Muscovies, free ranging, min. requirements

[Hoover67]

I am hoping to get either a pair or trio of Muscovies in the near future. I used to let my chickens free range in my converted tennis court. It has 9 fruit trees, lots of plants and bushes. It has 20' privacy screen walls. There was a lot of cover for the chickens. Anyway, a hawk got two of my chickens so I put them in a permanent run.

I just did not want them to get eaten. I do let them out some now in the evening while I am out there. Do you think the Muscovies will be just as tasty to the hawk? Are they large enough that a hawk will leave them alone? If not, what would be the minimum square foot of run space per Muscovy? I could not find an exact number like I did for the Chickens. I have 10+square feet per chicken. For their housing, I plan on building a three sided shelter for them. They are pretty protected from wind by the privacy screen too. Any suggestions/comments?

Thanks.

 

[Slightly Cracked]

I can't help you on min, sq. ft. But I can tell you that our muscovies free range with out any trouble from the hawks. We have NUMEROUS hawks and they have yet to take off with one of our scovies. For one thing adult muscovies are a lot heavier than a chicken. Our male muscoveies are HUGE!! Like the size of small geese!!

And thier wing span is huge and when they don't want to be picked up they will beat you with them. Then, muscovies have HUGE claws on their feet that they can use to defend themselves.

Ours can range over ALL of our property including our pond but they choose to hang out in the yard and surrounding area. About 5 acres. They just eat bugs and play in theier pools and never cause much trouble.

 

[conny63malies]

If it helps . We had a huge owl in the neighborhood until it got hurt and send to the wildlife sanctuary . I never lost a duck so far. But you could plant some bushes or have some run in shelters for pece of mind.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Anything that isn't enclosed at night will eventually get eaten.

 

[Hoover67]

Thanks. The ducks are somewhat protected...They will be inside a 20' privacy netting fence with welded wire (cattle fencing) around the outside which is in an 8' wood privacy fence. My chickens are in a hardware run inside the garden (old tennis court). I had hoped the Muscovies would be able to run the 120' by 60' garden. If I do need to pen them up then I will need to build a run in addition to a 3-sided shelter for them. Will they be safe free-ranging during the day. The chickens were not but they were only about 12 -16 weeks at the time the hawk started feasting on them. Like I said earlier, I have 9 fruit trees, 14 blueberry bushes, raspberries, peonies.....tons of bushes, flowers and trees.

Thanks.

 

[Shared Acres]

We've had Muscovies for a couple of months. The adults have been fine.

We had some babies and they were fine for awhile, but then within 2 days all 3 dissappeared.