Loner female

[charlindabob]

I have 5 Muscovys, one drake and 4 ducks that were hatched about 6 months ago and grew up together.  Lately, one female has gone off by herself, appears to be hiding, and is being rejected by her peers.  Any idea why?  Reckon she is about to lay eggs?  Just don't understand why the others now pick on her til she runs off somewhere.  Sometimes she sits in a hide a way location for hours.....

[Kats]

My Muscovies are about 5 months old and have just begun to lay, although they show no signs of sitting on the eggs. It's possible your loner female has a nest somewhere and is adding eggs to it. I can't imagine why the others pick on her. Ducks do occasionally start to treat one of their peers badly, but in my (v. limited) experience it doesn't last long.

[Cathy]

Unless she's off for some reason I wouldn't begin to know why she's not being accepted as one of the flock.  Not sure that I've ever had to deal with that, really.  If she's choosing to leave it may well be because she's laying.

[Linda454]

I have to agree with the fact that she may be laying somewhere else. My Mama duck, who was always the "queen" of my flock,along with my male, was just adored by the other girls. Now that she's setting & only comes home to eat once a day,they all seem to be saying to her, "OK Missy, you left & now we took over" when they see her. It's almost funny,because the other girls would just stick to her like glue & would run to catch up with her if she left the yard. They really are funny, they all get together & do,what I call, the "bobbing & saying hello" when she flies in. But follow her, nope. They pretty much chase her away. My male, Crazy Boy, is sooo good. She'll "chirp" & blow herself all up & act scared around him & he'll just act like she's invisable! He'll turn his head or walk away & give her all of her "space". I don't think he wants to deal with a "hormonal female" at his age...LOL.... They sure are fun to watch & have as friends, aren't they? I know I love mine. It seems like I learn more from them every day. The girls are all pretty much done losing all their wing feathers & I call them my "seals". LOL, they look like seals when they come waddling out of the water. Or like they're in a straight-jacket.......poor little girls....speaking of girls, I hear the familar sound of their pecking on my sliding door! They're no dummies for sure!

[charlindabob]

Well, I can find no nest or eggs, so I have no idea why she is becoming a loner.  She doen't hang around the others and when she is with them, the females bite at her neck.  I did notice the male breeding with her the other day in the water.  Just seems odd that she appears to be an outcast now.  My other 3 females are her age and they seem to get along just fine.  Even at night, this one particular female does not roost with the others either.

[fish2]

They are very good at hiding nests and I've seen my hens watch me until I turned my back and only then would go to their nest.  Sneaky! 

[Linda454]

Boy, you're right about them hiding their nests so well! My female will even fly in & out in completely different directions to "throw off" me & any of the other ducks that may be watching her. She's even begun to chase the girls away when she's getting ready to leave to her nest. I sure hope she hatches those babies soon! It's been 33 days & I'm getting anxious...........I imagine not more than she is. I just hope & pray her babies are OK this time. Since I've had her, she's lost two nests of babies to preditors down here. I've began to really dislike the Egrets since I was unfortunate enough to see them eat her last nest full. Then she lost her entire tail to an alligator, I'm sure, plus her babies. This time has to be the charm. She's such a great Mom & deserves to have some babies to care for. Poor thing is setting more than not. The thing i don't understand is, why haven't the other three girls had nests? They surely have been mated as much as my Mama. In the over a year I've had them all none of them have ever had a nest. Are some ducks not able to lay eggs? Now that doesn't sound so smart, but I can't imagine why.

[DUCK_GARDENER]

When I was reading, I came across a reference somewhere to the fact that some mature females with excessive caruncles have hormone imbalances that make them not lay eggs. I do not know if that is why your's are not laying, but yes some mature female muscovy ducks cannot lay eggs. Cathy should know more possible reasons whay they may not be laying.

[Cathy]

If they're old they might not lay any longer, or it might be that they're laying but something is getting the eggs, or it could possibly be that they're just not inclined to set so they lay eggs and someone else sets them.  The possibilities are endless.

[charlindabob]

I found that they are laying.  All of mine are young 6-7 months old.  And the other females get along with the exception of this one duck.  So, I seperated them as the other three females were making her head bleed by constantly picking on her.  All of (all 4) my females are now laying.

[Cathy]

Do you live in the 'south' Bob?  I wonder how that plays into the age they begin to lay.  I might get one or two eggs from early spring hatched birds in late fall but generally I do not get a significant amount until the following spring.  We have fairly cold winters, though.

[charlindabob]

Yes, I live in central Florida.  I have three out of four females sitting on "a bunch" of eggs now.  Hope to have some babies in a month or so......Bob

[Kats]

Well, I'm on upstate NY and I'm getting half a dozen eggs a day from about 18 hens hatched in May.

[purdyducks]

Hi Charlindabob,

I am purdyducks and new to this site.  I was interested in your post, as I have a female that has been getting picked on as well.  My drakes and other 3 females pecked and chased her from the pond for over a week.  She appeared to have a sore eye, and one day just flew to a neighbors pond.  This week she is better and NOW they are letting her feed and sleep with them again..........NEVER could figure out what was going on, but it did pass.  Hope that helps.

[charlindabob]

Well, I had 3 clutches of eggs that were being sat on and one bunch hatched 7 little ones on Christmas day, (should name them after Santa's reindeer or maybe the 7 dwarfs) another batch were rotten and discarded and the 3rd batch is still being sat on.  These were from this years ducks and their first eggs.  Maybe better luck next broody time.  Still am hoping for the third batch to produce though.  One duck never went broody, but stayed close, she may have contributed some of the eggs in the clutch.