got a muscovy duckling! a few questions

[sydney13]

yesterday morning i woke up and started thinking about how great it would to have a duck to live with my goose. i was thinking muscovy would be a good breed for me because of the temperament and noise level. then that night i noticed a farm that was giving away extra muscovy ducklings so of coarse i took one home

the duckling is adorable and so tiny

so is their any differences between raising ducklings then raising goslings? i know that muscovys are good flyers but if i don't clip the wings do you think she will try to roost in the trees or fly out of my yard? will she sleep on the roost with my chickens or on the floor with my goose? when will my duck become full grown? we are thinking of building a automatic door opener soon but im worried that the duck might not go in the coop at night? we have a really big fenced in run for the birds that they stay in when im gone but as im home they free range. do you think my duck will go in through the run and into the coop at night? and is it safe for them to roost in the trees at night?

 

[bemba]

Congrats on your new baby!!! Raising the duckling is about the same as a gosling, exept ducklings eat less grass and more bugs LOL. If the duckling is raised there it will have a good feel for the place and by the time it can fly it probably wont go anywhere, BUT when they first fledge they can easily get lost, testing out their wings, I don't think it will roost in your trees, prob just in the coop with the others. Depends who the duck bonds with more as to where it will sleep. I would'nt let your duck sleep in the trees at night, but thats a long way off yet, muscovies are very personable ducks and tame very easily, you will find that as it grows it will just follow you everywhere being the only one, just be careful with your chickens and goose, never leave the duckling with them unattended as it may get attacked. Anyway have fun with your new duck ! PS what colour is it?

 

[sydney13]

Quote:
its yellow with a brown back and head. im thinking it might be half blue swedish because they had a blue swedish drake and it looks like those ducklings in pictures. i know for sure that its half white muscovy though.

 

[bemba]

Ah, well time will tell, you should post some pics.

 

[sydney13]

Quote:
as usual ive lost my camera right when i really need it

when i find it again i will post some pics

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Not to burst your bubble but to make you aware. There are new Federal laws on Muscovies here in the states. You should be at least aware of the law as it pertains to your duck and you as its owner. You cannot let it fly around. You need to have it identified in one of 4 ways. It is actually against the law to get a Muscovy for a pet now, so you are breaking the new law with your duckling. The people you got it from should not have let you have a Muscovy for a pet (cross breed or not), only as a meat bird can they be sold. They probably tried getting around that by giving it away, that is also covered in the new law. Right now the law is not being enforced, but it will be. Check out the thread about the Muscovy law on this forum in the Law and Ordinance section. Be Aware.

That said, if you decide to keep the duck anyway, clip one wing each time it molts, so you don't get in trouble when it flys off. A Muscovy duck (hen) will. Muscovyies are tree ducks and they will roost high. Muscovies are not true ducks, they are Muscovies, a separate species which is closer to geese than duck.

I don't know anything about geese but they should get along. On the other hand, I have Muscovies and when ducklings hatch I put the drake and other ducks that are not sitting eggs in with the chickens and that works out fine. It will just do what the chickens do about the automatic door or the poop door.

How can you know it is a girl. You did not give the age but said it was so tiny, so I wonder. I breed them and can't tell until they are about 6 weeks old and sometimes not till later. A Muscovy male will have bigger feet than a female, but you have nothing to compare it too. If you have a male, when it is a drake it will try to mate your hens and will probably kill them in doing so. So be careful as it gets older.

 

[Kelebek]

Is this law only in Texas?

I have muscoveys - have since October - and this is the first I have heard of them roosting, flying, or the law. My muscovey have never flown anywhere - maybe I just have weird birds - LOL!

My yellow and black ducklings moulted their baby feathers to be a beautiful white and black - so yours very well might turn white in about a month

As to clipping wings - is there a "blood feather" that I should be careful of?

 

[pascopol]

Some government idiot in Fla started procecution pf Muscovey ducks making a career out of it, and this sick mantra spread to other states.

Another exemple of arrogance, stupidity and irresponsibility of our corrupt government.


Muscovey ducks are harmless, noisless creatures, they eat lots of bugs, they have been part of our eco system for very long time, they do not cause global warming more than any other species (Never heard from AlGore bad things about Muscovies so far).
Muscovies have a right to live just like other ducks, and people have right to own them.

Muscovy ducks are not PITBULLS or exotic snakes or piranhas for crying out loud.

I do not buy their crap "Muscovies are not native to Fl " or "Muscovies take living space from other species" Kind of Nazi argument isn't it?

90% of animal world including chickens, dogs, cats and humans are not "native" to Florida, so what ????

What a bunch of crap, people should unite and stand up against government tyrrany.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Thought they put a hold on that new law pertaining to privately owned muscovies? There was a post on here somewhere.................

 

[jerseygirl1]

Here it is, though I have to say I have not read it all the way through,but I know I am not giving up my ducks

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=304055&p=76