Muscovies out past curfew, and other curious behaviors...

[TurtleFeathers]

Hey folks -

While all my chickens and guineas go inside their houses at dusk, my muscovies suddenly like to hang out in the yard LOOONNGGGG after the sun goes down. Lately I've had to herd them into the house by flashlight in the pitch black darkness - and thats no easy task!!! LOL! I can't find anything on the internet about muscovies having nocturnal tendancies - so tell me please, am I the only muscovy keeper with this problem?

Thanks!

 

[lilchick]

Yes mine like to do that also. They seem to be catching worms and any bugs coming out for the evening.

My males, Gator and Leonard refuse to go in the barn until the hens go in! Gotta love em.

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Yes, sometimes they do that.

They are rather independant sometimes. You should go ahead and herd them in earlier if you can to get them "trained" to go in at dusk. If there are crowding issues, territorial issues, nice whether, pecking order or .....age issues...

they tend to stay outside.

 

[neverbdone]

Wait till you find them on the roof. I used to have one girl that was an escape artist. I'd pen them at night and she would get through the chicken wire that was the roof of the run. Yup in the morning I would find her on the roof of the coup. Secured that area quick.

 

[TurtleFeathers]

Keeper - Oh, no, this has only been happening the last few weeks since we've had alittle bit nicer weather and the days are noticeably getting longer. I only have 4 muscovies total, that are right around 9 months old - 1 male and 3 females (who all started laying a couple weeks ago), and this is my first spring with them - they and my 4 guineas grew up living with my free range chicken flock, and prior to the last few weeks, I never had any problems with anyone going into the house at dusk with the chickens. I just wasn't sure if it was normal behavior for mature muscovies, or if it was due to warmer temps, more bugs roaming at night, or what - or if they actually PREFERRED to sleep outside once they were older (which I would never allow anyway). I'm always out there locking everything up when the sun starts going down, but lately its been taking me til after dark to wrangle the muscovies inside!

Lilchick - Yep, I know what you mean - my male, Slick, likes to sit on the deck railing in the evenings and watch everyone filing into the coop one by one. Up until a few weeks ago, he would wait until everyone was inside before he would go to bed himself. Lately tho, he seems to stay up past his bedtime - or maybe its the girls that want to stay up, and he's just waiting til THEY go inside, I dunno...

Neverdbdone - LOL! No, we don't have any problems with escapes here, short of a guinea flying over the fence now and again during the day - but they're like the bad pennies that keeps coming back...

All our houses are locked up tight at night because of predators. Slick USED to like hanging out on the roof of our house (the human house) during the day when he was younger tho - but not any more, because he's gotten entirely too big and heavy to fly more than a couple feet off the ground! The girls CAN still fly, but they don't even attempt it much, other than to get from one place to another quickly, like when I'm giving out treats on the other side of the yard. They appear to be much more interested in whats going on on the ground than in the air or on the roof.

 

[TurtleFeathers]

I forgot to add something when I started this thread...

Also since my muscovies have matured, I've found where my male has become best buds with one of my dogs. Scotty, my 14 year old English setter with a bad rear leg, now has Slick as his constant shadow. When Scotty roams around the yard, Slick is right beside him. When Scotty is taking an afternoon nap in the grass under the maple tree, Slick is right beside him. When Scotty is barking and carrying on because the UPS man or the mail truck drives by, Slick is flapping his wings and hissing right beside him.

Seems that there is an invisible string between the two of them that is about 6 feet long, and Slick follows Scotty around like a lost puppy dog - Scotty doesn't seem to be bothered by him in the least, and in fact, I think he really couldn't care less. When Scotty goes indoors, Slick stays within a few feet of the back door, sometimes peering in the window like "Hey, come back!".

I've been trying my best to get a decent quality video of all this, but seems I never see any of it happening when I have my camera or phone in my pocket. Surely THIS isn't normal muscovy behavior, is it???

 

[keeperofthehearth]

How Fun!!!! Yes, you need to get a video of your dog & drake.

If the girls are all laying now then that's why they aren't flying right now... Egg heavy.

If you're not using a long stick or broom to herd them w/then try that.... well two sticks, one in each hand to manuver them with. Maybe you can get your dog to help? I have Abby, Sheltie farmcollie, that has been wonderful! It used to take me forever to get those Scovies in. They'd just be about in, then one would stand in the doorway & wouldn't let the others in... used the stick to give them a bit of a swat on the end of the tail & while I was about that the others outside would scatter. Veeeeery frustrating.

Abby helps get them in in no time at all. She's made working the Scovies SOOOOO much easier.

 

[TurtleFeathers]

OMG - I have an Abby, too! Although she's a good watch dog and helps to keep daytime predators away, she's not much of a duck herder - she's a basset hound...

Will make it a point to keep a broom or something along those lines handy this evening - seems that I only think about something like that AFTER I've almost got them in the house!

 

[neverbdone]

Woof-Donald and Rex the duck dog.

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Cute!!