Muscovy keepers share your pics!

[Miss Lydia]

If you put chicken eggs under a goose than maybe she could break them but muscovies females are actually quite small

I have 6 female Muscovy's they are small but weigh quite a bit more than my hens.

 

[chickengr]

I have 6 female Muscovy's they are small but weigh quite a bit more than my hens.

my naked necks are heavier than my muscovies. but muscovie's nails are sharper.

 

[macgro7]

The thing I would be worried about is whether they trample the chicks? They are definitely more fragile than ducklings

 

[Miss Lydia]

The thing I would be worried about is whether they trample the chicks? They are definitely more fragile than ducklings

Your right and now that I think about it more I do have a number of hens who probably weigh as much as my Muscovy females But your making a good point with how tiny and fragile chicks are compared to ducklings. I had one of my geese trample a duckling not on purpose but it became a stampede to get to treats and the poor baby got under foot. I learned a valuable lesson there. Poor thing didn't make it but prime example of how easily a tiny one can get killed .

 

[macgro7]

Also chicks need much more warmth than ducklings and they need to be kept dry (more than ducklings). I've had ducklings hatched in the incubator and put outside after two days and they were completely fine. Chicks would die

 

[holm25]

Ducklings are definetly more hardy than chicks. I had ducklings that were under a broody for two weeks and then slept outside in a pen without extra heat. They had their biological parents and some roos but that is it. And they were just fine.

 

[chickengr]

thank you everyone. good information.

 

[Danragg]

Hello, I am looking into getting a few muscovys.. I currently keep silkies who for obvious reasons need locking up when unsupervised as we do have a fox problem. My question is are female muscovys able to fly to escape danger? as this would mean they could be free ranged on my property, it is around an acre with a Creek flowing through the middle so the flying would not be an issue for neighbours.
Thank you in advance.

 

[tmorgan46]

@Danragg yes, female and male muscovies can fly. I was thinking along the same line but finally decided to clip their flight feathers. I got tired of having to figure out a safe way to get them off of my house roof!! We have six total, three drakes and three ducks and all three of the ducks could fly at least a month before any of the drakes could get off the ground. The picture in my avatar has all three females we own in it; and yes, that's my roof above our dining room. So now we have to be much more careful about how we protect them from predators. If I could have kept them off of the roof, I would still let them fly to give them some kind of capability to evade predators.

Troy & Tina

 

[Danragg]

@Danragg
 yes, female and male muscovies can fly.  I was thinking along the same line but finally decided to clip their flight feathers.  I got tired of having to figure out a safe way to get them off of my house roof!!  We have six total, three drakes and three ducks and all three of the ducks could fly at least a month before any of the drakes could get off the ground.  The picture in my avatar has all three females we own in it; and yes, that's my roof above our dining room.  So now we have to be much more careful about how we protect them from predators.  If I could have kept them off of the roof, I would still let them fly to give them some kind of capability to evade predators.

Troy & Tina

thanks for the response! I have silkie bantams at the moment, do you think that the scovies would terrorise them when free ranging? and if not would there be any possibly of sharing a large coup? ( the chickens coop is made for 15 standards and I only have four bantams in there so plenty of room..
I was also wondering if I was to get a drake also would he attempt to mate with my silkies as I can imagine that would be fatal :/
What are your opinions? thanks!