Clipping Muscovy ducks wing?

[Flashpoint]

So the consensus is not to clip wings? Crap should have put up a poll

I will periodically clip wings, but agree that is is only a temporary quick fix. The feathers come back. lol. I also like them to be able to get out of harm's way if necessary. I have seen them sit on the house or run like mad to get inside their coop.

 

[farmerbrowne]

Here's my coop right now

 

[justin shrew]

it has been recommended out, in many ways and time. Clipping of wings in any kind of bird, give a greater risk to predators. atleast guineas or chickens can run. muscovy ducks are too heavy and are very slow-moving birds. freeranging birds cannot be clipped at all.

 

[mymilliefleur]

After having two hens fly away, never to be seen again, I keep all my ducks wings clipped.

 

[Meg Muir]

I clip my muscovy's wings. They have free range during the day but lock them up at night in a fully enclosed pen with shelter to protect them from neighbourhood cats and the owls. For some reason they are not homing ducks and will fly off at the first chance they get. We have had mallards that we never clipped and they would always stay close to their pen but never the muscovy's. I remember the first quartet of muscovy's we ever got, I was 7 and had begged my dad for ducks for the farm. We kept them locked up for 2 weeks hoping that would be enough that they knew this was home and the morning we decided to let them out to graze the garden they literally took 5 steps out the pen and flew off to the dam about 30m from our house. Always to be seen but never kept "captive". :-D

 

[Brittanyjohnson1986]

Mine are grown and fly constantly.

View attachment 1140567

Wow mine are to big to get off the ground they have tried but usually just flap and run on their toes only my females which are smaller can get off the ground.

 

[Old Philosopher]

I culled my Muscovy down to 2 ducks and 1 drake. I had to clip one of the ducks, but the other never showed any desire to leave the drake.
I never clipped the drake. Probably a good thing. One day I witnessed a Cooper's Hawk attack one of the ducks. Poor guy never saw the drake coming. 4-foot-plus wingspan, flapping like a windmill, and threw all his weight into the hawk from behind. Most of the beating of the hawk was administered by the drake's wings. (I've taken a couple whacks myself, and they are effective weapons!)

That said, and veering wildly off topic, WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY DRAKE? He has one set of primary feathers that are all out of kilter. He's been through 1 molt and that didn't correct this feather malfunction. Can anybody guess what's up with this?