Questions about Muscovy ducks !

[jlybanc]

I would try your local craigslist. Lots of muscovies listed in my area right now. If you cant find a muscovy female another breed of duck would probably be okay but i would make sure its another large breed like a pekin. Muscovies are big. If you got a smaller breed and he tried to mate he could hurt her. Also any offspring from a muscovy crossed with another breed of duck would be sterile.

 

[Jenny B]

How can I tell if my Muscovy duck is a female.
I have a white male duck about 2 - 3 years old and have only 1 month ago purchased a Muscovy duck (age unknown).
I was told that in the female duck the tail is broader that the male. is this correct.

I would appreciate any advise on this.

Jenny

 

[jlybanc]

i am presuming she is old enough to be fully feathere?. The first obvious difference is size. Female muscovies are signignificantly smaller than males. Also they have much less caruncling. Just small circles around the eyes and beak.

 

[Jenny B]

Thank you for your info. I will have a close look at her and see if i can pick out the differences. Very helpful .

 

[Smilin Jim]

We acquired a trio of muscovies a few weeks ago. I'm following up with my experience, in case anyone else has similar questions.

Space: There's adequate room for the additional 3 muscovies in the coop. When everyone is up on the shelf for the night, it's plenty spacious. When they're all down on the floor eager to get out the door in the morning, it looks more crowded. Especially if our toddler comes along to the coop and chases them around. This is probably not a problem.

Pop doors: They use the 12x12" pop doors without difficulty. They don't jump as well as chickens, though, so it's important to have good access up to the pop door from outside.

Droppings shelf: The 'scovies experimented with perching on the 2x4" roost bar, and seem to have concluded that sitting on the shelf is better. This isn't as messy as I expected, as long as I scrape frequently. While the chickens plop, the 'scovies squirt. I've now got unappealing streams of dried duck by-product down the wall behind the droppings shelf. Working on a good fix for that. Duck doo-doo does add moisture to the coop, but the bedding is still able to remain dry.

Nest boxes: 'Scovies can't jump, so they couldn't get into the nest boxes. In the first days with them, we collected a few duck eggs off the floor but that stopped pretty quickly. It turns out our chickens had figured out how to eat the duck eggs. I re-arranged things yesterday so that the ducks can climb up into the nest boxes, and this morning found a duck egg in there. That's been the biggest frustration thus far but I think we have it fixed. Can't comment on brooding yet, since we haven't tried it, aside from saying that the chickens definitely won't let a duck brood on the floor. I also wonder if the small boxes we have will be too crowded for the 'scovies to safely brood there.

Self-waterer nipples: I introduced the drake and one duck to these right away and all three have had no issue using them since. I also put a traditional chicken waterer and a kid's sled full of water outside, and they use these extensively for drinking, nose-cleaning, and bathing. I think we will want to keep something like this available year-round. The 'scovies drink a lot more water than the chickens.

Layer mash: The drake eats it, and the ducks might as well. Doesn't seem to have any ill effects, but then they have plenty else to eat and access to standing water.

Free choice feeding: The person we bought the ducks from warned us that they would eat us out of house and home if they had unlimited feed. I'm not yet sure if our feed use has increased disproportionately. We're feeding a lot of whole corn treats right now to win over the ducks so comparison probably isn't meaningful yet. Today's duck egg was the size of a big chicken egg, for what that's worth.

Closing time: I've been closing the coop after dark, and the ducks are consistently inside and up on the shelf. I think they do stay out maybe 30 minutes longer than the chickens.

Social integration: Initially the chickens oppressed the ducks. I think the ducks are much more gentle and peaceable than the chickens and would prefer to be left alone. But they are starting to assert themselves and take places in the peck order when the chickens become aggressive.

Ranging: The chickens were damaging our plantings, so now all the poultry are confined to a yard made of 160' of 48" Premier 1 Chicken Net which we rotate every 2 weeks or so. It's usually not energized, because the fencer was annoying me and we have little kids, but it contains them fine. We did have one duck fly out but it was easy to walk her back in. The ducks seem to be out foraging more than the chickens. They do eat grass. They don't seem to suppress the fly population in the yard.

@poulet0heureux, regarding coop moisture: Much of this past winter, our coop was way too humid with ~10 chickens. Two 4" round holes, high and low, heavily screened, were totally inadequate. Eventually I opened one of the 2'x4' windows and conditions improved immensely. The bedding started keeping itself dry. No ill effects on the birds. I think that might be more ventilation than is really necessary and will investigate compromise configurations for this winter. I guess it was pretty ridiculous to insulate the walls.

 

[Jenny B]

There is so much information in your article. Thank you.

I have a new Muscovy which I do believe is a female. Do you know at what age they start to lay eggs and how can I tell them apart from chicken eggs. I know nothing about female ducks . I also have a male pekin duck and am unsure whether this will have any affect on her laying eggs to eat or to hatch. Do ducks lay eggs in the same hutches as chickens or do they need bigger laying boxes.
I feed mine the same as I feed my chickens and has had no affect on them.
The ducks and chickens all share the same fenced off area which is quite a large run and get on fine.
I used to let the ducks roam around the property until my dog attacked and killed one of them. For safety reasons I have the ducks now in the fenced off run. I do miss them roaming around the property. I don't think he meant to hurt it . I think he was frightened by it in the dark and attacked it not knowing it was the duck .The ducks and the dog used to play together quite nicely and it was lovely to see them running around in the yard.
always interested in more information and advise.

Jenny B

 

[Smilin Jim]

Jenny B: I'm new to muscovies, so take this with some consideration.

Egg laying age: Our ducks were hatched in October, and had started laying by the end of April.

Duck vs chicken eggs: Our ducks' eggs have been similar in size to large eggs from our Red Star chickens. They are paler but not white, and feel more smooth. Also, if you crack one to cook with it, you will notice that the shell is very much stronger.

Ducks in chicken nests: Ducks will need the next boxes to be pretty close to the floor, or will need a way to climb up to them. Seems like they can only jump/climb about 6" at a time.

 

[muscovymomma]

I have ten 1 week old Muscovy babies and they are as cute as can be. We have a weekend house that we go to on the weekends to relax and unwind and get out of town. (Its about 1.5 hours from where we live). We have a fishing hole out there that the grandkids love to fish but lately the moss and algae and cat tails have taken over. I was curious if I could take a few ducks down there to eat the water plants and forage. We are in the Texas panhandle so there is no shortage of insects for them to hunt. My biggest concern with them being out there is not being able to pin them up at night and them wondering off because they are not getting fed regularly. (which, we were thinking about adding a few feeders that may hold them over for a while. we already have deer feeders down there but not many deer.) Should I clip the wing? Will they stay if I dont? Also, if I do clip their wing, would they still be able to get to their roost (think of a platform bed with a roof over it about 5 feet off the ground)

Any advice would be helpful!
oh and also, at what age would you be comfortable taking them down there? I would just really love for them to be there when we go, and watch them in the pond!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have ten 1 week old Muscovy babies and they are as cute as can be. We have a weekend house that we go to on the weekends to relax and unwind and get out of town. (Its about 1.5 hours from where we live). We have a fishing hole out there that the grandkids love to fish but lately the moss and algae and cat tails have taken over. I was curious if I could take a few ducks down there to eat the water plants and forage. We are in the Texas panhandle so there is no shortage of insects for them to hunt. My biggest concern with them being out there is not being able to pin them up at night and them wondering off because they are not getting fed regularly. (which, we were thinking about adding a few feeders that may hold them over for a while. we already have deer feeders down there but not many deer.) Should I clip the wing? Will they stay if I dont? Also, if I do clip their wing, would they still be able to get to their roost (think of a platform bed with a roof over it about 5 feet off the ground)

Any advice would be helpful!
oh and also, at what age would you be comfortable taking them down there? I would just really love for them to be there when we go, and watch them in the pond!

@muscovymomma Welcome to BYC

Taking 1week old ducklings to your weekend house where no one will be there to feed and lock them up is just going to be feeding the predators that live there plus ducklings have to be kept warm and feed 24/7 when they are that young.You may even have gators which love ducklings/duck to dine on. Please keep them home and cared for till they are big enough to take care of themselves. Even if you wait till they are adult size 12 weeks usually, they will eventually be picked off by preds if the don't have the safety of secure housing at night.

 

[muscovymomma]

Haha we dont have gators, I do know that! And heavens no, I didn't mean take them down there now. They are at our primary residence now. I just meant that eventually that we would like to move them to the pond. I am just not sure about if they will fly off or not.