Pekins to muscovys

[Going Quackers]

I have scovys, and love them! the two parents and dozen young ducklings held off a great pyranees and a jack russel till my collie could be released to thrash them, pair attacked a least weasel till second best/fav barn cat could get into pen to dispatch and eat it saving eggs maybe, and daddy fought off lesser weasel till cats and dogs could drive away and dogs get out into open to tear in half.

I'm wondering how scovy compare to owning campbells and runners? health wise, mess wise, feed wise, letting free range or needing to be penned, come when you call ect, and can watch out for selves at least temp some. I originally got scovy pair to brood other types of foul, and for meat and additional eggs from the scovy.. now not sure if can sell off or eat extra drakes. so wondering how egg laying type ducks like khaki campbell/welsh harliquin (as told differnt color type of same breed), and runners, compare all around. the scovy sit on front porch in morn and then evening waiting for woman of house to come out, or along driveway waiting for her to come home from work, wagging butts furiously when she says hello to them (this is the same woman who wants to kill to eat ect my chickens and pigeons, and hates all birds). she says they are trying to tell me to "send out da fat lady or da cat gets it!", as they trap the cat and as she puts it seem to be holding him hostage till she comes and feeds them. they corner and hiss at him ect, making him cry till we open door were i then put him up on railing were safe as otherwise they chase him across yard). lol. they don't bother other four smaller cats (one cat even sleeps with tries to help herd, protects them, and even eat together), just her big useless fav baby. she yells at me not to feed them too much as the food bill is getting expensive, but i hardly feed them at all and she feeds them three four times a day at times. She says i should kill all the "danged" (close enough to word), chickens and just keep ducks mostly. she hates the roosters and threatens their lives each at least weekly with knives ect in hand, but in her defense the biggest meanest one crows right under her window. guess part of what asking as rambled was about personalities of as well?

I have buffs and call ducks but the majority are Muscovy here. One thing for comparison reasons is the fact they really are not ducks, being non mallard derived and more closely related geese i find it can be difficult to compare them across the board, they give a unique experience. Noise is likely the biggest factor, since drakes only hiss/huff and females generally use their trill, coo as a voice(they DO quack and hiss they actually have an extremely broad range of vocals) will be the most notable.

Water usage too, my buffs and calls definitely like swimming more than the scovies who like to puddle about and dabble in low laying water. Egg production, Muscovy are decent but many ducks breeds do supersede their laying capabilities, so if that is a priority they are not a top contender.

As for foraging and returning, i am not seeing differences, i don't think many mallard derived breeds fly like scovies girls can, except my calls.. the buffs i have barely seen take a flutter still unclear whether they truly can fly or not. Mallard derived breeds don't roost like Muscovy, which is well sometimes a good thing as scovies can be up on all sorts of stuff.. roofs, furniture etc.. the broody factor of a scovie is something else too, not sure how that contends with others breeds but i know they are tops for the capability which is both a positive and a negative.

I don't believe many other breeds have been actually documented for their fly eating ability like Scovies have, so that definitively from a pest control standpoint puts them in the top for breeds if pest control is on your radar, health wise they are considered quite hardy, but so are other breeds how it bangs up against each breed i have yet to see much in the form of documentation to compare.

 

[laughingdog]

I found once i got my scovys to "roost" on logs and stumps provided, in, were feed them and they then clean bills ect and sun selves (next to front porch), they don't bother getting up on anything else. found out the males can honk loud and fly up some, as redtails were going for homers and rollers, and my adult male scovy got some air (barely off ground though), as he went chasing after.

 

[Tikkajazz94]

I found once i got my scovys to "roost" on logs and stumps provided, in, were feed them and they then clean bills ect and sun selves (next to front porch), they don't bother getting up on anything else. found out the males can honk loud and fly up some, as redtails were going for homers and rollers, and my adult male scovy got some air (barely off ground though), as he went chasing after.

I actually found my drake to ex ape from the barn. He's a sneaky little devil. Yet only my hen flys due to me feeding a different feed then what they should have. Cause I got told they were younger then what they actually are. So now the drake is a bit heavy. I am actually have a had time pickingnthem up. Can somebody do YouTube video on how to pick them up?
Thanks

 

[Going Quackers]

I found once i got my scovys to "roost" on logs and stumps provided, in, were feed them and they then clean bills ect and sun selves (next to front porch), they don't bother getting up on anything else. found out the males can honk loud and fly up some, as redtails were going for homers and rollers, and my adult male scovy got some air (barely off ground though), as he went chasing after.

Mine have roosting bars(basically flat boards) BUT they still love to fly up on things. Now, i will say i have owned a lot of drakes and the only vocal i know they have is a hiss/huff, they don't honk or quack.

I actually found my drake to ex ape from the barn. He's a sneaky little devil. Yet only my hen flys due to me feeding a different feed then what they should have. Cause I got told they were younger then what they actually are. So now the drake is a bit heavy. I am actually have a had time pickingnthem up. Can somebody do YouTube video on how to pick them up?
Thanks

That has nothing to do with feed, it's a general trait of male Muscovies, most simply get to heavy to fly much past juvenile aging whereas the females are more compact and capable of flight at all ages, though some are more prone to it than others.

 

[laughingdog]

The honking thing freaked me out as thought something more wrong, but he has started doing when flapping and chasing/biting hard at his mate and daughters just recent. Only two others on here mentioned their drake scovys honking at all, and said a lot about duck scovy ducks quacking at certain times. they sound mostly like they are being stepped on. lol. i tried boards for roosting and mine won't use, they love digging in and around and under logs and stumps, and I'm guessing the young will destroy or dig out own nest cavities when mature. I'm told they do this, but i have nest boxes and dog houses ect in by them too, that they hardly use except really cold nights so far, and never roost on yet for some reason.

 

[AliciaDuckLady]

Juts got two new Kahki Campbell ducklings, will see how they differ to our beautiful Muscovy. The muscovy breed has captured my heart! Such beautiful ducks, ours is black and white 9mth old. These little ones have quite literally big feet to fill! I have threatened to increase our flock with some more once the babies settle in... I think our girl was stalking the neighbours cat yesterday, along her fenceline. Either that or her eyes arent great and she thought he was another duck...same colour as her. Hmmm

 

[AliciaDuckLady]

I actually found my drake to ex ape from the barn. He's a sneaky little devil. Yet only my hen flys due to me feeding a different feed then what they should have. Cause I got told they were younger then what they actually are. So now the drake is a bit heavy. I am actually have a had time pickingnthem up. Can somebody do YouTube video on how to pick them up?
Thanks

Yes, if anyone has a good idea how to catch these beauties, please let me know! With the claws, flying and super strength its really a mission!

 

[Going Quackers]

The honking thing freaked me out as thought something more wrong, but he has started doing when flapping and chasing/biting hard at his mate and daughters just recent. Only two others on here mentioned their drake scovys honking at all, and said a lot about duck scovy ducks quacking at certain times. they sound mostly like they are being stepped on. lol. i tried boards for roosting and mine won't use, they love digging in and around and under logs and stumps, and I'm guessing the young will destroy or dig out own nest cavities when mature. I'm told they do this, but i have nest boxes and dog houses ect in by them too, that they hardly use except really cold nights so far, and never roost on yet for some reason.

I can honestly say i have never heard this, i have owned so many drakes, i currently still have 7. No one ever honks, and i have quite the dynamics going on here. I have never read anything about a drake doing it either, there baby voices leave the hissing/huffing takes over, i even have some "honkers"( a pair of female buff orpingtons ducks) lol in what is mainly my scovie flock and that hasn't encouraged any new vocals.

Digging and truffling(as i call it) so common, ducks love to do that, even my calls have dug quite the holes in their pen. I have seen scovies climb fences too lol those claws perform all sorts of uses.

 

[Going Quackers]

Yes, if anyone has a good idea how to catch these beauties, please let me know! With the claws, flying and super strength its really a mission!

Well don some long sleeves and gloves, you'll likely need two people... basically slowly move the bird into a corner, i will grab for the base of the neck and carefully swoop my arm around the key is getting those wings tucked, a slap to the nose/face is harsh especially in a large drake. The claws i worry less about strong gloves and a coat will lessen that, but ensure it's strong they can slice through thin gloves like butter.

I have oodles of experience of handling these guys, there basically all i own for birds and i have always been drake heavy, i still own 7.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes, if anyone has a good idea how to catch these beauties, please let me know! With the claws, flying and super strength its really a mission!

I have a small fenced in area that I wait till they are in[feed bowls are in this part] then I go in and herd them into a corner. Or they go into one of the houses and I walk in behind and catch. They can climb a fence but most of the time if I get them into this small area I can catch them pretty easy. They are strong that's for sure.