Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe that is what is called Blue fawn. I have one very similar and when I asked it was said Blue fawn. Very pretty.

 

[Lil Drake40]

I keep hoping @learycow will drop by.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Judging by her Facebook page and everything hatching @learycow is pretty darn busy. Someday I'll get some of hers. Every time she has extras I have 50 babies running around.

 

[JanetMarie]

What does everyone do with their extras?

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Sell and eat. I didnt want to butcher any but when it gets down to a bunch of extra boys we do. But I try to sell first.

 

[Lil Drake40]

Main reason I don’t let my females just hatch anytime they want, I can
Not eat one of my muscovy’s so we practice birth control by taking eggs .

 

[yoopergirl1211]

It was hard at first but we have switched over to raising all of our own meat and I don't think we could go back to store bought now. But they have an amazing life before and we don't let anything go to waist.

 

[member 373180]

I thought I'd share an update on my guys. This is from about a week ago, when they first got free run in the garden. Wow, they are so lazy! I'm guessing they're getting close to 8 weeks old now.

I did have a question on choosing a drake to keep for the eventual garden duck trio. I have one guy who is super outgoing....eats the mealworms right out of my hand and tries to climb right into the container. He is obviously the most dominant of the group. Would he be the one to keep, or is he likely to get aggressive? Would you keep one of the less outgoing boys instead?

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Love this set up!
They are still pretty young, do you want to wait to see what they look like before deciding?
I would think he is more dominant, but that doesn't mean aggressive. If you want to go with the idea of natural selection, he might be the one to keep as the fittest survive. The one duck that was more attentive to me is now more stand off. She still comes to me, but I thought she would be a leader. She is still sweet though.
My drake actually is the most "vocal" and greets me first more than the girls. He sees me coming and goes directly to the shed door to wait for me to open it (It opens into their run). He also has started pecking at me - but I mostly ignore him. I walk right past him and only give him attention on my terms not his. He did peck the back of my leg yesterday and I turned to "peck" him back. He scudaddled.
He helps me to round up the girls when I need to. So, whichever one you choose will probably be the best one. My guy was the first one I could grab when I picked him out from his brothers as they all looked the same at a week old.

 

[member 373180]

It sounds like you have a lovely drake, I'm trying to spend as much time as possible with mine to hopefully end up with a friendly bunch like yours. I like the natural selection approach.

I'd love to keep them for longer but they're running out of space. I was only supposed to start with 6 or 8 and ended up with 14 (long story ). I won't go down to a trio yet, just to a more manageable number.