New, naive, and completely lost!!!

[eilis83]

Hi there all,

I am hoping you all can shed some light on my current cluelessness. My husband and I are starting a homestead in 1+ years. He was raised on a family vacation farm in Bovina, NY. I have never set foot on a farm and know absolutely nothing about livestock. I always think it's never to early to plan and homesteading isn't going to be a walk in the park.

We have done some research and decided we would start with ducks! We have 5+ acres so space is not really an issue at the moment. Later on, we will be raising goats for milk, meat rabbits, honey bees, and a pig or two. We are mainly producing for a family of 4 -we arent really into selling or making a profit off our animals...for now.

Muscovy ducks seemed like a good meat duck and we chose Khaki Campbell as our egg producers. Ok now the part where I am clueless. How many egg and meat ducks should we start with for a family of four? Will the Muscovy drakes put the moves on my Khaki Campbell ladies? Should I keep them in separate sections of the yard? How many Muscovy drakes to Muscovy ladies? How long do you keep the first generation of Muscovy moms and dads for breeding or do you pick new breeders every litter?

Phew! Ok I think that's all for now! Any advice would be great!

 

[lynss94]

Welcome to BYC! Nice to see a fellow North Carolinian

the general consensus on male to female ratio in ducks is ideally 4:1. Four females to one male. However, if you're just wanting Khakis for their eggs, you do not need a male. If you are wanting ducklings you will need a male.

The answer to will they crossbreed is yes. Unless you plan on keeping them separated completely, there is a chance the Muscovy drakes will fertilize the Khaki's eggs.

Now as far as the generations question, that is a question for someone who breeds and I do not breed. I just use my ducks for their eggs.

Good Luck!!

 

[lynss94]

Hi there all,

I am hoping you all can shed some light on my current cluelessness. My husband and I are starting a homestead in 1+ years. He was raised on a family vacation farm in Bovina, NY. I have never set foot on a farm and know absolutely nothing about livestock. I always think it's never to early to plan and homesteading isn't going to be a walk in the park.

We have done some research and decided we would start with ducks! We have 5+ acres so space is not really an issue at the moment. Later on, we will be raising goats for milk, meat rabbits, honey bees, and a pig or two. We are mainly producing for a family of 4 -we arent really into selling or making a profit off our animals...for now.

Muscovy ducks seemed like a good meat duck and we chose Khaki Campbell as our egg producers. Ok now the part where I am clueless. How many egg and meat ducks should we start with for a family of four? Will the Muscovy drakes put the moves on my Khaki Campbell ladies? Should I keep them in separate sections of the yard? How many Muscovy drakes to Muscovy ladies? How long do you keep the first generation of Muscovy moms and dads for breeding or do you pick new breeders every litter?

Phew! Ok I think that's all for now! Any advice would be great!

@JadeComputerGal , come help this lady out! She has breeding questions and you're my go to!

 

[eilis83]

Welcome to BYC! Nice to see a fellow North Carolinian

the general consensus on male to female ratio in ducks is ideally 4:1. Four females to one male. However, if you're just wanting Khakis for their eggs, you do not need a male. If you are wanting ducklings you will need a male.

The answer to will they crossbreed is yes. Unless you plan on keeping them separated completely, there is a chance the Muscovy drakes will fertilize the Khaki's eggs.

Now as far as the generations question, that is a question for someone who breeds and I do not breed. I just use my ducks for their eggs.

Good Luck!!

The answer to will they crossbreed is yes. Unless you plan on keeping them separated completely, there is a chance the Muscovy drakes will fertilize the Khaki's eggs.

Ahhh, I was afraid of them crossbreeding. Thanks for the quick reply and advice ! Now to plan some really good duck barriers...

 

[junebuggena]

From what I understand, Muscovy can breed with mallard derived breeds, but the offspring will be 'mules,' good for meat, but all the eggs laid by the cross breeds will be infertile. Rouens are a dual-purpose breed that produces lots of eggs and are also good for meat.

 

[Sfraker]

From what I have seen the muscovy males can be pretty darn big for non-muscovy females. You may want to choose a larger breed or go with a good all purpose breed such as the Rouen.

Personally I love my Welsh Harlequins. I only have them for eggs and boy do they lay, however they are supposed to be good meat birds as they have a white carcas. They are on the small side though.

 

[Ibicella]

Hi there all,

I am hoping you all can shed some light on my current cluelessness. My husband and I are starting a homestead in 1+ years. He was raised on a family vacation farm in Bovina, NY. I have never set foot on a farm and know absolutely nothing about livestock. I always think it's never to early to plan and homesteading isn't going to be a walk in the park.

We have done some research and decided we would start with ducks! We have 5+ acres so space is not really an issue at the moment. Later on, we will be raising goats for milk, meat rabbits, honey bees, and a pig or two. We are mainly producing for a family of 4 -we arent really into selling or making a profit off our animals...for now.

Muscovy ducks seemed like a good meat duck and we chose Khaki Campbell as our egg producers. Ok now the part where I am clueless. How many egg and meat ducks should we start with for a family of four? Will the Muscovy drakes put the moves on my Khaki Campbell ladies? Should I keep them in separate sections of the yard? How many Muscovy drakes to Muscovy ladies? How long do you keep the first generation of Muscovy moms and dads for breeding or do you pick new breeders every litter?

Phew! Ok I think that's all for now! Any advice would be great!

Welcome! My husband and I are building up to our homestead as well! Right now we're in the middle of suburbia with two hives of bees, three ducks (Cayugas, also prolific layers and big meat birds), three chickens, and a vegetable garden. We've been adding a little more each year over the years. We add just a little bit more each year as we go along and learn so we don't overwhelm ourselves with an operation we don't know how to handle.

I wholeheartedly support research, research, and more research before you buy! Research till your head feels like it's going to explode! More information on hand before you start is time well spent. I also suggest that if possible, volunteering to work on a farm if a friend owns one, or joining a WOOF'ing http://wwoofinternational.org/ program for a little while, or volunteer at a farm animal sanctuary to get some hands-on working experience. It's one thing to read about how to trim a goat's hooves, it's another to actually get your hands on a hoof and practice with the clippers...you will also be building connections to other farmers in your community so you have people to call for help and recommendations. Don't skimp on getting those connections and that knowledge, you WILL be thanking your lucky stars you did!

Now, for your questions:

Yes, Muscovy drakes will put the moves on your Khaki Campbells, and if you don't want Muscovy-Khaki crossbreed ducklings, they will need to be kept apart. You don't need a male for eggs, but if you want your Khakis to have ducklings eventually, you will need a male Khaki.

Typically you can expect one Muscovy to be able to provide 1 to 2 meals worth of meat for a family of four. Typically one bird is one week's worth of meals for my husband and I. It really depends on how much processing you want to do all in one sitting (and trust me on this, processing from killing the bird to plucking, to cleaning is WAY more time consuming and laborious than it looks...you will be sweating from the workout they provide!) and how much freezer space you have. I recommend starting with a minimum small order or so (most hatcheries require an order of 15-20 chicks min. for shipping) to learn the process start to finish with. You can always order more later except over winter. Keeping to a minimum to start and not going for broke is going to save your butt as you work out the kinks of learning farm life!

I second the recommendation of 1 male to 4 females.

Muscovies are not prolific layers, typically about 90-100 eggs a year. They are also very broody which interferes with egg production, and unless you get a broody hen, you will need an incubator in order to hatch eggs. They typically lose about 10 to 20% of their egg production for every year of life, however plenty of people around here have ducks that haven't slowed their production at age 8 or 9.

As time goes on and the more you learn, you'll start getting a sense for how you want to run your breeding program, what traits you want to breed for, and who might be a good addition versus who won't. If you're breeding for meat, big and healthy with a good temperament is what I look for in the parents as well as good husbandry of their eggs. Poor breeders, poor layers, and poor mothers won't do and are taken for meat.

Also, this may seem like a very silly question, but have you and your family ever eaten duck eggs before? I ask because I've met a lot of disappointed duck owners who got ducks hoping for eggs without realizing that duck eggs have a different texture and flavor than a chicken egg. If your ducks have access to a pond or free-ranging, then fish, slugs, snails, lizards, and frogs all impart a slight fishy taste to the eggs.

Some like the differences between duck and chicken eggs, some REALLY hate it, and others honestly can't tell the difference, but if you've never eaten a duck egg before, I very strongly suggest you find some and try them first before you waste your money on raising ducks for eggs.

Hope I've helped with advice and questions! I am so excited and happy for you and that your dream of a homestead is coming true! My husband and I are still noobs at it, but we LOVE it and are just thrilled to death and loving every minute of this adventure!

 

[lynss94]

Ahhh, I was afraid of them crossbreeding. Thanks for the quick reply and advice ! Now to plan some really good duck barriers...

You are very welcome. I myself am new and have learned A LOT from awesome and friendly people on this site. I religiously will ask questions or search throughout threads looking to see if others have had my same questions. You'll grasp the hang of it. Just got to get started.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

You've gotten some great advice here. I'm very excited for you and hope you check back in during your journey to let us know how things are going.

The only thing I can really add to this is that you don't have to restrict yourself to one breed of egg duck, though you'd have to keep the breeds separated during mating season if you cared whether they produced mixed-breed ducklings. Welsh Harlequin is also a great layer duck, and many would say more visually appealling than KCs. Runner ducks are great layers as well. I'm hoping I can convince my hubby to agree to add some Runners to our flock once we get our farmette. You might want to consider various breeds as long as you stay within the same weight class. I love seeing a bunch of little ducks of various colors run around our yard!

 

[lynss94]

You've gotten some great advice here. I'm very excited for you and hope you check back in during your journey to let us know how things are going.

The only thing I can really add to this is that you don't have to restrict yourself to one breed of egg duck, though you'd have to keep the breeds separated during mating season if you cared whether they produced mixed-breed ducklings. Welsh Harlequin is also a great layer duck, and many would say more visually appealling than KCs. Runner ducks are great layers as well. I'm hoping I can convince my hubby to agree to add some Runners to our flock once we get our farmette. You might want to consider various breeds as long as you stay within the same weight class. I love seeing a bunch of little ducks of various colors run around our yard!

Speaking of questions, I know you only use your duck eggs for ducklings but my KC's eggs are significantly increasing in weight the more she lays. She has only laid 5 eggs and been very consistent. My Pekin skipped one day and has laid every day since. Not the KC. She has laid every singe day since day one of laying.

I know with chickens the older the chicken, the bigger the egg. Is this true for ducks as well or is it just that their "egg making machines" are ramping up?