More Muscovey Questions!

katlovesaandw

Songster
11 Years
Apr 1, 2008
126
2
133
Oregon
Ok, bear with me!
We are new to the duck world. Before this we were just chicken people!

I posted earlier today about our 2 new muscoveys, which we pretty much have determined are boys.

1)Are ducks like chickens in that we have only hens and one hen basically acted male and found a friend that she acted like a rooster too.
We saw the slightly larger duck(angel wing) jump on the other one and go to town.

I know chickens will do this, but had no clue with ducks...... will a male ride another male? No jokes, etc. please!

2)Hubby was checking out pics of Muscoveys and we found what was labeled as pics of a 1 yr old/still immature it said. If that is the case..... ours are at least 12 months old if not older.
I read on a post here, that they should start laying 6-7 months old?
So, if the slightly smaller one ends up being a female... she should start laying in a month or so after they settle in?

If we get no eggs, then I am totally assuming we have 2 males. I will be back tomorrow with better age for them.
 
If you have pictures of male and female Muscovies you can see it's very easy to tell them apart. The males are much larger and have much more of the flesh on their faces. I have Muscovies and by the age yours are you can deff. tell the difference. The only reason my drakes ride another one if to start a fight. but I have seen the girls ride each other in the pool and I think that is a dominance thing.. My ducks started laying around 8 months of age. if you only have the 2 ducks and 1 is just slightly smaller then you might have 2 drakes, and from all I have heard yes they will try to mate with each other. you need to get some girls at least 3-4 for each drake. and then the dominant one will still want them all. Thats the way it is here anyway. Can you post pictures?
 
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I saw your pictures in earlier posts. You have 2 adult Males. You need to get them 4 females. They look big and healthy. The angel wing is permanent at this stage and will not affect them. Many on here think it is from to high a protein and that the wings grow to fast. But I find it genetic. I bought 2 original ducks with angel wing and it pops up in ducklings from their line from time to time. My ducklings get greens from day 2, once they are allowed by their mothers to go to the feed dishes.

Well, now to find the boys some females. Muscovies come under the new migratory laws and can be kept only for show (yours do not qualify because of the Angelwing) for meat or eggs. They cannot be kept as pets. I don't know what the latest ruling is. But they do have to be identified in 1 of 4 different ways. Check out the Duck sticky for the Migratory laws. There was supposed to be a final ruling after the first of the year on how they were to be identified.
 
Kat, I am not sure where in Oregon you are but there is a guy up here that has a LOT of birds and he listed them again recently. I am planning to go check out a few hens he has that may be Silvers. He is asking $20/ea for the hens but if you'd like some nice colored girls i would say the price is fair. He is in the Maple Valley/Renton area up here. I am a little worried the girls I am considering may be related to mine, he bought out a friends flock last year, including some birds we had swapped, I should be able to tell when I go see em though.
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The mounting is most likely a dominance thing, I rescued some Muscovy boys a few months back and one of them immediately did the same thing to my big male goose, he just felt like he had to show everyone he was boss. of course he got his butt locked back in the pen, lol.

As far as aging, some Muscovies will develop their caruncles faster that others, it depends a lot on how they were bred and also if they were raised indoors or outside. less sunlight=less caruncles. Your boys looked around 1yr old, definitely not fully physically mature yet.
 
Thanks guys!

We will see on the getting girls!LOL
We are in Portland bleenie and I have seen a few on CL. $20-25 seems to be about the average for around here.
We have several non-laying chickens that we are considering getting rid of. They were to be replaced with EE's but maybe, just maybe.... they will get replaced with some Muscovey girls!
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I kinda assumed it was a dominance thing like the chickens we had. Our Australorp was a capital B, very dominant but not head chicken so I think she took our her frustrations and dominance on our poor Cochin who was the lowest on the chicken totem pole.

I assume with the better light and care, food,etc. that our boys will get better masks with more color.
 
And do we have to get 2 hens per drake? Or will 1 hen per drake do?

We have to have permits in city of Portland for chickens/ducks. I am at the edge of my limit allowed/permitted for with these boys. I just made a list of our chickens in terms of stay or go. And I have 2-4 that can/will leave if I can get hubby to agree, which he should since I spared his favorite hen....despite that she has female issues and hasnt laid in almost 2 yrs.
If we get rid of all 4, we can get 4 hens. But...... we may only have room for 2. Will that be an issue amongst our bachelors?


AND..... if we add hens to this mix, will our best bud bachelors turn aka fight each other for the affection of a female?

Right now, these guys are pets. No way can I eat them. But, if anyone were to come around asking..... they are for meat. I was hoping for eggs but since these are 99% boys.... that isnt happening!LOL But, if I get hens..... which would create eggs..... then all would be ok, concerning what you mentioned about the migratory bird law-right?
 
Age!

Previous owner said she got them in late Aug. and told hubby what county(not State as I prev. though) fair. I googled it and it was held 17th-21st of Aug. 2010
Said they were able to be held in her hand and were fuzzy, not feathers.
So, they were baby ducks.
That puts them at about 6 months old within the next 2 weeks.
HOLY COW, those are big ducks for 6 months!

They are done growing right? Will just fill out, grow their face mask, etc? And I hope rather than fill out, they slim down the fat due to past living conditions and add muscle instead.
 

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