Muskovy question.

[EriLynCap]

I apologize if this has already been asked. I have been looking online for days. I also apologize for the length.

We had what I believe to be a female muskovy show up on our pond approximately 3 months ago. She started growing the caruncles about 3 weeks after arriving and as of right now only has the coverage that you see in females in photos. It was love at first site, though I have zero experience with ducks. Once I was fairly certain it was a girl (tail was more pointed than u shape, caruncles seemed right and she chittered at me every day for breakfast and snacks) I couldn't leave her lonely so I picked up 2 more young muskovys. I was told they were 2 months old but when I picked them up the said 1-1½ months... They still need their wings to fill out and have a decent amount of pinfeathers on their hind end. Judging by their sizes and little differences I am 90% certain I have a male and female.
Our first duck (Bailey) has seemed very interested in the newcomers (who we have had penned up separate from her for 3 weeks now)
This past weekend I gave them a "supervised visitation" - Bailey gave them some time then went in the pen and nudged then out in what seemed to be a motherly fashion. I wasn't able to get them together due to both time and weather constraints for a few days and she spent a good amount of time coming up to the house to hang out by their pen and almost seemed depressed the past 2days because I hadn't let them back out.
Today when I let them out she got excited and waited patiently almost an hour before they came out on their own. She spent almost all day with them and I sat outside supervising ALL day. We finally went to explore the pond and she again seemed very motherly showing them they could find snacks along the edge and encouraging them that it was ok to swim... Everything was going great... And then about 5 minutes in she mounted what I believe to be the male and then sat on his back like a frog on a lily pad. I almost went in to break it up but she got off. They didn't act afraid of her after that but they also didn't fully trust her and made sure to keep some distance when they were in the water. She came up and chased them (him) out of the water one other time and then went and took a nap or pouted across the pond. After about an hour of in and out I herded them back up towards the house where their pen and kiddie pool is and Bailey joined us for the rest of the day keeping the pesky chickens away from the babies...
I am trying to find out if I settled on Bailey being a girl too soon and now accidentally have 2 boys or if larger females will mount a male for dominance like they might a fellow female?
(She also hasn't chittered since I brought home the "babies" she hisses at meal time and hisses when chasing the chickens away... Her neck is rarely down in an aggressive duck manner so I'm very confused)
My friend has khaki Campbell, pekin, and silver appleyards so I'm not completely lost on how the different mini flocks get along there but these muskovys seem like they're on a different level the more I try to research.
Thank you for any information and for your patience.
Picture of my thought provokers.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of Muscovy!

It's a bit difficult to say in this pic, but hissing is a male thing. Also, don't depend on the v-shape tail for identification, it is often quite wrong. I would go more with size difference, but even then it can be wrong for the first bit.

Your original Muscovy could just be establishing dominance. That posture is usually used for that.

 

[ruthhope]

Your original girl is just showing your new duckling who is boss.

I had a very sweet rescued female muscovy. Although she had been with two of my ducks since they were all rescued [separately] at about the same age, she was bullied by my ducks from when they were about 3 months old. By 6 months old, when the other drakes were getting their male hormone surge, I decided to move her to join my son's female pekins. Ths sweet little bullied muscovy completely changed with female ducks and quickly established dominance over my son's larger female pekin -- by putting her neck over the neck of the pekin who had no interest in donimation and they quickly became freinds. My son's smaller pekin is very bossy [noisy, telling the othere ducks her thoughts and telling the world in general that she is present and boss.] She was not having a muscovy dominating her. It was very funning -- female muscovy kept standing on the back of female pekin who kept on doing exactly what she had been doing before the muscovy climbed on her back -- holding her head up and lookign around as if to say "Muscovy on my back? Oh don't be silly I'm the queen round here". This wen on for 2 or 3 weeks, with pekin refusing to give in to the muscovy who persisted in trying to dominate the pekin. Then they stopped and all three became sisters eating foraging bathing and sleeping together. The bossy pekin remained bossy and the muscovy continued to hold her own with the pekin females, although she was very submissive with the drake.

 

[EriLynCap]

Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of Muscovy!

It's a bit difficult to say in this pic, but hissing is a male thing. Also, don't depend on the v-shape tail for identification, it is often quite wrong. I would go more with size difference, but even then it can be wrong for the first bit.

Your original Muscovy could just be establishing dominance. That posture is usually used for that.

This is the best picture of have of her .. she's camera shy LOL
So a female will establish dominance over a male as well?
Also I'm under the impression females can make all noises including hissing depending on mood and situation where as males only hiss? Is that wrong information?
I have so much to learn LOL

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

That looks like a female to me.

 

[EriLynCap]

That looks like a female to me.

Thanks... She was still fuzzy when she got here mid June... Any idea when to start looking for eggs?
I wish I knew how old she is... She's also begun to fly from the house to the pond and my mom is worried she's going to leave us... Needless to say she's kind of attached (I have caught her, yes my grown mother, sneaking out the back door to give Bailey her required snacks... Like a child slipping food to a dog under the table )

 

[Canadian Wind]

If you're worried, you can always clip her flight feathers.

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

I don’t know when to expect eggs. I wonder if yours will wait until next spring to start. My 4 were young when I got them last fall and they all began laying in March and went broody in April.

 

[Canadian Wind]

I don’t know when to expect eggs. I wonder if yours will wait until next spring to start. My 4 were young when I got them last fall and they all began laying in March and went broody in April.

Same here. Unfortunately, my drake was shooting blanks! So now I have to wait until next year for babies. But that's okay, in the meantime, I went from four to seventeen!

 

[Yardmom]

Young male muscocvies can easily be confused with females especially when there are no females to compare them to. Young males do make a variety of sounds, but as they mature the sounds become more limited until only a huffing is made. Females do continue to make a variety of sounds including a hiss similar to the male huffing. The hiss is usually only when they are very ajitated or broody. I'm not sure if the new comers would be enough to make a female hiss frequently. The mounting at this age was likely an act of dominance and could have been done by either sex. The sound or sounds it is making will be your biggest clue if it is male or female. Size is also a tell tale sign. Females mature around 6 pounds. Males grow considerably larger than females.