WHAT breed will go well with muscovy's?

[andreacroyle]

We have a small backyard flock with a few muscovy's (as pets) and would like to introduce another breed to mingle. Does anyone have a suggestion on what other breed is friendly, likes to be picked up and petted, on the quiet side and gets along with others?.

 

[Frank Phinster]

I have a mixed flock consisting of muscovies, pekins and runners. Unless hand-reared, ducks usually don't like to be picked up and petted, but one runner female likes to nibble on my shoes and trousers and like to take treats from my hand. Since mallards have strong voices ( especially the females), no breed is as quiet as a muscovy, but they usually don't make a racket that would annoy you or the neighbours, but you will hear them quite often at a reasonable volume.

Friendly can be about any breed, it depends more on the time you spend with them and how your other ducks behave towards you - newcomers observe their flock mates in order to learn the appropiate behaviour, and if your muscovies are tame, new ducks are likely to follow their example. Runners are usually more nervous and distrusting than other breeds, and yet my show quality runner is one of the tamest ducks in my flock.

Keep in mind that muscovy drakes like to mate with everything that looks like a female duck and don't care whether they are sitting on one of their own species or not. My drake ignores the runner fm, apparently they are too small for him to wake his interest, but before we had more female muscovies he frequently raped the pekin duck who we then had to separate from the flock for a while because he became a real threat to her.
How large is your flock at this time?

 

[Going Quackers]

I agree with Frank, ducks are prey animals and generally prefer not to be held, as it feels threatening. I keep buffs and Pekin in with my Muscovy, the buffs were raised with two muscovy ducklings so they hang with them all the time. The pekin are basically their own flock being a drake and 5 ducks.

For the most part i prefer to keep size ranges within a certain range, in other words i would prefer heavy weight, to medium with the 'Scovies because they are pretty big and scovies drakes will most definitely mate with mallard derived birds if given the chance too.

 

[Tessaturtle]

Our Muscovy's do much better with just their own breed. We had a mixed flock and it was chaos - the Muscovy's appeared to have very little patience with the other, noisier ducks. The Muscovy drakes also would try to raid the nests of the Rouen females (killed some fetuses). Since we pared down to just a Muscovy flock, it has been wonderful! THe only times things get a little crazy is spring when the males decide to fight for control, other than that, everyone just hangs out. THe babies are safe, they all seem to be more comfortable.

Good luck!

 

[Miss Lydia]

We have a small backyard flock with a few muscovy's (as pets) and would like to introduce another breed to mingle. Does anyone have a suggestion on what other breed is friendly, likes to be picked up and petted, on the quiet side and gets along with others?.

You might want to stick with rescuing Scovy's most other Mallard derived breeds are pretty chatty,

What ever happened to the Pekin pair?

 

[andreacroyle]

Thanks for all the comments! I have read a lot of opinions in the "pet duck" world about mixing breeds, but wanted to post my personal situation and get comments. Right now I have (all muscovy) 3 ducklings that I think will turn out to be 2 hens and 1 drake. I have the adult drake that I rehabbed I am keeping separate. I am actively trying to find him a home as he is absolutely nasty! As soon as he is near the others he tries to either jump on the hens or pecks and chases the ducklings. He will stay separated until he is re-homed. If any of the others turn out to be that way, they will get re-homed as well. Since I have a 10 year old that I homeschool and these are pet ducks, I really dont want them to be mating all over like the drakes do, so I will end up having only female ducks in the long term. I have been going to a lot of farm swaps and there are so many duck breeds. I think anconas and swedish blues are very pretty.

@Miss Lydia , the pekin and crested are still there and seems very happy. The person that said she would take them never contacted me. They are full size now and appear to be super healthy and happy. They are hanging with the flock of mallards and still run into the water any time I try to get near them. I go there almost everyday to feed them (and it seems , many others do as well) I am not sure that I will attempt to catch them until I have help (cause it is going to be tough) and until they appear to need to be caught.

Note: for some reason this screen isnt allowing me to edit.

 

[Frank Phinster]

Just asking because I'm curious: Why is it bad when ducks are maiting? If it's about ducklings, eggs can be taken away...

 

[andreacroyle]

Just asking because I'm curious: Why is it bad when ducks are maiting? If it's about ducklings, eggs can be taken away...

Oh! I dont think it is bad at all, only in our situation. Its not about ducklings, its about how much they want to mate. Mating seems to be all the males (my drake) seems to care about. We got the ducks (hens and ducklings) as backyard pets. They (except one) dont seem to mind the attention of my 10yr old son and myself picking them up and petting them. When the drake is out he is constantly chasing the hens and pecking at the babies. He causes chaos and every duck runs from him and acts scared. My son loves them and spends an average of 3-4 hours a day (on the weekends most of the daylight hours) playing outside with them in the yard and watching them swim in the pool and petting them. I just dont think it is enjoyable to watch them mate or any of the mating behavior or to have the other ducks beat up with missing feathers from the drake. If we had a barn/farm/land/big pond or wanted to breed ducks then it would be no problem, but in our situation of a small backyard flock it just doesnt work.

 

[Frank Phinster]

Well, then I understand your issues with this, I had to remove two drakes from my flock to prevent turmoil in my flock.
Although muscovy drakes are not known for being lovely partners, mating behaviour can really depend on the drake, mine for example isn't exactly sweet to his females, but also leaves them alone most of the time.
So if your young drake turns out to well behaved, keeping him might be worth a shot since courtship behaviour is also an interesting thing to watch.

 

[Going Quackers]

The jerk ratio of drakes varies, i have quite a few here so i have way more experience than i desire lol That said i do get the point, they definitely change the dynamics.