Am I overfeeding my ducklings?

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Next weekend, they will be 8 weeks old. No one is quacking yet, but one of them often appears to hiss at me even when it doesnt really seem warranted...and even when they are just relaxing. The sound that comes out is a hiss, but without the attitude.. the bill is wide open, but no quacking sounds come out. Otherwise, they chirp.

Would muscovy girls already be quacking? This might be stupid, but how will I know that they are drakes other than that no one lays an egg? I'm hoping that even if they are both drakes, they will be happy with eachother and be able to sleep in the same coop when not sleeping somewhere in the yard. Am I being naiive?
 
CuddleNest said:
Next weekend, they will be 8 weeks old. No one is quacking yet, but one of them often appears to hiss at me even when it doesnt really seem warranted...and even when they are just relaxing. The sound that comes out is a hiss, but without the attitude.. the bill is wide open, but no quacking sounds come out. Otherwise, they chirp.

Would muscovy girls already be quacking? This might be stupid, but how will I know that they are drakes other than that no one lays an egg? I'm hoping that even if they are both drakes, they will be happy with eachother and be able to sleep in the same coop when not sleeping somewhere in the yard. Am I being naiive?
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Muscovies don't quack! They hiss in a friendly way and peep or chirp.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=muscovy+duck+sounds
 
CuddleNest said:
Next weekend, they will be 8 weeks old. No one is quacking yet, but one of them often appears to hiss at me even when it doesnt really seem warranted...and even when they are just relaxing. The sound that comes out is a hiss, but without the attitude.. the bill is wide open, but no quacking sounds come out. Otherwise, they chirp.

Would muscovy girls already be quacking? This might be stupid, but how will I know that they are drakes other than that no one lays an egg? I'm hoping that even if they are both drakes, they will be happy with eachother and be able to sleep in the same coop when not sleeping somewhere in the yard. Am I being naiive?
Click to expand...
Even the females mostly hiss, and hardly quack. That's normal in muscovy. I'm pretty sure you have a pair.
 
oldhenlikesdogs said:
Even the females mostly hiss, and hardly quack. That's normal in muscovy. I'm pretty sure you have a pair.
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That would be fantastic! :ya

Tonight when putting them to bed, I noticed that the larger one's (with fewer wing feathers, possivly the male) head has a slightly different shape...and here I wondered why they were growing so differently...a pair makes a lot of sense!
 
WannaBeHillBilly said:
Oh, and if you want to become really popular for your ducklings, try things like tomatoes, peas, salad and - mealworms (Mehlwürmer). Those are also known as "duck-crack" my ducks would roll on their backs and perform sit-ups for meal-worms! :gig
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The chickens are wild for dried mehlwörmer, so I always have them around. I just cant buy enough and have seriously considered starting a worm farm in the corner of the yard. The kids would definitely be into it! If it's going to be duck crack (didn't try yet), I might have to seriously think of "worming" or whatever it is called. A tomato half I put out the other day was stolen by some opportunistic chicks. I dont have peas at the moment but will definitely try. The ducks were jumping up and eating the leaves from a young apple tree, some vining herbs, and some grape vine leaves. It appears some low hanging red currants are missing, but I'm not sure it was them. The ducks just appear to be laid back and dont necessarily fight each other or the chickens for their food, but they certainly forage and go after food if it's buzzing around them or at the bottom of the kiddie pool. Salad floating in the pool is a huge hit. They did that for hours today!
 
WannaBeHillBilly said:
As other people have stated before me: By the laws of physics in this universe it is impossible to exceed the speed of light and to overfeed ducklings!
And it is pretty normal that a one month duckling has almost the size of a grown up duck. Very sure that you have Muscovy Ducks, @Miss Lydia or @Raenh can tell for sure, they have Muscovies. They are called "Warzenente" (wart duck) in German: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moschusente#Warzenente
And they will grow to a pretty big size, i hope you have a large yard. And they are flighty and love to roost in shrubs and trees. They don't quack but chirp and are constantly broody during the warm season. All in all funny birds!
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I just calculated...the yard is 850 square meters or a bit over 9,100 square feet. I hope that will do. We live next to a farmed field and an EU sponsored nature project that focuses on bringing native species back to the area since many left around WWII and later. We see falcons, kites, and pheasants regularly, and sometimes a fischreiher (grey heron) is lurking around. In the midst of corona a flock of storks (!!!) had breakfast next to the carport...and sometimes wild ducks and pheasants land in the yard and look around, being rather unphased by the rooster and chickens roaming around. I hope that this set of wild birds won't pose a threat to muscovies at night. During the day, the dog does a good job at keeping birds out of her airspace, though they laugh at her from the trees. Any thoughts?
 

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