Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Quatie]

I very much like this thread! I love my muscovies, they're so quiet, friendly, don't eat so much, and aren't nearly as destructive as genuine ducks.

I only have 4 females, and I have a muscovy drake question: are the drakes as hard on they girls as real duck drakes?

I haven't had any problems with my drakes, but it can always depend on the drake. Some can be more aggressive. Right now my older females push my drakes around. I initial started with one drake and 4 females and they did well and were not over mated. I would have kept that drake, but he was too much of a problem with my mallard derived ducks.

 

[MeanCheek]

I haven't had any problems with my drakes, but it can always depend on the drake. Some can be more aggressive. Right now my older females push my drakes around. I initial started with one drake and 4 females and they did well and were not over mated. I would have kept that drake, but he was too much of a problem with my mallard derived ducks.

What was the problem? I have four little Welshie hens

 

[Quatie]

What was the problem? I have four little Welshie hens

My dominate female Pekin passed away and changed the flock dynamics. He constantly picked on one of my last Pekin girl. After a few months of it never settling down, we decided it was better without him. He was never bad to the muscovy females, but they didn't miss him. The flock was much happier with him gone.

 

[MeanCheek]

My dominate female Pekin passed away and changed the flock dynamics. He constantly picked on one of my last Pekin girl. After a few months of it never settling down, we decided it was better without him. He was never bad to the muscovy females, but they didn't miss him. The flock was much happier with him gone.

Do your 'scovy drakes ever breed your little runners or welshies? Would they be squished? At the fair at was looking at a big scovy drake (actually my muscovie's dad) when the 4H waterfowl superintendent came up, stared at him thoughtfully and said "He's squished a lot of chickens in his day..."

 

[Quatie]

Do your 'scovy drakes ever breed your little runners or welshies? Would they be squished? At the fair at was looking at a big scovy drake (actually my muscovie's dad) when the 4H waterfowl superintendent came up, stared at him thoughtfully and said "He's squished a lot of chickens in his day..."

They haven't shown any interest in the other the ducks at all. I also have a Saxony drake too who those are his ladies. The muscovy usually stick to their species if raised with their own. If they are raised with others, I have heard of issues. My muscovy females didn't have a drake for a bit, but even they prefer the muscovy drake. @Miss Lydia also has runners and muscovy and I have not heard of her having those issues either. But again, I think she also has runner drakes too.

 

[MeanCheek]

They haven't shown any interest in the other the ducks at all. I also have a Saxony drake too who those are his ladies. The muscovy usually stick to their species if raised with their own. If they are raised with others, I have heard of issues. My muscovy females didn't have a drake for a bit, but even they prefer the muscovy drake. @Miss Lydia also has runners and muscovy and I have not heard of her having those issues either. But again, I think she also has runner drakes too.

So you feel like scovies stick with scovies and other ducks stay with other ducks? My welshie drake is pretty hard on the ducks, muscovieis included. But my oldest scovy is broody, so she's been doing the chasing lately!!!
Thanks for answering all my bothersome questions. Also, your pictures are always so good!

 

[Quatie]

So you feel like scovies stick with scovies and other ducks stay with other ducks? My welshie drake is pretty hard on the ducks, muscovieis included. But my oldest scovy is broody, so she's been doing the chasing lately!!!
Thanks for answering all my bothersome questions. Also, your pictures are always so good!

They are not bothersome questions at all. You may find other people with different experiences. My Saxony drake did use to mate the muscovy when we didn't have a muscovy drake, but that doesn't happen anymore. And the girls really do prefer the muscovy drake. The muscovy drake has also told off my Saxony drake.

I have also found the smaller the breed the more energy they have and the more they breed. My Saxony boy will chase after a couple of my girls and they out run him. He stops and scolds them like an old man. My khaki drake was pretty bad. He needed like 12+ females, so we rehomed. He was too much. We have two new khaki drakes and worry about them being exactly the same. They are my bigger worry than my muscovy drakes.

 

[ChickenDuckLover]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your duck. I am guessing by white duck, you had Pekins. They are usually like 8-9 lbs. With a Pekin drake, they are quite large and can be too big for smaller females. Mixing breeds is otherwise not a problem. I have Saxony, welshies, khaki, Cayuga, Pekin, swedish, runners, Muscovy and they all get along fine.

Your biggest worry is going to be the chickens right now. Drakes have a penis which chickens are not designed for. Without a female drakes will mate chickens and can hurt or even kill chickens on accident.

thank you. It was odd; my daughter said the duck was fine this morning, moving about and acting normal and then she just died. Was running around outside normal just recently. Do you have an idea what could cause that? It was during the day all the bantams in the same barn are ok and the one I assume is a male was laying over her screaming. All the chickens were around in a circle watching the event. My daughter heard the duck from afar and went to the barn. The one I assume was a female was larger and the one that died.

 

[ChickenDuckLover]

I did

thank you. It was odd; my daughter said the duck was fine this morning, moving about and acting normal and then she just died. Was running around outside normal just recently. Do you have an idea what could cause that? It was during the day all the bantams in the same barn are ok and the one I assume is a male was laying over her screaming. All the chickens were around in a circle watching the event. My daughter heard the duck from afar and went to the barn. The one I assume was a female was larger and the one that died.

I did read about a bacteria/parasite, but I figure there would have been an ill period where it's apparent no? She was neck extended and feet behind like some people noted in threads.

 

[ruthhope]

So you feel like scovies stick with scovies and other ducks stay with other ducks? My welshie drake is pretty hard on the ducks, muscovieis included. But my oldest scovy is broody, so she's been doing the chasing lately!!!
Thanks for answering all my bothersome questions. Also, your pictures are always so good!

I only have drakes, but one muscovy drake is best buddy with one of my pekin drakes. The muscovy isn't currently getting along with my other muscovy drake. His buddy, the pekin, does get on with one of the other pekins -- they share a dogcrate at night in the coop but don't spend much time together during the day. So muscovy can befriend other ducks!

My son had two pekin females and a muscovy female. They were all close buddies -- one of the pekins and the muscovy preening each other for example -- confirming muscovy and pekins can be friends. However, my son had to rehome his pekin drake [to my all drake flock] because the pekin drake was making the muscovy female's life a misery. He would mount her but then peck at her aggressively and hurt her. We moved a juvenile pekin drake to my son's and he was not interested in the muscovy at all. But the three females continued to be close -- some mornings the muscovy female and one of the pekin females would be wedged in together in one nesting box [there are nesting boxes for all three females and an extra tray for the juvenile drake as he decided he needed a nesting box too!]

So my message is: it depends on the individual muscovy and the individual other ducks!!