally brown), ducks, a lavendar(canizie)duck and a wild type(black ) drake. we found homes for all of the black/lavendar crosses except the 2 atipico and 4 wildtype(wt) ducklings. We plan to eat the wildtype and wait to see if the atipicos are ducklings  or drakeletts. We thought that the ducklings from Koko, our totally chocolate duck crossed with the wt black drake would be black, but they appear to be wt chocolates! the breeder we bought him from forgot to tell us that he had a chocolate gene! We have a deal with the kids that we will only eat black ducklings, so now we have to find homes for the chocolate 2 we are not going to keep! We may need to find a new home for their mama if she doesn't do any better next clutch...3 of 11! We think our drake is just too heavy to cover her properly. He only managed it once that we saw and he was housed with her the whole time! Too bad you don't live closer, I could pass her on to you.

I am partial to the lavendar duck, but as it is a double recessive needed to express it, it will have to be "line breeding" if I want lavendar ducklings.(a drakelet from her clutch mated back to her.) She is the color of peweter...with a white head and breast bib with pale yellow feet. If I try for lavendar ducklings, I would want to dusk up the feet and legs a bit. That is why I mated her to a black drake...he has wonderful dark legs.
DG
DG


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: charlindabob on April 03, 2010, 11:31:37 pm
   No No No DG.....the Khaki Campbell eggs in my Sportsman came from eBay.  I haven't any KC's yet.... ;D  I have only Mandarins and Muscovys right now, but am adding KC's if I get any to hatch.  My Muscovys are the ones I eat eggs from.  I have only one light brown and white duck and my drake is light brown and white and eggs from them are the only ones in the 'bator. I have maybe a dozen fertile eggs showing signs of life.  My other Muscovy ducks are the ones I eat the eggs from.  Fry em up just like a chicken egg.  Sometimes we get a gigantic double yoker. We have them scrambled and poached or boiled too.
   Reckon I am just partial to the light brown and white Muscovys and brown on the head, not all white.  I hope to have a flock of maybe 12 Muscovy ducks and one drake, all brown and white.


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: Jimbob on April 07, 2010, 11:42:17 am
I've got a muscovy duck currently making a nest in an old tool store in the garden. There are x3 eggs in there at present. I'm really excited because the drake is an Apricot Campbell. Can't wait to see what the offspring look like  :o I didn't think they would mate but caught them at it a few weeks ago (and ever since) ::) I will let you know how they turn out.

I was thinking about putting some Campbell eggs in the nest as well but I presume this would cause problems with the difference in incubation times. Would it be feasable to place some campbell eggs in the nest on day 4 so that they would hatch out when the muscovy X campbell eggs hatch (day 32?). Or should I just keep it simple and stick to either campbell or muscovy X eggs.

Any advice/info/photos on mule ducks would be gratefully received  :)

Jim


Title: Re: Muscovy x Khaki Campbell
Post by: DUCK_GARDENER on April 07, 2010, 02:20:23 pm
My ducks sit differently according to how long they have sat. They are glued and will not leave it for the first 5 or so days. The duck that did not sit tight lost her clutch! She played at it at first, and I guesss that the eggs chilled too often and killed the developing embryos. I would not add to the nest after she starts to sit! You might try t ADD THEM TO THE INCUBATOR IF YOU ADJUST THE TREATMENT OF THE EGGS, IE, ONLY TURNING EGGS AS YOU HAVE TO AND LEAVING THE NEW ADDITIONS WITHOUT TURNING FOR THE FIRST DAY OR TWO.
We have found that it is hard to get a good hatch here during the major rain of the season. We only had a good hatch from the duck that sat before the major rain/heat/rain/cold/etc weather. Of the other 2 nests of over 20 eggs total we only had 3 hatch! I may actually invest in an incubator if I can afford the one I want, at just about $200. I do not have the time in my schedual to turn them, so it will have to be an automatic one. I found an British one that works here and I really like the features on it. I will post more info later, as I am pressed for time, to get input on it.
DG