Giving a duck a place to belong

[Chihirolee3]

So yesterday, I decided to take a friend's Chocolate Muscovy male duck and add him to my flock. This duck was my friends' daughter's that she got in spring. She got 3 ducklings and it turned out she got 2 males and 1 female. Needless to say, this boy I got was in a losing battle. He is missing a lot of feathers and looks a bit worse for wear. However, apparently he is a very sweet duck, and a big pushover. My friend keeps the ducks and chickens separate, and she tried putting this duck in with the chickens. It wasn't the roosters that were a problem, but the hens that beat him up. Plus he's good with kids and very docile overall.

Now I have 2 females and 1 male chocolate muscovy. I figured, after a few weeks in a large crate, he will be acclimated and healthy enough to safely join my flock. He has to adjust to guinea fowl (as they annoy my ducks, but tolerates them) and my Rhode Island Red girls are pretty chill with my ducks. This male is bigger than my male and has more feathers on the top of his head. He also has a less vibrant beak than my male, so it will be easy to distinguish them. He also has that feather defect in both of his wings (some feathers stick straight out, and I will clip them for comfort when his wing feathers grow back. I have a female with the defect on one wing).
More than anything, I hope he will be happy and feel included in my flock. He has had a hard life being a third wheel, and in my flock there will be balance. His name is Hershey and I hope more than anything, everyone gets along.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So sweet of you to take him in. Muscovies have a very special place in my heart, They were and still are my very first ducks I started with back in 2004. Sounds to me like Hershey will be much loved at his new home I sure hope the girls grow to love him too.
Sounds like he has angel wing . You maybe able to fix that once he molts and just when his flight feathers start growing back in wrap to keep the wing in normal position a member did that with hers and it worked.
Please post a pic of all of them when you can.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Pics please! I only have muscovy and love them.
My drake acts big and bad, but as soon as those hens even look at him sideways he is screaming and running.
I think muscovy are quite misunderstood due to their looks and that their behavior is different than mallard derived ducks.
What breed are the two females?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hens like in Chickens? my Muscovy drake is terrified of my BIG BAD Blk Australorp.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Hens like in Chickens? my Muscovy drake is terrified of my BIG BAD Blk Australorp.

My duck hens? No. Not really. Actually, I think they want to investigate, but the chickens are all about being top of the pecking order. So, sometimes it's a run for your lives moment in the run if they are all intermingling.
Funny thing - the other day I took a nap and when I woke up, I noticed the chickens were on the duck side. I obviously didn't secure the dividing fence. But, when I went out they were getting along ok. However, when I opened up their fence, the chickens were trying to run by the ducks to get over there. You had to see it to crack up.

 

[Miss Lydia]

LOL they really are a hoot.
Yep My Blk Australorp is low on pecking order of the older hens but she can make the ducks run fast when she comes around she is the only chicken besides my rooster who can make the ducks leave if eating.

If my Drake is anywhere around the other chickens though boy he gives them what for.

 

[Chihirolee3]

I feel lucky my flock all get along. My Rhode island red girls are the youngest, having gotten them in February. My muscovys and guinea fowl I got around the same time last fall (the ducks are older), so they grew up together, divided by a window. By the time I put them out in the coop, I was confident in my birds enough to just put them together right away, and the chickens I properly integrated a few weeks ago as now they are bigger than my guineas. Outside of my own oddball guinea fowl (who I recently got a lavender female for him, as he was being bullied), my flock has been very good being mixed. The guineas are on the bottom, too stupid to know better, my chickens keep to themselves or hang out with the ducks, and my ducks only bother the guineas, when they get super noisy. My ducks will go the nearest one to them and give then a what's what to make them shut up. It's hilarious.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My flock all do very well together but breeding season can cause havoc Starts with the geese since their breeding season starts so early in the year. Gander thinks he is part of the secret service and needs to protect his mate from all possible danger [even when there isn't any] then a few months later my Muscovy drake comes into breeding season so the gander and drake butt heads quite often until the hormones in the gander begin waning and the drake is in full swing so now when I look outside it's Opie my drake chasing my gander and goose all over. The are scared of him now so no fighting. But they sure are getting a lot of exercise. lol Opie also likes to grab a chicken if she gets too close and usually has some tail feathers in his mouth. Then we have the Muscovy females that go broody and like to chase each other all over. It's really interesting all that goes on in a flock then we have the Runners and Buffs who just mind their own business never fight with each other and don't get involved in the flock dynamics of the geese and Muscovies. Then comes fall and peace and harmony once again is in the barn yard. Shew!!

 

[Chihirolee3]

Breeding season is going to be interesting. I am still learning a lot about my birds. I recently got a year old lavendar guinea female that is missing a bunch of feathers from mating season. I worry about how crazy things will get. I feel sorry for my male guinea who was a 5th wheel. The other makes bully him, and the poor guy hangs around me when I'm in the coop/run because he knows I'll chase the bullies away. This new girl will hopefully balance everything with the guineas.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It can be quite interesting. I hope your Guinea and new female pair up I hate when one gets bullied.