Muscovies... to pen or not to pen at first

scootj79

Chirping
5 Years
Apr 29, 2014
75
4
64
Roscommon, MI
I usually get ducklings but going to get some adults this time so wondering from others on if you pen yours up for a while like I do peafowl or guineas then let freerange or do they stick around from the start? Most ducks you get cant fly so no worries on them waddling off but with female scovies able to fly I wonder. Thanks
 
I raised most of mine from ducklings so this didn't come up. I later bought a couple of fully feathered juveniles and I did pen them for about a week to be sure they knew where home is.

Although they can and do fly, muscovies are a very heavy bird who can't fly as easily or fly the distances that wild ducks can. And, when winds aren't favorable they usually don't bother at all. Only if they have a good head wind will they take to the air. My ducks do like to do that about once a day and they'll do a large circle over our property, come in to land and they're about done exercising their flying muscles for the day - the rest of the time they just waddle where they need to go. The drakes are twice as big as the ducks and they can't even manage that most of the time.

Mine have the freedom to leave any time they want to but they know when they have it good so they stick around. Sometimes they will fly down to our pond to bathe and swim, but always make sure to fly (or waddle) back to the coop when they get hungry. We have a 20' hedgerow that borders one side of our property. One time - more than a year ago - one of the ducks accidentally came down on the wrong side of the hedge. She hung out on the pond over there with wild ducks and Canada geese for a day but I couldn't convince her to come home because she just swam out in the middle of the pond. The next day she was back - I guess when she took to the air again she got her bearings and flew home and has never left since
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Alrighty thanks. Yeah i never got any older Muscovies before and been out of them for a but now. Decided to get A few to work on mosquito larvae this year. Will make a good addition to reduce unwanted bugs with the guineas and such.
 

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