Muscovy duckling has scoliosis and keeps getting stuck on his back in the coupe. He’s 7 weeks old. I feel so bad and need advice. 😢

[AmyA248]

At 7 weeks he shouldn't really be unsupervised around a pond, or around any drakes, he could do serious harm to it.
Do you even know that this is a male? Because if female, it needs keeping away from mature drakes until it is sexually matured.

Especially being that this baby is handicapped, personally I'd separate him with a couple friends of the same age or close to it.

Hi!
That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to have my husband build a separate enclosure for Franklin and his 2 bonded siblings.
I actually do not know for sure that Franklin is a male, my neighbor who also raises ducks told me, but I find it impossible to tell until they mature.
Franklin is definitely supervised during swim time, and we built a special ramp for him.
I completely agree that they need to be separated. And we are going to get on it right away!
Thank you so much!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Omg! Really?
He’s so sweet and it breaks my heart!
I’ve been told not to have him live inside and wear a diaper, but he is definitely being picked on. I know it may make him depressed to be alone with out his siblings, but I honestly don’t know what else to do.
Even though we have cameras we can’t watch them 24/7.
Do you think he will be ok inside? Someone is always home..

Humans can't replace the companionship of their own kind

I'd suggest that he be separated with a friend of the same age. He can still live outside, but he'll be safer. You definitely don't want the other ducks ganging up on him. A duck the same age, who is also low in the hierarchy, in a separate pen seems the way to go. But that's just my thoughts.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hi!
That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to have my husband build a separate enclosure for Franklin and his 2 bonded siblings.
I actually do not know for sure that Franklin is a male, my neighbor who also raises ducks told me, but I find it impossible to tell until they mature.
Franklin is definitely supervised during swim time, and we built a special ramp for him.
I completely agree that they need to be separated. And we are going to get on it right away!
Thank you so much!

Sounds like a good plan!
Please do keep us updated

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Omg! Really?
He’s so sweet and it breaks my heart!
I’ve been told not to have him live inside and wear a diaper, but he is definitely being picked on. I know it may make him depressed to be alone with out his siblings, but I honestly don’t know what else to do.
Even though we have cameras we can’t watch them 24/7.
Do you think he will be ok inside? Someone is always home..

You could try to keep him inside temporarily until he gets bigger and more confident. Also, once his wings grow in, he may be able to do better outside because he’ll have more control over his movement.

 

[AmyA248]

Humans can't replace the companionship of their own kind

I'd suggest that he be separated with a friend of the same age. He can still live outside, but he'll be safer. You definitely don't want the other ducks ganging up on him. A duck the same age, who is also low in the hierarchy, in a separate pen seems the way to go. But that's just my thoughts.

Hi!
We ordered a separate coupe from Amazon and put Franklin or “Fran” and his bonded siblings in the new coupe. He is MUCH happier and doesn’t have to hide anymore. It was literally breaking my heart to see him bullied and I actually had to put the “bullies” in our shed after I caught Franklin being mounted by our drake! He actually was bleeding because Muscovy’s have such sharp claws! I actually had the camera on my phone positioned on my desk all day so I could watch him and send my daughter outside if he was being picked on. It became a 24/7 watch and was extremely scary. Before the new coupe came we had to separate them at any means possible.

Thank you so very much for your advice! The new coupe has solved the problem and all is well for now. Unfortunately, we currently have 3 drakes. The dominant one is the father of the 2 others and they are fighting for position and the younger 2 have just reached sexual maturity and have begun to mount our females. I know it’s natural, but it just appears so aggressive. We have 3 females for each drake as we were told, but are the drakes always going to be this aggressive?
We are still new to this, we started our flock last June with our male and female, the rest are their offspring.

Kindly,
Amy

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes they are pretty aggressive in mating. All the years I have had Muscovy it bothers me to see my drake go after one of his females. But that is the way they were made. Just watch out that the drakes don't abuse them to the point their feathers are gone and their skin is open and bleeding then the drakes will have to be separated from the females.

 

[AmyA248]

Yes they are pretty aggressive in mating. All the years I have had Muscovy it bothers me to see my drake go after one of his females. But that is the way they were made. Just watch out that the drakes don't abuse them to the point their feathers are gone and their skin is open and bleeding then the drakes will have to be separated from the females.

Thank you so much Miss Lydia!
We did purchase another coupe large enough for Franklin and his 2 siblings that could be made into 2 separate enclosures for the drakes if needed.
Our females are so tired of being mounted that they sit on the roof all day or until they see that we have the drakes put away.
At that time they will come down to forage and swim.
And yes, I have noticed some blood on their backs which upsets me terribly!
Our drakes are huge and do not fly, but our females can fly and it scares me that a hawk will grab them when they are on the roof of our house!
I never believed in clipping their wings because it’s the only way that they can get away from the drakes, and they always come in at dusk. But the other night they were nowhere to be found and stayed out all night, I was scared to death! Happily they returned in the morning, but staying out all night leaves them so susceptible to owls, foxes, etc. I’m honestly don’t know what to do.
Do you clip your ducks wings?

Have a blessed day!
Amy

 

[Miss Lydia]

I do clip my female Muscovy wing just one. We are surrounded by woods and a mt river below I def. Don’t want to lose one if I can prevent it. I only keep one Muscovy drake now and don’t let my females brood when ever they want. Many years I had 4 drakes and it was just too much. So as long as I have this drake and he’s 12 yrs old I’ll not have another Muscovy drake.
If your girls are already showing wear and tear I’d separate the drakes from them.