Muscovies are an Acquired Taste (PICS LOTS)

[RoyalHillsLLC]

I bought some mixed colors from Country Hatchery in OK also.
I have some black/white and some all white. Mine show no aggression at all towards my young kids. of course, they don't pick them up either. Those spurs are so sharp I prefer letting me do any handling. The kids just feed them.

 

[Cottage Rose]

John actually shipping days olds is better when ducklings are started because they can live 3 days on their yolk sack. Plus the USPS only ships days olds or adults.
I ship days olds all the time and they actaully do very well.

Shipping hatching eggs really isn't that expensive
and most people are aware of the risks.
Did you get the PM I send you with info on packing shipping eggs?

Please check your PM's
I'm sending you another message.

If you want to get an idea on pricing check out my websites sales page.
I have all the sale prices listed and information on shipping.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Pretty ducks! I LOVE my 'scovies! Just beware though...the drakes may KILL each other. I cannot house my two adults together because "Duckzilla" will kill the younger ones. They may be okay for a little while, until breeding season...but I'd be very hesitant about keeping them together...

 

[Cottage Rose]

They do fight relentlessly if allowed to be together during the breeding reason. They even fight through fences.

 

[BeardedChick]

Great pictures, and they are such pretty things. What camera are you using?

 

[mizauntcathy'shenhouse]

Love the pictures. We use to have twenty or so...we had one mama that was constantly on a nest, even hatched a few chicks (the hens would lay in her nest). Loved them, very entertaining, but about a year ago coyotes and wild dogs wiped out our flock. I hope to get some more...those all came from a friend's parents.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Yes, mine do that too! I had to move my two different colors to pens at separate sides of my large coop so they didn't even SEE each other--otherwise, they will fret & pace, lose condition, bloody their faces/bills/carnucles/feet/rip out claws, etc on the wire...

 

[jmc]

So I've heard about the male fighting scovies!

Also heard that if the females are out of sight of males during breeding season, the agression between drakes is minimized. That is what I'm planning on. At this point anyway, one drake is an utter non-fighter; but we'll see what spring brings.

I like the 'aggression' input. I need to observe, etc. and act accordingly....

EDIT:
Each drake will have his own house soon, in a pen separate from all the hens (4 hens in 288 sq. ft.; 2 drakes in 144 sq. ft.). They ALL also have a common area (which I can keep one or other group out of if need be) that is 144 sq. ft.

 

[Cottage Rose]

I think some Muscovy drakes would fight during the breeding season even if there wasn't any ducks around.
They seem more interested in fighting than breeding sometimes.

 

[jmc]

About the aggression between drakes.

Should I, then, keep the drakes living solo all the time? Agression is happening now--and it ain't breeding season! One pursues the other off and on all day long. He just doesn't want him around him and the hens, which he thinks belong to himself, apparently.

The only solution is to separate them from the hens (which i am going to do as soon as I can build two small coops for each drake)

But it seems like a pretty bleak existence for each drake to have to live alone--forever; because, like I said, in the dead of New England winter, aggression is already going on.

What do you do/recommend?

I AM DEF. GOING TO HAVE DRAKES LIVE APART FROM HENS YEAR ROUND, EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN PERIODS WHEN I WANT THEM TO MATE.

BUT I HAD PLANNED TO KEEP THE DRAKES TOGETHER--WITH NO VIEW OF THE HENS ALLOWED THEM, AS I'VE HEARD THIS KEEPS DOWN FIGHTING.