Muscovy

I have two Muscovy drakes and I just adore them so sweet and cute with their hissing and wagging of their tail feathers I love them a ton and there crests are gorgeous and mine have a beautiful green sheen to their feathers they are my favorite ducks!

Clark one of my black barred drakes:

My mother had a whole flock of Muscovies when I was little. They were all but one killed by our German Shepherd. The hens went broody and were very pretty, and the drakes were very protective. They will live a long time if let be.Mr. Duck, the last Muscovy, lived with no other ducks for a few years. He had no coop, instead roosting on the fence rails. Regardless of what others say, he had no issues in the winter. He would swim in our negative temperature creek. Mr. Duck lived to be 6, when he was hit by a car while trying to protect his Rouens hens. He died in my arms. I buried him under his favorite lilac, and I still cry when I think of him. He would wag his tail, his, and flick his mohawk. He was rough with the young Rouen hens, but he was so big. I want more when I live on my own.

I adopted my ducks as adult. I love this duck! They prefer land to water so they don't need a big pool. My ducks dance where ever they go and a very sweet birds. My drake, Elvis likes so walk up behind me and hiss. I love him very much! I have two females and use for eggs and a male I plan to show in 4h. They are very quiet and females make a weird cooing noise while the males hiss. They are the perfect duck if you live in a small continuity that doesn't allow noisy animals.



Elvis

Elvis





Elphaba

Elsa

I have had Muscovies off and on for many years, along with numerous other breeds of ducks. I love all duck breeds, but the lowly Muscovy is truly the survivor and thriver of the duck world. They lay high-quality eggs (not as many as some of the non-setting egg laying breeds of duck), are fantastic setters and mothers (I have had Muscovy hens that will hatch out well over 20 eggs at a time, with no duds left unhatched), they are prolific reproducers and will keep a homestead family in meat. They require much less grain to fatten them up. In fact, you can fatten twice as many Muscovies on the same amount of grain as half that number of any other breed (and a third the number of Pekins). They miraculously turn food into flesh very rapidly. They will eat almost any kitchen scraps if they are not in too big of chunks (we try to chop the bigger stuff like cabbage cores and banana peels into bite-size pieces so they can eat them). We eat a ton of veggies and fruits and they dearly love all those scraps, but will eat other food scraps as well. If they have a field to graze in, they can survive quite well on grass, weeds and insects.... as long as their area doesn't get over-grazed by them. They will rid an area of all edible weeds in nothing flat!. As any duck that can fly, you want to keep them plenty of FRESH water on hand at all times... not stinking water... or they will fly away in search of good water. Ducks are like pigs, they have to have water to wash-down their food while they are eating because they choke easily. Muscovies will go in search of clean water, and food, if it is not easily available to them.
Muscovie make very little noise, which you know is a blessing if you've ever had ducks! Most ducks are very loud and vocal. Adult Muscovies also do a pretty decent job of defending themselves from most except the very determined predator. The fact that they can fly also helps to protect them. They will also roost, up off the ground, at night if they are allowed, which protects them from dogs, foxes and coyotes. If you don't want them wandering merrily on your property, just fence off an area with cheap weld wire fencing, clip the flight feathers off one wing, put them inside with food and water (and shade from the sun) and you are good to go!
In Florida, they don't have to have a serious shelter. Just shade shelter from the hot sun. In the colder climes, they will need good shelter from the worst cold, especially at night.

The Duck Test: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
This may be true for most cases, but what about the Muscovy?


At my farm, the most important animal is the turkey. We started raising Royal Palm turkeys, then got some "Mini Royal Palms" (Brahmas), then, lastly, added some "Water Turkeys" (Muscovies). So you can image that I think that the "Water Turkeys" are very beautiful because of their caruncles. I was told by many people not to get Muscovies because they are very aggressive, but over the 18 years I've been around ducks, every Muscovy I've met or owned has always been very nice and loved attention.
Another thing to note is that Muscovies do not quack (another plus!) and are very quiet. They "dance" around when they walk by twerking their tails and bobbing their heads (they literally are the natural party animal) When they want to communicate, they whistle, hiss and do a little "chatter" sound. Throughout the day, my breeding ducks will all get together and have several "clubbing" sessions, dance together and that is as loud as they get when they all hiss and chatter together (normally this is at the pool). We like to hear our turkeys gobble and chuck-chuck-chuck to each other, our chickens when they lay an egg, the roosters when there is a predator and that is about it. A quiet yard creates happy neighbors (even if you live in the country like I do, you should always be considerate of your neighbors and Muscovies are great at that).
The best thing to note is that, although these ducks love water, you will not see them in it a whole lot! We have a swimming pool specifically just for the animals to take a dip in on hot days. They will take baths in the pool once or twice a day, but they do not sit in it all day like other ducks do. For some people, this is a pro, others it is a con. For me, it is a pro because having clean water in the pool is great for all of the chickens, turkeys and other Muscovies. Another pro for my farm is that the ducks are always clean. They love to roost though and can fly pretty well. So trading in dirty water to low roosting poles is a trade I would do any day!
When I first brought them home, they would all lay eggs in the same area. That is three ducks/hens all laying a nest in one area. After a bit, one hen adopted all of the eggs and went broody (it took about a week for all three to get a very sizable nest). Now I have two ducks/hens laying eggs in another area now and the other hen is about to go broody (I believe in about another week or so when they have a few more eggs). So, you can believe how prolific these birds are! They are also amazing mothers and will frequently adopt abandoned eggs or nests that they find (like I have one that is trying to go broody on a Sebright's nest she found with six eggs in it and another that tries to adopt turkey eggs that she find laying in the yard). My ratios right now is one drake to three hens and my fertility rate is 100% (this year I have not had a single infertile egg). I would say one drake to every five ducks/hens would be good. And the drakes are a little meaner when doing the deed. They will chase after the female, grab her by the neck then proceed. When they start to miss feathers on the backs of their heads (like when I first got them, they were paired up one to one so a single duck/hen got all of the abuse from him) I know I need more females or to separate the drake.
The only con I could list is that they love to wander around the yard more than the chickens and turkeys. I will go outside and they will be up in the front yard just doing duck things. Of course, this is unacceptable because the road is in the front yard. So containing these ducks may have to be done by certain farms.

These are my best ducks and are great mothers, very sweet, have beautiful babies

I was a little skeptical about getting this breed, because I didn't think they were the most attractive, but after losing some of my other ducks, I went ahead and picked up 4 of these. They were GORGEOUS! Unless they are males, the red bumps don't even really show up that badly, their face just looks like a chicken otherwise. But these were by far our best ducks, they loved to eat the bugs, we had WAY less after getting these guys, even though we already had 6 mallard breeds. They lay pretty well, and broody, and can take care of themselves. They can fly away from predators, but they also get out of their cage easier because of that. Anyways, I loved these! They ended up being the most friendly too, even though we got them a lot older than we got the other ones. Or maybe they just couldn't run away as fast??

I love Muscovies. We have chocolates and chocolate and white pieds, and two black and white hens whose black feathers are iridescent green in sunlight. My big Muscovy drake has more personality than any bird I have ever known, takes a serious interest in the laying and brooding of the hens, is gentle and somewhat protective of the ducklings, and with his partly red face and chocolate crest is a beautiful and dramatic looking bird. I have seen him jump two feet into the air and grab a horsefly flying past, climb a stump the way a woodpecker climbs a tree, and jump from one pond to another, better than a 4' broad jump. He is gentle with the hen ducks. These ducks are excellent at bug control and do not pull up the seedlings the way the mallards did during the four days we had mallards (we sent them back to the previous owner for destroying plants.) The Muscovies achieved 95% insect control in our garden, and the only plants they bothered were broccoli and cauliflower, so we fenced those beds in. They are very willing to brood their eggs and endlessly amusing. They gave us about 500 eggs and two hatches of ducklings last year, and the excess young drakes are wonderful eating. We catch them several times a year, sit them in our laps, and clip the flight feathers from their very strong wings. The 17 of them have never pooped in the water dishes, and as for the water in their pools, they eat all the mosquito larvae. You should see the carnivorous ferocity when we open a mouse nest and shoo, or throw, mice to them. I hate mice fouling the horses' feed, and the Muscovies love to eat mice. We give them duck chow, oyster shell, grit, old salad greens that are starting to wilt, and they are GREAT foragers. They have much less fat than mallard descended breeds and great flavor.

.--- We also have a pair of Pekins; the Pekin hen did lay one egg a day all winter when the Muscovies were off, but she is not at all broody. The Pekin drake is a noisy and aggressive thug.

My Muscovy is a really nice bird. She is currently sitting on some eggs, and will hopefully hatch some soon. She takes good care of her ducklings, and protects her eggs. She tends to stay around the barn and doesn't wander to far, but she doesn't stay with the other ducks. Sometimes this is good, and other times it isn't. One bad thing is that she is very messy, although I suppose most ducks are anyways. She is nice to look at and easy to catch in the pen. When she is out free ranging, not so much. She is timid, along with my other ducks, and is scared of lot's of things. This is good and bad, as it protects her ducklings, but I can't seem to tame her. Other than those few things, she is really nice.

My first Muscovy was the most friendly bird I have ever met, unfortunately she was killed by a coyote in the yard when I was at school. I now have 3 chocolate, one male that is EVIL. Every time I go outside he follows me around hissing and panting and If I let my guard down to do something like feed my girls or take the eggs he will attack me. He has ripped countless pairs of pants and made several bruises on my legs and arms from his biting and flogging. If you get muscovies get females!!!! If you must get males get rid of any at the first sign of aggression don't get stuck like me DX

I've had multiple Muscovies in my time raising ducks. They are very great ducks! The females are very great layers as well as mothers. Though they are flyers that can be easily resolved by trimming their flight feathers. Mine however haven't had their wings clipped and just stick around home.

I do however recommend females as they are easier to tame and lack the intense aggression the drakes can have. The drakes will take on anything they deem a threat including 200lb dogs (one of my drakes tried.)

If you are located in a town and plan on having ducks I suggest these guys. They are quiet and really only hiss or trill. Sometimes and rarely they will quietly honk when they are scared. One of my females does it when I catch her eating the cat food . Very good foragers as well and will eat anything they encounter, even bees and poisonous spiders!

These ducks are great for meat and the females are great mothers. Males could get really aggresive. Not suitable for kids or other animals

If you want to raise ducks for meat this is your bird!

Muscovy are great birds to raise. Quiet, good foragers, excellent at bug control, many colors. I raise mine for meat. Their meat is similar to beef, not at all fatty.

Typically (there are differences in every bird of every breed) they are great broodies and great mothers and will sit on a huge number of eggs. In most areas, they are seasonal layers. Right now, I have a hen sitting on 22 eggs (it is her first time going broody) and it is the end of November. I have had a hen hatch out 11 of 14 eggs before and all of the hatchlings survived.

They are a great breed if you don't want the loud quacks of other breeds. Don't get me wrong, they still make noise. When my girls get to whistling you can hear it you just wouldn't think it was a duck.

The males get BIG, some lines get huge.

All muscovy have claws, the breed is a perching duck so they need them to climb and cling to branches.

In my experience, people that say that they are mean birds have raised them as pets and when the hormones start, the bird changes and the cute little duckling turns into a hormone machine. Again, I don't coddle mine. They are treated well but they have a purpose. I don't handle mine but they still will come up to me for food and eat out of my hand.

The hens are protective of their babies, but that is only natural.

They are nice sweet tame and quiet i had a baby once and a couple adults and boy are they NASTY and i really mean Nasty a lot more nasty than chickens

Excellent ! They are quiet, easy to tame, lay eggs and raise and hatch them without any help. They are my favorite duck breed out of all I have had !

When I first found out abotu muscovies I couldnt believe they were a duck! After doing more reasearch I found a guy nearby that sold some ducklings. So I bought 2 and they have grown up to be the biggest (and best) ducks I have owned. All of my other ducks are not as gentle and dont want to be around me, but my muscovies will walk right up next to me and look at me with that "Give me food look". When they first started flying I was very surprised, becase I thought they were to big to fly. Well I guess tey dont really "Fly" they fly "Jump" I guess. They cant sustain a flight for longer than 10 seconds. The only downfall to them is how they break my netting over my coop because of their weight.

Otherwise they are a great, weird looking breed!

I've had many breeds of ducks and now I think I can safely say that I won't own another duck besides Muscovies. They are smart, curious and friendly if raised around people and come in many different colors. Unlike other breeds of domestic ducks they are not as water crazy and don't make such a mess, they are also very quiet in comparison. When young the females do fly but rarely for long distances and never leave the yard, the males are too heavy. They make great mothers but only lay eggs in season so they aren't a great layer breed.

Got mine by accident . . . long story. Can't imagine life without them at this point lol.
I have a pair, and they are smart, funny, and have great personalities. My drake is HUGE. They are also very quiet. Beautiful animals.

Used to have them but got rid of them and now I'm gonna get back into them.They are better than any other duck and they would make a great meat bird.Liked them way more than my Pekins and Campbells.As they can keep their numbers up when the others can't.