Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Miss Lydia]

We
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!

Yes you are, all feed is shipped in and I have to travel around trip about 50 miles to get the non GMO but so worth it. especially the whole corn. I do mix the layer with cracked corn then add my own split peas ,garlic and flax seed to the mix before fermenting.
I looked at your website and your flock is gorgeous.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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.

you need to go to the goose thread and show some pics of your geese. I for one would love to see them.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Yes you are, all feed is shipped in and I have to travel around trip about 50 miles to get the non GMO but so worth it. especially the whole corn. I do mix the layer with cracked corn then add my own split peas ,garlic and flax seed to the mix before fermenting.
I looked at your website and your flock is gorgeous.

The better quality feed really makes a difference, and my daughter sells our meat ducks faster than I can hatch and grow them!
We are just running a skeleton crew of overwintering breeders right now, and she's already getting calls for duck from previous and new customers. I think the ducklings really grow out better on the all natural feed!

 

[Miss Lydia]

The better quality feed really makes a difference, and my daughter sells our meat ducks faster than I can hatch and grow them!
We are just running a skeleton crew of overwintering breeders right now, and she's already getting calls for duck from previous and new customers. I think the ducklings really grow out better on the all natural feed!

Do you all do your own processing too or have someone do that for you?

 

[metalgal72]

Are your scovies friendly? What would you do if you wanted a trio but didn't want any babies?

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Do you all do your own processing too or have someone do that for you?

We have been doing our own, but it's just too much. Market weight ducklings have those nightmare half grown in feathers that are downright tedious to remove. Fortunately, the butcher a friend of mine uses for her birds just set up shop about 15 minutes away.
Plus, my daughter is lining up restaurant sales for my quail, which, although easy to process, have to go to a state certified processor for commercial sales. She will just have to adjust her pricing for shipping them out, but she will still be undercutting the store prices for non organic meat downstate.
Apparently a lot of local butchers won't do waterfowl because they are "greasy". I don't know what those birds are eating to be greasy when processed, but we've never had that issue!! Most people where I am raise organic chicken and turkey, but not ducks and geese, so we are in a niche that most butchers don't usually get...

 

[poult]

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

When I got my drakes they were about 6 weeks old so I fed them 16% layer feed because that's the closest feed I can buy at our feed store to 17% I've never seen that protein level so I give them layer feed once their about 6-8 weeks and then after that continually but lately I was told by another BYCer that my turkeys had been eating so much because the protein was too low I was feeding grain mostly since it's winter and I want to keep a little chub on them to stay warm well I was told to get a 21% feed and give scratch I started feeding my whole flock that and the results have been amazing all my birds don't eat as much as they were feathers are shiny and beautiful and my hens started laying again! I haven't seen any negative side effects so if anyone has seen any negative side effects to too much protein after they are already grown let me know cuz my whole flock right now are only adults well my geese are still growing but they will be until their like a couple years old.

 

[gardengoats11]

Ms lydia, posted 2 pics on goose thread. Will have to get better ones. (Goose pics)

 

[Onlyducks]

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 took a couple of pictures this morning and I think you may be right—it's just a natural change.



He seemed better this morning. He ran out and staked out the garden shelter as "his" immediately, so there may be some pecking order sorting going on too. I'm keeping an eye on all of them to see if they have been biting or pecking each other more than usual. I do know they are more aggressive to each other after spending a lot of time inside the greenhouse. It's a small area and they seem to get "cabin fever". They come out in the morning and run and flap their wings like "We're Free!". Thanks for the input—appreciate it.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

When I got my drakes they were about 6 weeks old so I fed them 16% layer feed because that's the closest feed I can buy at our feed store to 17% I've never seen that protein level so I give them layer feed once their about 6-8 weeks and then after that continually but lately I was told by another BYCer that my turkeys had been eating so much because the protein was too low I was feeding grain mostly since it's winter and I want to keep a little chub on them to stay warm well I was told to get a 21% feed and give scratch I started feeding my whole flock that and the results have been amazing all my birds don't eat as much as they were feathers are shiny and beautiful and my hens started laying again! I haven't seen any negative side effects so if anyone has seen any negative side effects to too much protein after they are already grown let me know cuz my whole flock right now are only adults well my geese are still growing but they will be until their like a couple years old.

High protein doesn't show on the outside, but can cause fatty liver. Great if you are going for foie gras though! Most game bird finisher is around 18%, which is plenty of protein. Your winter feed consumption drops with scratch grains because they provide more energy, not protein. The scratch grains give them the extra energy to stay warm! In a sense, you made your own 18% mix. Scratch grains are quite low in useable protein, so you are essentially diluting your 21% feed down to a healthier protein level. That's why it works so well! Just don't feed them exclusively 21% feed, and they will keep on thriving! You may also want to consider adding a little extra calcium into the mix for your layers.