Muscovy colors

[LilyD]

Okay so we had a poultry swap yesterday and I have always wanted to have Muscovy Ducks. I had to work and my sister went for me and brought home two juveniles a drake and a duck and two babies, but I can't figure out what color they would be. Can anyone help?







I didn't get pictures of the two babies yet but he says they are a yellow color. I will try and get pictures when this afternoon when I go out to meet them for the first time. Another question is there any way to tell which will be the drake and which will be the duck in youngsters? Would like to figure out which is which.

 

[Going Quackers]

How fun! hard to tell in the pics, is that a brown or a black feathering? One thing with scovies is they change and a lot, pretty much up to the first year or slightly beyond. I have a black drake that has turned all chocolate lol as he hit 2yrs old.

As for sexing, boys outsize the girls in every way, feet, legs, etc...

here my avatar shot actually, two of my June babies, ducklet in front, drakelet in back, many times you can see a rather feminine touch to the face/head too.. but not always, but size definitely shows up.

 

[LilyD]

I haven't actually seen them myself yet so all I have to go by is the pictures. They are at my sisters house. I had to work 12 hour shifts Friday Saturday and Sunday and our poultry swap was yesterday 10am to 2pm. I really wanted ducks and she wanted to get some new chickens so she went for me and ended up coming back with 6 chickens two juvi muscovy ducks and two baby muscovy and a breeding pair of Black East Indies lol. I think I have created a monster. I am headed over to her house after I do my morning chores so I will be able to tell you better then.

Are the drakes bigger from the start or do they just grow faster and get bigger quicker? I think that the babies aren't very old. The mom was in the pen with them. She had hatched out like 40 babies and my niece picked out two that she thought were cute. They told me they are yellow so I am thinking whites but the pictures wouldn't upload last night so I am totally in the dark about them.

 

[Going Quackers]

I haven't actually seen them myself yet so all I have to go by is the pictures. They are at my sisters house. I had to work 12 hour shifts Friday Saturday and Sunday and our poultry swap was yesterday 10am to 2pm. I really wanted ducks and she wanted to get some new chickens so she went for me and ended up coming back with 6 chickens two juvi muscovy ducks and two baby muscovy and a breeding pair of Black East Indies lol. I think I have created a monster. I am headed over to her house after I do my morning chores so I will be able to tell you better then.

Are the drakes bigger from the start or do they just grow faster and get bigger quicker? I think that the babies aren't very old. The mom was in the pen with them. She had hatched out like 40 babies and my niece picked out two that she thought were cute. They told me they are yellow so I am thinking whites but the pictures wouldn't upload last night so I am totally in the dark about them.

Hard at work, gotcha! well, yes at first there all pretty small, harder to tell then by about 3-4 wks they start to separate off, drakes appear to be on stuck on grow, ducks slow down, for sure by 6wks or so you will see differences in sizing if there are differing sexes.

My march clutch, you can see the duck, she's the first one to the left, the rest are all drakes.

 

[LilyD]

Okay got more pictures. They are all playing outside now and they are all amazing.

The two babies one has a pink beak the other has a black and pink one.


Hard to see but this little guy has black all over it's new baby tail. Not sure of names yet they need to grow up a bit.

Black feathers on the tail.

These are Patchy and Shelly the two Muscovy ducks. They look much different in the daylight almost green. and the two black ones are Black East Indies ducks Mila and Hermes.

They are very friendly already.



Next question. How old do you think they are? They still look like they are finishing moulting and neither really has their carunkle in yet. What age to they start breeding?

 

[keeperofthehearth]

Okay got more pictures. They are all playing outside now and they are all amazing.

The two babies one has a pink beak the other has a black and pink one.


Hard to see but this little guy has black all over it's new baby tail. Not sure of names yet they need to grow up a bit.

Black feathers on the tail.

These are Patchy and Shelly the two Muscovy ducks. They look much different in the daylight almost green. and the two black ones are Black East Indies ducks Mila and Hermes.

They are very friendly already.



Next question. How old do you think they are? They still look like they are finishing moulting and neither really has their carunkle in yet. What age to they start breeding?

The baby w/black on it's tail is a black barred. Barred babies always have the dark slate/grey bills w/color they will be on the tail. The two juviniles are both black barred & pretty young yet. Dosen't look like their flight feathers are fully in yet so it will be awhile. The drakes are generally ready to breed at about 4mo or so but the hens run later ...about 6mo. Once they molt out of their juvinile feathering they will loose alot of the barring but it looks like they may carry the white head gene & some "pieing" so some of that barring will redevelop or at least be more noticable with each adult molt...at least that has been my experience w/ barred,whitehead,pied Scovies.

 

[muskuslove]

They are beautiful! Your sister has done well! Thumps up!

 

[learycow]

Agreed. The two feathered ones are black barred. They will only stay barred until they feather into their adult feathers. Then the barring goes away for the most part. Generally they will be solid black (possibly with some white) with barring only showing up on the belly area.

The duckling with the dark bill looks like a black barred. It could be a different color but definitely barred.
The other duckling looks like it will be a white muscovy.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are beautiful! Your sister has done well! Thumps up!

X2!!!

 

[LilyD]

Cool they are doing amazing. We buried the pool in the ground so it's not a huge hop for them to get in and out (Mainly for the BEI ducks ) and they have gotten used to living in a pen with chickens, sheep and goats. They were timid at first but now they will come right up when they want to be fed and are getting very social. She definitely picked well. I will take more pictures as they start to feather out more into their adult feathers. They are already possessive of their laying box and will lay in there together and the drake will chase off the chickens if they come near the nest. Hopefully this is a good sign that they are getting ready to start laying or breeding soon. Can't wait.