Muscovy crosses?

[SkyBlueJar]

I've read that Muscovy x Pekin is a popular meat hybrid.

But what about Muscovy drake x lightweight duck (such as a Magpie)? Would the 10# drake be too hard on a 5# female?

 

[txcarl1258]

Definitely too heavy for the smaller duck. My drake is pushing 15 lbs. I would worry about him hurting the smaller females.

 

[PoultryQueen101]

Im wandering too.... but the other way around. My magpie hen disappeared, but I had an amazing dream she would return... the dream has creepified my mom. I said there was a red shed on the pond, so she creepily told me that last night she saw a red shed she had emailed someone about....!

if we happen to get another magpie for our now light-weight-duck-lonely magpie drake, will the muscovy drake try to breed her and will he hurt her? He has 3 hens, but we are getting more hopefully. They are still 9 weeks young so..

 

[SkyBlueJar]

I weighed my Muscovy drake and he's only 10 lbs. Is that too much for a Magpie female?

 

[txcarl1258]

I would be careful. In my experience muscovy don't breed in the water like other duck species so all of his weight will be on her back.

 

[duckcrazy]

Magpies are considered light weight and Pekins heavy weight. You'd probably have better luck with breeding your Pekins to your Muscovy. Both the Magpie and Pekin are from the Mallard family, while the Muscovey is from a different family of ducks. So you could well end up with males that are mule ducks--sterile males.

But, as I read further, "Muscovey x Pekin hybrids = 'mule' male ducks that have an excellent reputation of providing males with abundant breast meat of excellent quality and flavor." The book did not state that the females would be sterile.

Peter Cherry and Trevor Morris "Domestic Duck Production, Science and Practice".

Pretty scientific hey!