Muscovy duck Q&A

[buff goose guy]

Yes, but they are still vocal there sound is just quieter.

(and it's muscovies)

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I have read that muscovites are relatively quiet compared to most duck breeds, is this true?

In my experience, yes. The drakes pretty much only hiss and the ducks trill and occasionally make a soft quack. Contrast that with my Runner and Pekin - while I think both are great in their own way, the Runner (duck) is a shouter/honker, as are her mixed female ducklings, and the Pekin (and his male offspring) makes the typical quacking sounds. IMO, Muscovies would be better-suited to settings where quiet is important.

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

Yes, but they are still vocal there sound is just quieter.

(and it's muscovies)

My computer does not like the word muscovies for some reason. Corrects it to muscovites.

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

In my experience, yes. The drakes pretty much only hiss and the ducks trill and occasionally make a soft quack. Contrast that with my Runner and Pekin - while I think both are great in their own way, the Runner (duck) is a shouter/honker, as are her mixed female ducklings, and the Pekin (and his male offspring) makes the typical quacking sounds. IMO, Muscovies would be better-suited to settings where quiet is important.

Thank you. And I just wanted some first hand accounts.
Ive also read that their meat is leaner and almost beefy. Is this true?

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Thank you. And I just wanted some first hand accounts.
Ive also read that their meat is leaner and almost beefy. Is this true?

YVW. That is true...some people liken it to - and use it in place of - beef. It's delicious, dense, lean dark meat. Processing day is (more) difficult because they're intelligent, curious creatures with a lot of personality.

 

[rachelsflock]

Thank you. And I just wanted some first hand accounts.
Ive also read that their meat is leaner and almost beefy. Is this true?

I raise muscovy for meat, but they've also won me over for their personalities. Most people here shy away from talking about them for meat because they ARE very intelligent and love eye contact. They are very quiet. Honestly to me they seem to be halfway between ducks and geese. The females mostly just coo or trill, and when stressed their quack is like a quiet honk. The drakes hiss and dance for you. They will even dance WITH you, lol. I love it.

While processing them is hard because their smart, having too many males can really, really hurt your girls. The drakes are so big they really squish and pound the girls. Mating isn't always consensual either, if you will, so it's best to keep the male-female ratio female heavy and low on males, so therefore you cull hard and there is usually a market for females for people to balance their flocks. One male to up to six females is okay. Depending on the drake you can go as low as two or three girls if they're easy on them. Sometimes this is best when you're first starting because at least my girls try to make nests with around TWENTY eggs each and most, if not all, of them hatch. And they try to do up to three rounds of ducklings each. That's a lot of ducks.

Processing is best done between 8-16 weeks. Meat gets tough much later than that, and getting feathers out gets harder as they age. I'm just a girl, so culling is hard and emotionally intense so I usually can't do more than three without taking a break for a day or two. I love my ducks, but this way I can guarantee my ducks had a life-long duck party up until the very end. Waxing with a hot soapy water scald is your friend. Sometimes you can find a processer that will take them. The one near me charges $8/bird to do it so I've never taken any. The birds can be breasted out and quartered, and there's a really good video on youtube on cooking duck breast on Foodwishes youtube channel that brings awesome results. Yes, it tastes just like beef. I think it's better. If your birds were free range the legs will be a little tougher and should be cooked slowly, but with younger birds you will have less of an issue. Also, I can't emphasize it enough, with older ducks, waxing is basically mandatory unless you want to spend hours plucking. Birds can also be roasted whole like turkeys.

They do need to be shut in safely at night otherwise you will eventually start losing birds when keeping them. Nesting moms especially need to be protected in their nests. I have them nest in big black or blue Tupperware tubs with holes cut in them and shavings or straw stuffed in so the nests can be moved a little bit to clean their coop. Free feeding while free ranging produces happy, big, content ducks that forage for much of their grow out food anyway. Contrary to what you may be told, they do like a wading pool when it's not freezing, and must have deep enough water to flush their nares year round-at least a bucket.

I love my Muscovy. Now I never want to be without them. They're like "better" geese for me. Just don't baby your drakes too much or they might see you as someone to be dominated and if you do have aggressive behavior with them cull and find a new male. They get big enough to cause a problem and their nails are huge and sharp. There's also a translucent spike on the joint of the wing, but that's not usually an issue.

Also, if you're worried about them flying away, pinioning at 3-7 days prevents that. It's not very traumatic compared to the yearly duck rodeo of wing clipping, and I've done about 50 ducklings and not lost one after the procedure-reminds me of ear piercing in humans, it's probably less traumatic than that because it's cartilage with even less circulation at that phase. Do it too late and it could really hurt. The ducklings are focusing on growing big and strong instead of making flying wings at that stage. It makes it so they can fly 3-4 feet up instead of across the yard, over your house. Cool to see, but big ducks aren't always road safe. If you do pinion, make sure you do it right though. I'm not sure what would happen to the baby if you do it wrong.

And my computer tries to correct Muscovy to Muscovite too, no biggie. Feel free to bug me with any more meat related questions either personally or on the form if no one else minds.

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

I raise muscovy for meat, but they've also won me over for their personalities. Most people here shy away from talking about them for meat because they ARE very intelligent and love eye contact. They are very quiet. Honestly to me they seem to be halfway between ducks and geese. The females mostly just coo or trill, and when stressed their quack is like a quiet honk. The drakes hiss and dance for you. They will even dance WITH you, lol. I love it.

While processing them is hard because their smart, having too many males can really, really hurt your girls. The drakes are so big they really squish and pound the girls. Mating isn't always consensual either, if you will, so it's best to keep the male-female ratio female heavy and low on males, so therefore you cull hard and there is usually a market for females for people to balance their flocks. One male to up to six females is okay. Depending on the drake you can go as low as two or three girls if they're easy on them. Sometimes this is best when you're first starting because at least my girls try to make nests with around TWENTY eggs each and most, if not all, of them hatch. And they try to do up to three rounds of ducklings each. That's a lot of ducks.

Processing is best done between 8-16 weeks. Meat gets tough much later than that, and getting feathers out gets harder as they age. I'm just a girl, so culling is hard and emotionally intense so I usually can't do more than three without taking a break for a day or two. I love my ducks, but this way I can guarantee my ducks had a life-long duck party up until the very end. Waxing with a hot soapy water scald is your friend. Sometimes you can find a processer that will take them. The one near me charges $8/bird to do it so I've never taken any. The birds can be breasted out and quartered, and there's a really good video on youtube on cooking duck breast on Foodwishes youtube channel that brings awesome results. Yes, it tastes just like beef. I think it's better. If your birds were free range the legs will be a little tougher and should be cooked slowly, but with younger birds you will have less of an issue. Also, I can't emphasize it enough, with older ducks, waxing is basically mandatory unless you want to spend hours plucking. Birds can also be roasted whole like turkeys.

They do need to be shut in safely at night otherwise you will eventually start losing birds when keeping them. Nesting moms especially need to be protected in their nests. I have them nest in big black or blue Tupperware tubs with holes cut in them and shavings or straw stuffed in so the nests can be moved a little bit to clean their coop. Free feeding while free ranging produces happy, big, content ducks that forage for much of their grow out food anyway. Contrary to what you may be told, they do like a wading pool when it's not freezing, and must have deep enough water to flush their nares year round-at least a bucket.

I love my Muscovy. Now I never want to be without them. They're like "better" geese for me. Just don't baby your drakes too much or they might see you as someone to be dominated and if you do have aggressive behavior with them cull and find a new male. They get big enough to cause a problem and their nails are huge and sharp. There's also a translucent spike on the joint of the wing, but that's not usually an issue.

Also, if you're worried about them flying away, pinioning at 3-7 days prevents that. It's not very traumatic compared to the yearly duck rodeo of wing clipping, and I've done about 50 ducklings and not lost one after the procedure-reminds me of ear piercing in humans, it's probably less traumatic than that because it's cartilage with even less circulation at that phase. Do it too late and it could really hurt. The ducklings are focusing on growing big and strong instead of making flying wings at that stage. It makes it so they can fly 3-4 feet up instead of across the yard, over your house. Cool to see, but big ducks aren't always road safe. If you do pinion, make sure you do it right though. I'm not sure what would happen to the baby if you do it wrong.

And my computer tries to correct Muscovy to Muscovite too, no biggie. Feel free to bug me with any more meat related questions either personally or on the form if no one else minds.

Thank you very much for the well written and comprehensive reply!

 

[BiophiliaDJT]

YVW. That is true...some people liken it to - and use it in place of - beef. It's delicious, dense, lean dark meat. Processing day is (more) difficult because they're intelligent, curious creatures with a lot of personality.

Everything on my property is gong to serve a purpose. Eggs, bug control, and occasionally meat for me and my beasts.

 

[Maeschak]

@rachelsflock -

Can I ask how you get your Muscovy to nest in the tupperware? I will be pasturing my Muscovy when I get them and am imagining duck nests everywhere under the sun. Is there some way to move them after they are started or possibly keep the ducks cooped up when they start laying so that their initial 'nest' will be in the coop?

Thanks so much!

 

[rachelsflock]

I'm assuming they all see it and get the idea because I lock them all in the coop where I keep the nests, but I usually start them off by putting a bunch of golf balls in it-anywhere between 3 and 12. They just keep on laying where they think other birds are laying and the "eggs" are staying safe. You can either collect the real eggs as they lay them to keep them clean and safe, or let them stay in there and slowly take out the golf balls. They will eventually cover them up with feathers, and that's when you should switch out all the balls (provided you want a clutch that big).

They won't nest everywhere, btw. They like dark corners, or quiet, covered nooks in tree tops, and will keep going back there to lay. Mine usually fight over who gets to go broody in the most desirable nest boxes even though I let them free range over my fenced in woods and field acre. Their goal is to "hide" their big eggs so they can hatch them and I usually try to work with that. I also try to provide one more box than bird. I'm not sure if this is the right size based on the label as I've already taken mine off, but this is what the tubs look like, with a hole cut in the narrow side. The box has to be duck sized basically. Dark colors in corners are preferred. They may switch nesting places if they catch you taking eggs, but mine mostly just get really, really huffy and mad at me. They really want those babies. The odd thing is, even my khaki campbell ducks that aren't supposed to be good at laying in the nest boxes and are supposed to drop eggs everywhere usually get them in those nest boxes, so I have to keep pulling out the wrong, younger eggs with a shorter incubation period when they sit incubate-and all throughout the 35-38 days. That's where I need suggestions.