Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Miss Lydia]

So I'm out setting up a pen for my older turkeys and chicks and I notice the one muscovy hen and her brood, but it looks a lot more than the 14-15 I saw yesterday. So I go to the duck pen and sure enough, she has kidnapped 9 of the first brood and is now trying to teach 24 ducklings who are doing great learning about edible goodies in the yard.

Thats alot of babies..

 

[refamat]

Quackers likes to bug Garry

you have to love the mentality of parrots!

 

[elsfieldchickens]

So I'm out setting up a pen for my older turkeys and chicks and I notice the one muscovy hen and her brood, but it looks a lot more than the 14-15 I saw yesterday. So I go to the duck pen and sure enough, she has kidnapped 9 of the first brood and is now trying to teach 24 ducklings who are doing great learning about edible goodies in the yard.

thats so cute thers so many

 

[Frank Phinster]

Can she keep all of them warm? I did not know that muscovies are kidnappers but I saw a documentary where they showed a goldeneye chasing away another one and taking over her offspring. The narrator said that ducks sometimes kidnap other ducks' offspring to create a "buffer" for her own ducklings. When a predator attacks, it will not automatically get one of hers but could snatch one of the "spare ducklings" instead.

Those ducklings are so adorable

 

[Going Quackers]

this hen has always been friendly and I'm able to approach them with offerings of chick feed and food for the hen. She'll even wag her tail when I bring things
But I've not made pets of them so they don't really allow touching. But they will eat out of the scoop when offered.

That's cute! i actually meant no one can get near ours, there locked up with their mama separately from the flock, were too cold for them to join, so the baby stealer cannot get near them, though she has been in the barn more than usual lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

you have to love the mentality of parrots!

I love that stand off.

 

[archil]

you have to love the mentality of parrots!

aww yess you do. I also have a lovebird who is quite a character. My 'teils are a bit easier to deal with but they're all still such a joy to have. The life of a bird owner is not an easy one.

 

[Frank Phinster]

Time for some more pictures from my flock

This one, Selma looks very much like a white muscovy.



The largest one, revealing more and more of his colouring.



Note how long his body stretches when he's on the water.



Fuzzball in comparison. Colouring is similar,so far the posture differs from the older and further developed sibling.



Faust, also very muscovy-like. The muscovy drake is about to tease them a little.



Flanders. She is already developing flight feathers on her wings. I also think that she has an eyestripe, whether this is due to mallard genes or usual for muscovies I don't know.

Now, would you say that they are hybrids or pure muscovies? I am still a little puzzled because most of them look like muscovies while one is different in size, shape and colouring. I have read that there is room for variation when muscovies and mallards hybridize and that they can either have more in common with one species or the other, but I am still not sure.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Time for some more pictures from my flock

This one, Selma looks very much like a white muscovy.



The largest one, revealing more and more of his colouring.



Note how long his body stretches when he's on the water.



Fuzzball in comparison. Colouring is similar,so far the posture differs from the older and further developed sibling.



Faust, also very muscovy-like. The muscovy drake is about to tease them a little.



Flanders. She is already developing flight feathers on her wings. I also think that she has an eyestripe, whether this is due to mallard genes or usual for muscovies I don't know.

Now, would you say that they are hybrids or pure muscovies? I am still a little puzzled because most of them look like muscovies while one is different in size, shape and colouring. I have read that there is room for variation when muscovies and mallards hybridize and that they can either have more in common with one species or the other, but I am still not sure.

Frank they all look like Muscovys to me. Do they all have the bean point on the tip of their bills I can see 2 of them do.

 

[Frank Phinster]

What do you mean by bean point? The black spot on the bean? Only the two have it.

I would also say that they are muscovies if it weren't for the one that sometimes stands so upright with the tail pointing down to the ground. Unfortunately he never does it when I am pointing a camera at him.