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My muscovies were attacked by a dog a couple of nights ago, and sadly, there were losses. The survivors are all injured to some extent, and include one drake. He is now the most active, and is about the age where I might expect him to start mating. Is there much of a risk that he may mate with...

I butchered a drake for meat today. I haven't been able to buy fresh bedding for the run, due to Covid shutdown, and found he had bumblefoot. I've now also found these fluid-filled sacs which I have just cut off the tip of his liver. Does this mean the infection has spread through him, or is it...

I am thinking of making meringues now that my muscovies are laying. However, I am finding the whites of muscovy duck eggs surprisingly thick and gluey. I have to work at getting them out of the eggshell. Is it also tricky to separate the whites from the yolks, compared with chickens' eggs? Are...

Several of my muscovies have a claw which appears to be broken off short. In each case, this claw is on the outer side of the foot - the "little toe" or "pinkie toe" side if they had human feet. Is this common in muscovies? Does anyone know how it happens?

I use feathers in crafts. I am particularly interested in the body feathers, as they have fine and flexible quills, unlike wing feathers. Which of your duck breeds have the longest body feathers? Are they only long on the flanks, or over much of the duck?

When I pluck chickens, I tend to damage the feathers so they lose their good looks. Can anyone who uses their feathers for crafts advise me about the plucking methods they use? I have to deal with a very pretty rooster today.

I'm not sure if it is best to post this in here where processing is discussed, or in crafts, but I am going to process a rather pretty rooster today, and would like to try and do something decorative with the feathers. I generally dunk the chicken in hot water before plucking and tend to get the...

OK, I am using the headings from the sticky: 1) What type of bird , age and weight. Silkie, 3 1/2 weeks. Weight unknown but feels fairly solid and has grown as well as sibling. 2) What is the behavior, exactly. This morning when I took it outside to the little cage where it spends the day, its...

I have a young cockerel who has just started crowing. Unfortunately, he has also started attacking the pullets, and he doesn't stop when they submit. Will he change his ways if I keep locking him up? Is he likely to behave better with older hens? Do they go through a stage of being obnoxious...

We have a young cat (4 months) and she is totally fascinated by our incubator. She sniffs through the air vent, so she obviously likes the smell, although she has never paid attention to eggs outside the incubator. She watches me roll the eggs, and reached in and rolled one for me, just the...

In New Zealand we have chickens called spangle pekins. They are like bantam cochins in the states. The spangle seems to sometimes mean what you call mottle and sometimes mean what you call mille fleur. If we have a black chook with white feather tips we call it a mottle. If we have a coloured...

One of my chickens stretches its head in the air then bends its neck right backwards until its head touches its back. Between us, we have seen it do this four times, all on the same morning. It is about 3 months old, and looks healthy in other ways. What could this be? My brother had a rooster...

Hello Everbody, I have an ex-battery Brown Shaver hen who has just started going broody. Brown Shavers are not supposed to go broody, so I am not sure whether she would stay broody long enough to sit on eggs and hatch them successfully. Should I trust her with some fertile eggs or not? She is...