Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[poult]

A fully mature Muscovey drake will develop a line of red "mini crauncles" (for lack of a better term) down the back of his neck and feathers sometimes become almost curly looking around it. I have more than 284 (at last count LOL) Muscovey they all live together forming their own groups and I have never in the last 16 years lost a duckling to a drake. Now that is not to say the drakes wont put the babes in their place from time to time, but that is the normal way of life!

No all my male birds tend not to be too mean to babies but I have had females brutally injure baby birds.

 

[joelharris]

A fully mature Muscovey drake will develop a line of red "mini crauncles" (for lack of a better term) down the back of his neck and feathers sometimes become almost curly looking around it. I have more than 284 (at last count LOL) Muscovey they all live together forming their own groups and I have never in the last 16 years lost a duckling to a drake. Now that is not to say the drakes wont put the babes in their place from time to time, but that is the normal way of life!

Wow! More than 284! How do you house them all or do they stay outside?

 

[Miss Lydia]

A fully mature Muscovey drake will develop a line of red "mini crauncles" (for lack of a better term) down the back of his neck and feathers sometimes become almost curly looking around it. I have more than 284 (at last count LOL) Muscovey they all live together forming their own groups and I have never in the last 16 years lost a duckling to a drake. Now that is not to say the drakes wont put the babes in their place from time to time, but that is the normal way of life!

I vote for separation too, I've lost a few ducklings to other flock members. maybe when there are 284 they have each other to pick on but I see it as being safe not sorry[heart broken]

 

[Miss Lydia]

All other birds that aren't mom keep away from your ducklings.

You feed a duck feed with these proteins for these ages:

0-2 weeks: 21% protein

3-9 weeks: 17% protein

Over 9 weeks: 14% protein

After first egg: 16% protein

This is what McMurray Hatchery does for ducks.

If you can't get duck feed and most of us can't unless we have it shipped and for me too costly we use chick starter crumbles be sure if you use chick starter you add Brewers yeast to their feed since chick starter doesn't have the amount of niacin ducklings need. When I have ducklings and they are with their mom and she has them out foraging I don't even add the Brewers yeast, when I have to have one inside I feed it with the chicks starter. The break down is good though on McMurray hatchery

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

I use

If you can't get duck feed and most of us can't unless we have it shipped and for me too costly we use chick starter crumbles be sure if you use chick starter you add Brewers yeast to their feed since chick starter doesn't have the amount of niacin ducklings need. When I have ducklings and they are with their mom and she has them out foraging I don't even add the Brewers yeast, when I have to have one inside I feed it with the chicks starter. The break down is good though on McMurray hatchery

I use turkey & game bird starter. It's higher in protein than the regular chicken starter. After 2 weeks I drop to a chicken ration to prevent angel wing. I start with finely ground feed, and work up to crumbles, then pellets. The nice thing about the turkey feed is you can find it at most feed stores, and in the case of our meat production birds, we can find it organic.

 

[BunnyStyles]

Opie now thinks my boot is the enemy.

chandler does the same to me omg, i hate it

 

[BunnyStyles]

hey guys, found lucky under my bed just chilling there and pooing everywhere ahahha but yeah, it was really hot today, i felt like an ice cream, man

 

[Miss Lydia]

I use
I use turkey & game bird starter. It's higher in protein than the regular chicken starter. After 2 weeks I drop to a chicken ration to prevent angel wing. I start with finely ground feed, and work up to crumbles, then pellets. The nice thing about the turkey feed is you can find it at most feed stores, and in the case of our meat production birds, we can find it organic.

I wish our feed store carried variety, but I get what I can. Good info though. I'm just thankful I was able to find non GMO feed.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

We

I wish our feed store carried variety, but I get what I can. Good info though. I'm just thankful I was able to find non GMO feed.

We are fortunate enough to have an organic feed producer about 5 miles away. They sell to the local agway, but can also do custom mixes. It's tough to find a good protein mix for ducks - I adjust mine at times by adding scratch grains (higher energy, lower protein), depending on the weather. (I increase the energy with decreasing temperatures). Right now I'm mixing 3 different feeds - game bird maintenance, scratch grains, +/- layer for my broody. I wish it was easier to find waterfowl specific rations. It would spare me the mix and match!

 

[gardengoats11]

Our muscovey hen brings them off the nest and runs with the other muscovies, other ducks, geese, turkeys, and chickens. There have been no problems with the ducklings. We provide unmedicated chick starter for the ducklings.