A few more Muscovy questions...

[Miss Lydia]

LaynaDon Looks like he has a deformanity, and yes like Kevin said could have been from lack or nourtients when young, how old is he and was he like this when you got him? I can see why he wouldn't be mating with your girls, but your younger one should mate your girls especially now that you have set up a pool for them. I have a drake going on 1 yr and he is a pretty busy boy.

I wonder if your drake with the problem could have crop problems? does his crop area look real distorted? can you get pic of him from the front view. and also are his legs looking normal? I have never seen this in any kind of duck but i would deff be getting back to the woman you bought them from and asking for a repalcement. As far as eating him, unless he was showing signs of illness I'd say it would be okay. Does he eat good? also if you wanted to give him sometime and see if he comes around, pick up some Poultry Nutri Drench at TSC or online and start giving oit in his water. you can even give it to them straight. I wouldn't be without it. I think an all round good vitamin like nutri drench would be better than just niacin. Let us know what you decide.

 

[LaynaDon95]

LaynaDon Looks like he has a deformanity, and yes like Kevin said could have been from lack or nourtients when young, how old is he and was he like this when you got him? I can see why he wouldn't be mating with your girls, but your younger one should mate your girls especially now that you have set up a pool for them. I have a drake going on 1 yr and he is a pretty busy boy.

I wonder if your drake with the problem could have crop problems? does his crop area look real distorted? can you get pic of him from the front view. and also are his legs looking normal? I have never seen this in any kind of duck but i would deff be getting back to the woman you bought them from and asking for a repalcement. As far as eating him, unless he was showing signs of illness I'd say it would be okay. Does he eat good? also if you wanted to give him sometime and see if he comes around, pick up some Poultry Nutri Drench at TSC or online and start giving oit in his water. you can even give it to them straight. I wouldn't be without it. I think an all round good vitamin like nutri drench would be better than just niacin. Let us know what you decide.

I picked up the "problem" drake this morning and checked him over. His breast is smooth and full just like the others. No obvious deformities. I checked his neck, legs and back and everything felt the same as the other from what I can tell. I'm new at this, so I may be missing something. He eats just fine. He's a big heifer! The lady said he's under a year old. He was like this when we got him. I'll try to get some better pics.

They have just discovered the pool, like an hour ago. Do they only mate in water? 0.o

 

[Miss Lydia]

I picked up the "problem" drake this morning and checked him over. His breast is smooth and full just like the others. No obvious deformities. I checked his neck, legs and back and everything felt the same as the other from what I can tell. I'm new at this, so I may be missing something. He eats just fine. He's a big heifer! The lady said he's under a year old. He was like this when we got him. I'll try to get some better pics.

They have just discovered the pool, like an hour ago. Do they only mate in water? 0.o

No they will mate on dry ground but it's easier on them especially the girls to have those big guys on them in the water. And don't worry if it looks like he might be about to drown them he won't thats just the way they are. . It sure looks like he has a deformity or he has had an injury that has caused this. Also if you have just gotten them it will take time for them to get used to their new surroundings.

 

[LaynaDon95]

No they will mate on dry ground but it's easier on them especially the girls to have those big guys on them in the water. And don't worry if it looks like he might be about to drown them he won't thats just the way they are. . It sure looks like he has a deformity or he has had an injury that has caused this. Also if you have just gotten them it will take time for them to get used to their new surroundings.

Okay, I'll keep an eye on him and see if he mates them in the pool. She said he was still getting the hang of all "that stuff", so he might be more comfortable in the water.

I have just gotten them. I got them on Thursday. The woman said it shouldn't take them more than a day or 2 to get used to our house. They are doing really well. I kept them locked up in the chicken coop until yesterday evening. I let them out right before it started to get dark. They stayed pretty close to the coop and went back in earlier than the chickens. This morning they were waiting at the door with the chickens. They have started exploring more of the back field some, don't venture away from the coop for long. It's really funny to me, having only had chickens before, because it's a hen that herds them around the yard. The drakes both follow her.

 

[LaynaDon95]

I got a reply from the Muscovy lady.

Here's part of it.


I'm glad to hear the ducks are enjoying your place. Of course, I will trade
the drake out for you; sorry to hear he has a problem. It sounds like he
got his pelvis sprained or injured. That would be the only thing that would
throw off his balance like that. If it were a leg injury, he would favor one
side, but walking around w/his rear in the air and resting his belly on the
ground seems to indicate a pelvis injury.

That sounds plausible. 0.o What do you guys think?
I don't mean to sounds like I'm skeptical of her, I'm trying to figure out what happened because my curious side is going crazy! I'm trying to come to the realization that I may never know, but that makes me even more curious. :\

Anyway, she was very apologetic and willing to trade him. I'm a very happy customer. I will absolutely be recommending her to other people.

 

[Kevin565]

I got a reply from the Muscovy lady.

Here's part of it.


I'm glad to hear the ducks are enjoying your place. Of course, I will trade
the drake out for you; sorry to hear he has a problem. It sounds like he
got his pelvis sprained or injured. That would be the only thing that would
throw off his balance like that. If it were a leg injury, he would favor one
side, but walking around w/his rear in the air and resting his belly on the
ground seems to indicate a pelvis injury.

That sounds plausible. 0.o What do you guys think?
I don't mean to sounds like I'm skeptical of her, I'm trying to figure out what happened because my curious side is going crazy! I'm trying to come to the realization that I may never know, but that makes me even more curious. :\

Anyway, she was very apologetic and willing to trade him. I'm a very happy customer. I will absolutely be recommending her to other people.

It defiantly sounds plausible but strange to have such a sudden injury that quickly. She however does sound like an excellent person to do business with! Hopefully she can nurse him back to health if it is an injury

 

[LaynaDon95]

It defiantly sounds plausible but strange to have such a sudden injury that quickly. She however does sound like an excellent person to do business with! Hopefully she can nurse him back to health if it is an injury

Okay, so. Let me see if I can make this short. Her truck is broke down and her car is too little to carry a cage so she had to transport them in feed sacks. (the cloth breathable kind, not plastic.) There was one that when her son was pulling them out, it's leg got caught in the feed sack. He kinda yanked at it to get it to come free. I have no idea if that was the drake or not, but that's the only thing I can think of, unless it happened before he got to me, which is totally possible.

I hope she can nurse him back to health. If I knew more about the way a ducks body worked, and had more time to put into him, I would try it. But with me only keeping one drake and breeding season rapidly approaching, I need a healthy one.

 

[The duck ladies]

Hello,

I was looking up duck vitamins and found this site. While looking around I saw your post. My name is Shauna and Jean is the other duck lady. We have had Muscovy ducks for years and have had one drake with a broken pelvis. He looked nothing like the one you had. Guntar hunkered down really close to the ground and couldn't really walk at all. I've seen people with fractured pelvis' and they react pretty much the same way. It took a good month for him to be able to fully stand and take more than one or two steps. So, I seriously doubt that a broken pelvis was the issue. I would think more of a spinal issue was at fault, which could be from numerous causes.

As far as mating goes this is the season! We live in Washington and usually things start up in March and continue for two or three months before waning off. We have one girl setting. They usually have to be around 9 months before they start showing any interest. They will mate on land and the eggs take 32 days to hatch. A little longer than the other breeds.

We have a kiddie pool but they use it only for bathing. No one really floats except for our younger Roeun and her two Kahki Campbell girlfriends. But, they float in the water dishes, too!

I hope this helps. It's great the lady took him back but it sounds like they're not the best prepared breeders. I will admit that all of ours are spoiled but I think yanking on a ducks leg is just not okay in any circumstance. It makes me wonder if that's how the injury originated.

Nice meeting you,
Shauna, Jean, 8 indoor muscovies, 18 outdoor ones and four quackers, oh ya, four cats and one dog.

 

[ian4379]

I'll see what I can do. I'm only keeping 1 drake, so I don't need a weird one. If she wants him back, great, if not we'll probably be finding out how muscovies taste.
I've heard ducks mate pretty much all the time, so I don't know what's going on. I hope we didn't get 2 bum drakes! Surely we didn't. The lady we got them from has 60 birds, all hatched from her own ducks, so I know she has good drakes. I have no idea. It's kinds stressing me out. If one of them would just mate a girl in front of me, I would be happy! =P

a healthy young muscovy drake will be trying to mate everything, i have 5 five month old boys together at the moment and they are mating each other and trying it on the chickens

What's dodgy legs? I looked it up but found nothing.

lol i've had a bit of a giggle at this and i'm sorry, the term "dodgy" must be australian slang, i guess it means broken, not right, shady, shifty, definately not a medical term.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Okay, so. Let me see if I can make this short. Her truck is broke down and her car is too little to carry a cage so she had to transport them in feed sacks. (the cloth breathable kind, not plastic.) There was one that when her son was pulling them out, it's leg got caught in the feed sack. He kinda yanked at it to get it to come free. I have no idea if that was the drake or not, but that's the only thing I can think of, unless it happened before he got to me, which is totally possible.

I hope she can nurse him back to health. If I knew more about the way a ducks body worked, and had more time to put into him, I would try it. But with me only keeping one drake and breeding season rapidly approaching, I need a healthy one.

I wouldn't be suprised at all if they didn't cause the injury by pulling on his legs trying to get in him and possibly out of the feed sack. Poor guy is probably in pain too. Lots of rest may help help him heal but if she is in this just to make money he maybe extra baggage.