Muscovy housing question

[DuckQuilter]

Hi!
We have 12 Muscovy ducks. 2 are ducklings that we think are female but are not sure. They are 2 months old and no caruncles and the feet seem to be fairly in keeping with the size of them.
Currently we have a cage that is too small, for 8 ducks. We have a small cage(for one two at the most) that a duck that was hurt was put in.
We are building a bigger cage, and are planning to put the Mama duck and her duckings, the injured one(she is healed) and two other females from the other cage.
Would there be a issue with this, and why?
Thank you,
Emily

 

[nataliewt]

By cage do you mean pen or run? How big are your cages? I am having a hard time picturing your situation since "cage" makes me think of a space that is very small.

Good luck!
Natalie

 

[keeperofthehearth]

First off, what do you mean by cage? Muscovy are pretty territorial esp. during breeding season when they are broody and have/hatching ducklings. How many ducklings do you have right now and are you going to "grow them out" in the house or will you be selling them before long? How large is the area you are planning and is it only for night or 24/7? This info will help us answer you better.

I have a 7 X 10 duck shed that houses 4 broodies right now along w/ one drake who is out all day. I have one Scovy hen w/8 ducklings who likes to spend time in the shed w/other moms but it does cause some tension when the 4 broodies want to take a break and a very protective hen doesn't want them around her ducklings. I house the one momma duck w/ducklings in a separate house at night but do let them out to free range part of the day.... which is when they head into the duck shed.

Last year I didn't have the shed and the first duck house became very crowded. There were some injuries to some of the ducklings during the night and the hatch rate on later clutches went down w/the additional crowding. One way to add additional space for Scovies is to have some roosts avail. for the adults. They will roost up and allow the younger Scovies the floor space.