Muscovy Duck Feeding

[laughingdog]

I only feed at night now after chickens and pigeons go to coops, and before or between the scovy putting themselves to bed. they eat about a cup each, but males eating so much more and having seven currently, the females eat half maybe fourth of cup probly only, and put out so shallow so don't drop huge mouthfuls (like wide tray or cat litter pan). They eat everything they can stuff down throats. make sure they have access to some sand, pea gravel, cage bird grit, seeming what mine preferring. Mine love poison ivy ect for some reason, but get vinager in pail, activated charcoal from fish section, and natural clay soil (all aide digestion and neutralize toxins in the body), so maybe why not bothering them. best thing fed was plain unmedicated chick feed, as tried expensive duck feed but caused problems. they prefer and oddly maybe doing better from scratch feed at night alone than were with chick feed in morn when free range. the scratch i currently can get is wheat and crushed corn, but

other kind had before best scratch and commercial whole and natural feed i could find..

 

[laughingdog]

You'll never need a cat, guinea, goose, other more common kept mallard derived ducks, or possibly even chickens, again with scovy, unless you want whole year egg and/or better meat production, then breed hinnies and moulards (young will mostly be sterile). male egg layer mallard breed from production strain: Welsh harliquines/khaki campbells, or runners, of which WH come from KC which come from runners, runners second best bug duck, to scovy females, supposedly produce consistent hinnie layers year round (as laying not related to light like with chickens), some egg production lines of peking may work too for. Scovy meat lines especially, bred to peking mallard derived female especially from meat lines, produce twice as fast or more, twice as fast or more.

the meat and eggs maybe to rich and abundant for some, supposedly pekings and peking hybrids, as well as meat line scovy (especially french whites that can hardly walk), maybe not worth feed and breeding effort to produce, unless get in specialy market.

 

[Don P]

Help..... I got 6 Muscovy hens and Drake from a lady who has loads of other birds and ornamental ducks.

they were in her yard. I have 8 acres for them to roam and get bugs and pasture and trees and about 1/2 acre or more pond. they love it swim and splash. Didn't see them for 3 days.

Then they came up to the chicken coops by the house 150 years from the edge of the pond looking for grain.

So I took them some scratch and grit back down to the pond where they politely and in single file followed me and gobbled up the feed.

Well now every day they come up and have found their way into the chicken pens and eat the hens feed. Then waddle back down to the pond.

How do I break them of this? Stew? I like them but don't want to have to feed all of them my organic chicken feed, I thought they would do fine on their own in the pond. nd of course I have no idea where they lay their eggs, so I can't sell eggs and maybe if they have chicks who survive our freezing winter this year, I could sell some chicks or ducks. I don't need more than 5-6 on my pond.

I had a pair of Khakis years ago and they were fine and had 28 babies but then the eagle came and picked em all off 1 by one

 

[Onlyducks]

Don P: Now that the ducks have tasted the scratch and the grit, they're going to keep trying to get more. When I brought home 6 Muscovy ducks, they were free ranging at the breeder. I shut them in for a week so they would know where they lived now. After a week of being fed and kept in a nice pen with a nice house, they did not want to leave the pen. I had to shut them out of the pen in the daytime to get them to forage again. I have 5 acres, but I have still supplemented the free-range food and now that it's winter, I feed daily. Other than giving the ducks their own food, you probably cannot keep them from eating the chicken food. Perhaps you could find a cheaper food for the ducks and then make sure they can't get in with the chickens? Muscovies can be good breeders, in the spring. Mine have all stopped laying for now—they are seasonal layers. However, they do go broody frequently, so next spring you might have ducklings.

 

[Going Quackers]

Help..... I got 6 Muscovy hens and Drake from a lady who has loads of other birds and ornamental ducks.

they were in her yard. I have 8 acres for them to roam and get bugs and pasture and trees and about 1/2 acre or more pond. they love it swim and splash. Didn't see them for 3 days.

Then they came up to the chicken coops by the house 150 years from the edge of the pond looking for grain.

So I took them some scratch and grit back down to the pond where they politely and in single file followed me and gobbled up the feed.

Well now every day they come up and have found their way into the chicken pens and eat the hens feed. Then waddle back down to the pond.

How do I break them of this? Stew? I like them but don't want to have to feed all of them my organic chicken feed, I thought they would do fine on their own in the pond. nd of course I have no idea where they lay their eggs, so I can't sell eggs and maybe if they have chicks who survive our freezing winter this year, I could sell some chicks or ducks. I don't need more than 5-6 on my pond.

I had a pair of Khakis years ago and they were fine and had 28 babies but then the eagle came and picked em all off 1 by one

Can you not create an area for them by the pond for feed and shelter? being domestic they should have some supplemental feed, and frankly some form of protection from the weather and predators.

If you have an area for them to lay in that will help to find the eggs, my scovies are not laying anymore they are seasonal in their prime they breed like rabbits. I free range mine but all return to an area for them to lay and eat and be locked down for night for their protection.

 

[Miss Lydia]

DonP, domesticated ducks can't fly south for their food and shelter during harsh winter months they need food and shelter, That's one reason we don't see wild water fowl in winter in most of the country they have to migrate to find food and shelter, that is why it's up to us to make sure our flocks have shelter and food when there isn't any. Muscovy's are wonderful foragers but when there isn't anything to forage then they are dependent on us to provide for them. you lost your other ducks to eagles well these won't be around long either preds will find them or starvation will get them. A harsh reality but reality none the less.

 

[Don P]

Hmmm... I was told they would forage all year and eat algae and fish and bugs in the pond and grass like the Canadian Geese do and wouldn't need feed.

Yes they have a nice large barn they can go into right next to one end of the pond, much closer than way up the hill to the coops.

I put feed down there for them, but I guess they have figured whenever they get a taste for it, sometimes 2-3 x day they come up to the coops.

Man these ducks have some serious claws on the end of their cute web feet. Got to watch out for those. They got me the 1st time I tried to catch one and get it out of the covered run because they couldn't find their way out of the pop hole they came in. I have 8x13 chain link dog kennels for runs for the hens covered with corrugated PVC panels to give them dry area when its pouring outside 8-9 months of the year here.

No way to keep ducks out that will let hens in unless I built a couple fly in doors and trained my hens to use them, but once the ducks figure that out and get their wings back they may fly in too.

I can't fence them off down at the pond and the barn, so will just have to live with it. I may downsize to 3 hens and then live with that.

I took them scratch down by the barn trying to let them know that is their area but no luck. They may nest in the barn if they lay. And if they are cold, but our Khaki ducks never had a problem. When the pond froze over they would just sit on the edge. We seldom fed them once we released them into the pond. But we only had 2 adults we raised from 2 day olds and had them 4 years at least. And they made their nest out in the grass and trees and never used the barn.

The lady told me the Muscovy's were too big to be taken by an eagle?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hmmm... I was told they would forage all year and eat algae and fish and bugs in the pond and grass like the Canadian Geese do and wouldn't need feed.

Yes they have a nice large barn they can go into right next to one end of the pond, much closer than way up the hill to the coops.

I put feed down there for them, but I guess they have figured whenever they get a taste for it, sometimes 2-3 x day they come up to the coops.

Man these ducks have some serious claws on the end of their cute web feet. Got to watch out for those. They got me the 1st time I tried to catch one and get it out of the covered run because they couldn't find their way out of the pop hole they came in. I have 8x13 chain link dog kennels for runs for the hens covered with corrugated PVC panels to give them dry area when its pouring outside 8-9 months of the year here.

No way to keep ducks out that will let hens in unless I built a couple fly in doors and trained my hens to use them, but once the ducks figure that out and get their wings back they may fly in too.

I can't fence them off down at the pond and the barn, so will just have to live with it. I may downsize to 3 hens and then live with that.

I took them scratch down by the barn trying to let them know that is their area but no luck. They may nest in the barn if they lay. And if they are cold, but our Khaki ducks never had a problem. When the pond froze over they would just sit on the edge. We seldom fed them once we released them into the pond. But we only had 2 adults we raised from 2 day olds and had them 4 years at least. And they made their nest out in the grass and trees and never used the barn.

The lady told me the Muscovy's were too big to be taken by an eagle?

Thanks for the advice.

A eagle may not be able to carry a large drake off to eat but they will kill and eat it without any problems, and a duck at only weighing in at 4-6 lbs would be easy for a large eagle to carry off. Muscovy's are awesome ducks, I'd say if they are treking all the way to the chicken coop they must be hungry. I live in mid south and our Canada's have left for warmer areas now.

 

[Doctor Pammie]

Just a note regarding predators . . .

This winter, which was exceptionally cold for our part of Virginia, we started losing birds in January. No trace of struggle, no pile of feathers, just gone. I set traps thinking somehow a varmint (raccoon, skunk, possum) was getting in and hauling them off. I caught 3 feral cats and then was told by my animal control to stop trapping them because they probably belonged to someone. (I live on a farm, but we have 10 houses on our street, all with 5+ acres. No collars, no chips . . . no qualms about trapping them. Besides the traps were immediately next to our electric net fencing, so they had to be hunting our birds.) This was when we had a bunch of young chickens (4 months) and a small flock of Muscovies (9 months) that all preferred to roost outside. We hadn't had any problems before this. Finally, we lost two Muscovies at night on two consecutive nights. We finally had enough clues from the way they were killed to figure out that it was a Great Horned Owl. In short measure, we taught (insisted!) ALL our birds to be locked in at night and haven't lost one since. The ducks were too big to be carried away, but they were not too big to be attacked. I would imagine the same is true for an eagle, as another poster commented. I share my story in the hopes that it helps save someone else the sadness we went through trying to solve our mystery.

 

[AnimalLover01]

Can week old Muscovy ducklings eat fishing worms or even just grass or dandelion leaves???