muscovy... OMG it hurts

[rainplace]

Yes, Barbarie, I get it now. I will invest in a net too, thank you for the idea.

I'm a little worried about the puncture wounds. He's filthy. I used some peroxide immediately afterwards. Anything else I should do?

 

[lauralou]

Do you have any Neosporin?

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
I don't know; never really worried about it too much. I'm sure you can find an excuse to take a nice long shower or bath to soak the wounds.

One more word: when the muscovy hen has ducklings and you bend down to pick one up, she may feel you are a threat to them and leap into the air to attack you. Claws will be barred, but it is often a bluff. Some hens do have a nasty bite, though.

 

[suburbanduckmom]

A bit of obvious advice...keep the cut clean and cover it when around duck poo. The only thing worse than scovy cuts are infected scovy cuts.

 

[chseeads]

I too concur on the sharpness of scovy claws. lol My babies have scratched me up a few times.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
I don't know; never really worried about it too much. I'm sure you can find an excuse to take a nice long shower or bath to soak the wounds.

One more word: when the muscovy hen has ducklings and you bend down to pick one up, she may feel you are a threat to them and leap into the air to attack you. Claws will be barred, but it is often a bluff. Some hens do have a nasty bite, though.

Soaking is good advice. Thank you.

I got her to incubate some of my runner eggs next season. Will it be traumatic for her when I take them away? Should I let her raise them for a while? I really like her a lot.

I was worried I wouldn't be able to get them to bed tonight, but I just slowly moved them in the right direction of the duck house and they went in fine. I am a little worried though because when I shut the door there seemed to be a lot of activity going on and I had to run to work. What kind of fighters are they? Do they use their claws or beaks? (it's quiet out there now)

 

[Bleenie]

WOW! he must have been totally ticked off!!

i've never had any problems like that with any of mine. their claws arent real super sharp either, might be becaise of the gravel driveway though.

hope you heal up good.

 

[rainplace]

Are muscovies generally dirty?

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
This is where I differ from a more commercially oriented operation. I will let the hen raise the young to allow her to complete the cycle. Other people I read about with much larger operations will pull the young right away and put them in brooders segregated by age groups. The hen will experience grief for about a week before getting back to normal.

http://www.cias.wisc.edu/curriculum/modIII/secb/Muscovy_Duck.pdf

 

[judyc]

After one scratch, I use a fishing net to catch Muscoveys. I pick them up by their wings, pressing the wings together behind their back. They have strong wings, being a tree duck, and this keeps me away from the claws.