Help w/muscovey color/sex ID? (new pics in post #1)

[TennesseeTruly]

My male Muscovy's fly all the time. But then again they're very active. Puppy weighs 15 lbs, he has a hard time getting off the ground but Blueboy and Blackie who are 12 lbs each both take to the air with a running start. Then off they go!

I was just outside and I wish I had my camera with me when I was out there. Puppy came running to me, with a mouse hanging out of his mouth. He brought me a gift! I swear he's confused! He thinks he's a dog! LOL!!!

Laurie

 

[Luvs chickens]

I found out that the females are half the size as the males. I ended up with 4 males and 1 female.

 

[swheat]

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LMAO!!!! Just goes to show you how much I know about ducks!!! He's beautiful - even in the dark!!! I had a mallard last year - brought to me as an orphan. I raised it, sorta "from afar" and left its wings unclipped so that it could fly away if/when it wanted to - he stuck around for about 3 months and flew away on my birthday...

And thats IT for my duck experience - until Patty FORCED me to bring home these muscovies!!!

About the only duck I can identify on sight is a runner - but I couldn't tell a call duck from a mallard, or a muscovey!

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LOL! Hopefully mine will be too heavy and/or too lazy, too, Steve - our house is atop a gigantic hill, and my neighbor with the fancy pool is below us, with nothing separating our yards but a 4 foot chainlink fence and some shrubbery. Its so high that their 3rd story roof is about level with our basement. If these ducks got a running start, they could take off over the hill and directly IN the pool!!! So I'll be clipping wings, lazy looking or not!!!

LOL...I could see them now ...flying low and having a POOL PARTY BASH...

 

[TurtleFeathers]

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Oh, yeah - that would be GREAT to watch, but the repercussions could be very, VERY bad...

Apparently they had trouble with bacteria or something in the pool that threw their pH or something off a few years ago - over $400 and several weeks of pool downtime later, they finally got it right again. Whatever the problem was was, the lab that examined their water samples said that it came from duck feces. And it isn't like they have ducks in their pool all the time - just occasionally, a passing pair of mallards might take a dip - but it REALLY screwed things up there for a while, and it was costly.

Mind you, this was LOOOONG before I had any poultry over here, and they've said that rather LIKE the sounds coming from my yard thus far - but I'm afraid that a ducky pool party might just push them over the edge...

 

[TurtleFeathers]

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A MOUSE???? Really? OMG - THAT will go a long way in endearing these three to my husband!!! LOL!!! They don't by chance dig up MOLES, do they?

That would just solidify their place here!!!

 

[TurtleFeathers]

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Isn't that ALWAYS the way it works???

Not having anything else to compare my three to, the more I look at them, the more I think y'all are right - at least with the two barred ones. Their tails are long and WIDE. The pied one doesn't have quite as fat or long a tail as the barred ones do, but the difference is so subtle right now that I'd say it could probably be a male, too. Bummer....

But thats ok, if they get along, treat my chickens ok, eat bugs and catch mice, what's not to like???