We bought our breeder flock of Muscovy ducks last summer - initially 4 ducks and a drake. We added another 2 ducks shortly afterwards. The hope was to create a self-sustaining flock for sale and harvest. We've learned a whole lot, and are still doing so, but here are a few of the bigger lessons to share.
Lesson 1: Egg production is very much affected by both light and food availability. Since our ducks free-range, once the pastures started greening up and bugs appeared, we cut back supplemental feed too much. That delayed their laying by a couple months. A mentor suggested increasing their feed and wham! Within about a week we had our first eggs.
Lesson 2: Muscovy ducks are great mothers with superb intuition, but they're not brain surgeons or rocket scientists. Our first duck to hatch a clutch, Midnight, got 17 ducklings successfully out of the nesting box. Great news, and what fun to see them cavorting around the farm. But, when they started hanging around Mocha (who was sitting on a clutch herself) at night, she got confused and left her nest to mother "her" ducklings. We lost a whole clutch just a week from hatch. Next year, if the ducks set on the floor again, I plan to have a way to sequester the ducklings from them.
Lesson 3: Free range has risks. Our ducks free range over our property and often to an adjacent beaver pond. This comes with risks from predators. We lost one of our breeders and four of our first flock of ducklings, we're pretty sure all of them were to predators.
Lesson 4: Ducks are messy. Really messy. A big flock of ducks is incredibly messy. We clean the barn a lot more than we used to have to! On the list is to make a separate duck pen... I just haven't gotten that far on the list yet.
Lesson 5: Lesson 1 again. Muscovy ducklings grow quickly, and that's because of their appetite. They are greedy and pushy, and the adults will back off from the feeding dishes to let them eat. And, when the adults aren't eating well, they stop laying. I think we probably lost at least two potential clutches this way. Now, we have a routine for feeding. We feed the adults first in the morning (they fly out of the stall), then go on to feed the rest of the barn. Once they've had their fill, we open the stall to let the "teenagers" out to eat. We close the door behind them and feed the little ducklings and setting mothers at this time. Then we come back a bit later to open the stall for the day so everyone can forage. The evening is a bit trickier - we're trying a few different ways but the one that seems to work now: feed the little ducklings and setting mothers inside the stall, then go on to feed the rest of the animals. Then, we open the stall and let the teenagers pour in to gobble up anything that remains, and feed them their portion as well. While that's going on, we feed the adults outside the barn, let them eat their fill, then open the stall again until it's time to shut them up for the night.
Lesson 6: Market early. I meant to go to the ethnic markets a couple weeks ago to post signs, but forgot. So, we're a bit behind on sales of this first ready flock of ducklings (though they're moving now).
Hope this helps others that are getting into ducks. For more info on our farm, check out our webpage - www.flyingtnh.com !
Lesson 1: Egg production is very much affected by both light and food availability. Since our ducks free-range, once the pastures started greening up and bugs appeared, we cut back supplemental feed too much. That delayed their laying by a couple months. A mentor suggested increasing their feed and wham! Within about a week we had our first eggs.
Lesson 2: Muscovy ducks are great mothers with superb intuition, but they're not brain surgeons or rocket scientists. Our first duck to hatch a clutch, Midnight, got 17 ducklings successfully out of the nesting box. Great news, and what fun to see them cavorting around the farm. But, when they started hanging around Mocha (who was sitting on a clutch herself) at night, she got confused and left her nest to mother "her" ducklings. We lost a whole clutch just a week from hatch. Next year, if the ducks set on the floor again, I plan to have a way to sequester the ducklings from them.
Lesson 3: Free range has risks. Our ducks free range over our property and often to an adjacent beaver pond. This comes with risks from predators. We lost one of our breeders and four of our first flock of ducklings, we're pretty sure all of them were to predators.
Lesson 4: Ducks are messy. Really messy. A big flock of ducks is incredibly messy. We clean the barn a lot more than we used to have to! On the list is to make a separate duck pen... I just haven't gotten that far on the list yet.
Lesson 5: Lesson 1 again. Muscovy ducklings grow quickly, and that's because of their appetite. They are greedy and pushy, and the adults will back off from the feeding dishes to let them eat. And, when the adults aren't eating well, they stop laying. I think we probably lost at least two potential clutches this way. Now, we have a routine for feeding. We feed the adults first in the morning (they fly out of the stall), then go on to feed the rest of the barn. Once they've had their fill, we open the stall to let the "teenagers" out to eat. We close the door behind them and feed the little ducklings and setting mothers at this time. Then we come back a bit later to open the stall for the day so everyone can forage. The evening is a bit trickier - we're trying a few different ways but the one that seems to work now: feed the little ducklings and setting mothers inside the stall, then go on to feed the rest of the animals. Then, we open the stall and let the teenagers pour in to gobble up anything that remains, and feed them their portion as well. While that's going on, we feed the adults outside the barn, let them eat their fill, then open the stall again until it's time to shut them up for the night.
Lesson 6: Market early. I meant to go to the ethnic markets a couple weeks ago to post signs, but forgot. So, we're a bit behind on sales of this first ready flock of ducklings (though they're moving now).
Hope this helps others that are getting into ducks. For more info on our farm, check out our webpage - www.flyingtnh.com !
It sounds like you have a very good system going now, and one that has been developed in response to your close and careful observation of your ducks' behaviour, as well as listening to advice from experienced people. Sounds like you are doing a great job with your birds.
