Muscovy

[riccardob]

Hi,

We would like to purchase some ducks for our garden.
We are worried about noise therefore would Indian runners be out of the picture even if all males?
Would their noise be heard inside behind double glazed windows?

If they are too noisy we would look into Muscovy ducks. Would it be possible to keep all males?

Thanks

 

[Kessel23]

It is not a good idea to keep all male ducks. They will rape each other during the mating season because they have no females. All mallard derived ducks are very loud, males are not as loud as females and usually can not be heard unless you are nearby. Muscovy ducks, hens and drakes, are very quiet and will never be heard unless you are out there with them. I am not sure if you could keep all drakes together. During a Muscovy drake's first year when they are just becoming sexually mature they will mate more often and are more aggressive. After the first year the drakes are usually more toned down and will only mate when the hens are laying. But Muscovies do fight more often and way more violently than mallard derived ducks so there will probably be a ton of injuries in a all drake flock. Muscovies can also fly, so you will need to clip their wings to keep them in the pen and even then they are good climbers and do still escape sometimes. What type of garden do you have? All ducks can be pretty destructive to gardens so you might not want ducks at all. Muscovies will do less damage than quacking mallard derived ducks but call ducks may be less destructive than both of them.

 

[riccardob]

hi we have a stepped garden with the bottom bit which is flat measuring 6m x 5m plus another bit at the side of the house 4 x 2m.

we have evergreens like ivy and palm trees. nit tio bothered about grass. 6 foot fence all round. we do not get foxes here so was hoping no enclosure needed. could this setup work?
i live nw uk and here during winter it can get to 0 or -5 at night.

another question is how difficult is it to clip the wings if these ducks do not like being picked up?