Are muscovie ducks nice?

We have 3 wild ones that come up from the lake down the street. SO farthis is the second year and they are super sweet for being wild! They sit with us and have never hissed or snapped at us and 2 are males. They will even let you feed them!

So i would say...yes!

I know they fly as well! One took off in the air and i was amazed it could
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Like most ducks they can be nice or nasty. They don't seem to have as much fear of humans as most ducks so they appear to be friendly and often are. On the other hand they can be very nasty if they want to be and if they attack are pretty persistant. They bite and strike at you with strong wings and the talons that look like toenails are usually sharp and they know how to use them in a fight! If they are upset, back away but do not turn your back on them and run. They are faster than you think.
 
They can be. I bought my breeders as adults but even though the broodies hiss at me & do feints at me when I grab one of their kids they have not actually attacked me but still come begging for snacks.
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The drake never attacks only hisses. The ducklings are less fearful of me though less freindly than if I had hand raised them. I really like Scovies & prefer them over mallards.
Here are a few pic's of mine.
Our drake, Duke.
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Gwen w/her 16 ducklings last week.
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Some of the 4-5 wk old draklets & ducklets
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ROFL you scared me now lol. just kidding

If i had to choose between a muscovy or a goose attack I would take the goose, they don't usually use their feet and I never had one fly at my face! not kidding.
 
When they go broody, they can be vicious. They hold onto whatever is disrupting them for dear life and don't let go. (Found that out when one was fighting with our broody chicken last year over a nesting box. Chicken lost that fight.
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And a few of her wing feathers, too.) But when they aren't broody, females are very sweet and pretty docile.

We have two girls that I raised from chicks and are they are going to be 2 years old this summer. They have never been with drakes so I don't know how the boys of this breed are.

'Scovy hens fly well. They can go quite a few feet in the air. They are great layers, too. Every morning we are usually greeted with 2 large, tinted, waxy eggs. Yummy too!

Here's Lucy in the front and Ethal in the back. They bunk in with the chickens at night but free-range during the day.

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Also adding, Muscovy ducks don't need a large water source. They can hold their own just fine with drinking water. But they do prefer swimming, which is why we had to dig them a pond last year. They wouldn't stay out of the chickens water.
 
I think if you raise them properly they would be more likely to be tolerable. Usually when I get Emails from people who have a nasty bird it is almost always a drake and they have almost always raised the drake from a duckling, as a pet. Then they're shocked the following spring when their lovely little ducky turns into the drake from hell. If you can raise them to be sociable without needing a 'puppy dog' companion, I think you'll be very likely to raise tolerable birds. At one point I grew a large row of cucumbers to use as treats for my birds & we'd sit out at dusk & slice cucumbers to feed & those ducklings would literally catch them in mid-air, they'd jump up and snatch them from your hands, etc. and I never had a mean drake in the bunch because they always maintained some fear of us. That's the thing I think most people get wrong, the birds raised as 'puppies' generally see their people as flock mates so once a drakelet reaches sexual maturity he does what comes naturally - fight for dominance.

That said, every bird is an individual and there is always potential for getting a mean one despite your best intentions.
 
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... Usually when I get Emails from people who have a nasty bird it is almost always a drake and they have almost always raised the drake from a duckling, as a pet. Then they're shocked the following spring when their lovely little ducky turns into the drake from hell.

... and I never had a mean drake in the bunch because they always maintained some fear of us.

Our neighbor raised a male muscovy as a pet, and when the bird hit sexual maturity it began to attack her husband.

Our drakes are fine, but we don't raise them as pets either. I think fear is essential.​
 

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