Attention Muscovy lovers

[Miss Lydia]

I agree with you. We have only seen one duck that didnt seem to care about her babies but I think she was too young. Jeffery is almost healed! His new tail feathers are about 2 inches long and his leg is much better ! He no longer limps. His limp was very drastic 3 weeks ago. He will pick his leg up later at night like it is tired and sore, but he is walking with full weight on it. He has been in our (second) bathroom since he got hit. His run is ready and waiting for him outside, but I want him to be off the antibiotics and the road rash scrape to be completely healed (which I think it is. no more exposed skin and the feathers and down are growing back). We have fed these ducks for a year (almost two) but they are still outside "wild" ducks in a community close to our home. I think muscovies are much smarter than I realized because he doesnt seem like a wild duck (i dont know the difference). Maybe I shouldnt but I talk to him and treat him as if he were one of my dogs (a-hem fur faced children) I pick him up and put him in his bath. I pet him. I talk to him and ask him if he is hungry. He isnt afraid at all, doesnt seem to care if I touch him and responds with tilting his head (like a dog) when I ask him if he wants food. I wish I could potty train him. Ducks poo so much! I wonder is he will still have the same personality once he is back outside in his run. Thanks for asking. I will keep everyone updated.
PS. Do you know if it will be too stressful for him if i take him into my (privacy fenced) yard near his run and allow him some outside time but then bring him back into the bathroom?

He would probably enjoy some outside time if there is nothing in this privacy yard to stress him out like other animals. but be ware Scovy's can fly really well so you might want to clip one wing [flight feathers] before you take him. I have a drake that we raised in the house since his mama didn't want him and he really does think he's one of our dogs. He is almost 3 yrs old now but still likes to come in and spend time inside then back out to be with his 2 girls. They are awesome ducks and know when someone cares for them. I talk to my ducks all the time some even know their name when i say it. They are smart.

 

[Alaskan]

My favorite duck is a chocolate pied. I think she is very pretty. The white shows off the chocolate very nicely. Also, her chocolate is different shades on different parts of her body, which I find lovely.

Sorry about posting this earlier without the pic. I am wondering what the white duck is with the black spot on its head in this pic.

Oh, I thought that I had answered you. All of them are Muscovy. The duck that brooded them is the one with her back towards us, white and chocolate. All the rest are almost four month old Muscovy. The other possible mothers were a blue and a lavender and the drake is a light silver. All of my Muscovy are pied with a cap of color. Because they are so young, the young ducks don't yet have their caruncles.

 

[andreacroyle]

Oh, I thought that I had answered you.

All of them are Muscovy. The duck that brooded them is the one with her back towards us, white and chocolate. All the rest are almost four month old Muscovy. The other possible mothers were a blue and a lavender and the drake is a light silver. All of my Muscovy are pied with a cap of color.

Because they are so young, the young ducks don't yet have their caruncles.

what state do you live in? what age do they get their caruncles?

 

[Alaskan]

Oh, I thought that I had answered you.

All of them are Muscovy. The duck that brooded them is the one with her back towards us, white and chocolate. All the rest are almost four month old Muscovy. The other possible mothers were a blue and a lavender and the drake is a light silver. All of my Muscovy are pied with a cap of color.

Because they are so young, the young ducks don't yet have their caruncles.

what state do you live in? what age do they get their caruncles?

Well, the one that I kept from that hatch, hatched the last few days of October, she is just now getting a little bit of red caruncles around the base of her bill.

The female that hatched mid summer (don't know exact hatch date) has a bit of caruncles by her eyes and a tiny bit connecting between her eyes and her bill, but she definitely isn't finished.

And, I am in Alaska...

 

[mymoneypit]

Well since people are posting they have muscovies and others are looking, I am also looking, near western MD. Bedford PA, Romney WV, Morgantown WV, Hagerstown MD is about as far as I'm willing to drive to get ducks.

I have a few leads, but I also was hoping to get from a couple sources so I can start out with a diverse gene pool.

 

[andreacroyle]

He would probably enjoy some outside time if there is nothing in this privacy yard to stress him out like other animals. but be ware Scovy's can fly really well so you might want to clip one wing [flight feathers] before you take him. I have a drake that we raised in the house since his mama didn't want him and he really does think he's one of our dogs. He is almost 3 yrs old now but still likes to come in and spend time inside then back out to be with his 2 girls. They are awesome ducks and know when someone cares for them. I talk to my ducks all the time some even know their name when i say it. They are smart.

Thanks for replying. There is nothing in the privacy fenced yard but his duck run and my son's playset. I watched a few videos on how to clip their feathers and researched the "wing anatomy" I clipped them a bit but i know i didnt clip them enough cause he has no problem flying out of the tub and perching on the side when taking a bath. Its kind of scary to cut them back so far.
I have a question. Why do ducks get only one side clipped to make them off balance when every pet parrot (or exotic bird) gets both cut? I havent found a post about that. Do you know?

Well since people are posting they have muscovies and others are looking, I am also looking, near western MD. Bedford PA, Romney WV, Morgantown WV, Hagerstown MD is about as far as I'm willing to drive to get ducks.

I have a few leads, but I also was hoping to get from a couple sources so I can start out with a diverse gene pool.

There are farm swaps here in Florida where people get together twice a month and sell their animals and other farm related things. Maybe you can find something like that in your area so you dont have to travel so far.

 

[Alaskan]

I don't know.

I guess because I had parrots before I had Muscovy, I trimmed both wings.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Well since people are posting they have muscovies and others are looking, I am also looking, near western MD. Bedford PA, Romney WV, Morgantown WV, Hagerstown MD is about as far as I'm willing to drive to get ducks.

I have a few leads, but I also was hoping to get from a couple sources so I can start out with a diverse gene pool.

I would try looking on your states thread, I'm sure you will find someone close to you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for replying. There is nothing in the privacy fenced yard but his duck run and my son's playset. I watched a few videos on how to clip their feathers and researched the "wing anatomy" I clipped them a bit but i know i didnt clip them enough cause he has no problem flying out of the tub and perching on the side when taking a bath. Its kind of scary to cut them back so far.
I have a question. Why do ducks get only one side clipped to make them off balance when every pet parrot (or exotic bird) gets both cut? I havent found a post about that. Do you know?
There are farm swaps here in Florida where people get together twice a month and sell their animals and other farm related things. Maybe you can find something like that in your area so you dont have to travel so far.

I have always clipped just one wing and yes it keeps them off balance, I'll find the link I used when clipping.

 

[Alaskan]

They can't fly with both wings trimmed. I like them looking balanced and symmetrical.

But, I don't think that it really matters with Muscovy, if you trim one of two wings.

With my parrots, if I trimmed only one wing, they did NOT just flutter gently in a spiral to the ground, they flew up, and they learned to compensate and fly straight off. So, I started trimming both wings, I just made sure to trim them so that there was no upward flight, but also no "falling like a rock".

I read one thing that also said that there is a BIG difference between a bird that knows it can fly, and a bird that doesn't know that it can fly. If they don't know they can fly, you can probably do only a tiny one wing trim, and it will still be effective.