Muscovies in US - REGULATION CHANGES OPEN FOR COMMENTS - 10/1 update

[PamelaJaye]

Is it possible for the duck to get the band caught on something and hurt herself? My duck had a hole in one of her webs, she got one of her other claws caught in the hole, and she almost went wild trying to get loose. Luckily I was present at the time to untangle her.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

anything is possible. Our Buff Duck females lost their leg bands. Found the bands, still intact, laying around the pasture. Not sure how they got the bands off.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

A must read:

Proposed Regulations for Muscovy Ducks
Posted by John Metzer on Fri, Nov 05, 2010 @ 02:03 PM

http://blog.metzerfarms.com/blog/bi...ucks?source=Blog_Email_[Proposed+Regulations]

On March 1st of this year the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a final ruling that included several onerous provisions concerning the keeping of Muscovy ducks. As wild Muscovy are now found in three southern counties of Texas, they are now included in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and have the same regulations as wild Mallards. Unfortunately the USFWS was unaware of the commercial meat production and hobby breeding of Muscovy ducks. Once they heard from the hobbyists and hatcheries, they realized they had to revisit their rules. On October 1st they published a new set of rules.

It is interesting to me that because wild Muscovy have moved into three counties in Texas, they are now included in the List of Migratory Birds. And guess what? Muscovy do not migrate! I have nothing against Muscovy and I know they make excellent pets, meat birds and exhibition birds, but they are probably more of an invasive species than a migratory bird!

The part of the current rule that bothers me the most is that “You may not sell or distribute muscovy ducks as pets.” I don't understand how they can rule that you cannot have Muscovy as pets, but you can have Mallards as pets, or innumerable other animals as pets. I have been told by some muscovy owners that their Muscovy are the dearest pets they have ever had. Now this practice is “illegal”? There is no point in making a law that will be flagrently disregarded.

A second provision that concerns me is “You must physically mark all offspring hatched in captivity before they are 6 weeks of age in accordance with section 21.13(b), unless you hold them at a public zoological park or a public, scientific or educational institution.” The USFWS's accepted methods of marking are 1) clip off the back toe on the right foot, 2) pinion one wing, 3) leg band with a seamless band or 4) tattoo the bird. We have the same requirements for domestically hatched Mallard ducks and at Metzer Farms we always clip a back right toe immediately after they are removed from the hatcher to fulfill this requirement.

Unfortunately, very few domestically hatched Muscovy will be caught and marked correctly as most are hatched under their mother and it is difficult to catch these day-old Muscovy ducklings right after after hatching. But the pinioning or toe removal needs to be done immediately after hatching to lessen blood loss of the baby ducklings. So my guess is very few people will accomplish this requirement.

I encourage you to read the entire ruling and submit your own comments concerning it. You have until December 30th to submit your comments in the ruling. You must either submit a comment on their website or mail them a letter.

In the big picture, there are two things to consider with this process. The bad: they made an initial ruling without a clue on what was going on with Muscovy in the US. The good: they understood the resulting uproar, listened to the public, revised their rules and are doing a much better job of publicizing their new proposed rules. Now we just need to convince them to make a few more changes.

Metzer Farms does not hatch and ship Muscovy ducklings as they do not handle shipping well. Their adrenal system is not as developed as other ducks at hatching so must have water sooner after hatching than your typical Pekin, Khaki Campbell, etc. We experienced much higher mortality with Muscovy and so, for this reason, discontinued selling day-old Muscovy ducklings. We recommend people try to find their Muscovy locally.

Next week we will show you how to use artificial lights to maximize duck egg production during the fall and winter.​

 

[desertdarlene]

That's a good post. I happen to agree with him on many points.

 

[PamelaJaye]

me too. and i worry about banding a duck that has never had a band on her. will she hurt herself trying to take it off? what if it gets caught on something?

 

[Danaus29]

A seamless band that is small enough to stay on the leg at 6 or even 10 weeks of age will cut into the leg by the time the duck is 4 months old. I did some "banding" with zip ties on 2 month old ducklings once. By the time they were 4 months old I had to cut the ties off because they were too tight. I have informed Dr. Allen that the banding requirement does not give the duckling enough time to reach full or even half size. As you can see he didn't listen.

And yes, bands can get caught on stuff. I haven't seen it happen but it can. No a duck won't hurt itself trying to get a band off. They'll pick at it for a couple days then they get used to the band.

 

[Mac_]

Ya'll are rolling over way too easy!

These new rules are an assault on the basic right to farm and feed one's family.

Please refer back to post 57 for info on how to submit a comment letter.

I've been extremely busy and have not had time to work on this issue, but I got started today. I just got an e-mail from Sally Fallon (Weston A. Price; Farm and Ranch Freedom; Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund; etc.). She said that she would issue an Action Alert to the mailing list of these groups if I can rough out a draft and e-mail it to her the end of next week.

Your input would be greatly appreciated.

I think that much of the letter template at http://muscovyban.blogspot.com/ will still apply.

The FWS was coming around, then the proposed changes went through the in house review process, and they backslid a little. We've made a lot of headway since the first rules. Let's keep up the good fight.

Mac

 

[Danaus29]

They backslid a LOT. I have a letter from Dr. Allen where he stated currently held Muscovies would not need to be marked and now they are proposing all Muscovies should be marked. They are also saying no Muscovies should be kept as pets where previously they said you could continue to keep Muscovies you hold now. I feel like it doesn't matter how many protests we make they will still continue with the regs as they have currently proposed. I will write again because I do not believe we should have to mark our livestock or pets as the case may be. I also believe the govt should keep it's nose out of private animal ownership. I believe there should be stronger penalties for livestock dumpers regardless of species. I don't understand why this became literally a federal case. Non native species should be able to be removed if they are becoming a nuisance. They could have followed the same regs for removal as they currently have for Canadian Geese but without adding the Muscovy to the Migratory Bird Act. Nobody added cats to an invasive species list yet there are many groups that have feral cat removal programs.

They are doing what they do best, finding something simple and complicating it.

 

[Mac_]

We need to raise the issue of the cost of administering this proposed new law, too. I'm thinking that our reps in the house and senate may be somewhat receptive to this angle given the current deficit.

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Haven't had a chance to "comment" on the proposed changes yet but have been thinking it through as to what comments I want to make. Not allowing Scovies as "pets" and marking them get me the most. I've written Dr. Allen fm the get go on my concerns w/marking. I do agree we need to keep up the fight and get Scovies off the Migratory Bird Act & also get them designated as "domestic".... which they are. Muscovy don't migrate. They may spread into new territory but that is different than migrating.