Protection for Muscovy ducks.

[SolarDuck]

Hello, I have a pair of Muscovy females that I let roam my yard throughout the day and I lock them up in their coop at night. I spent a lot of money building a solid coop to keep them safe but lately I've came across many Youtube videos of the things Hawks and Eagles can do to chickens and it concerns me because I just have the 2 small females out there. My question is well, are there any other types of poultry that could protect them but also not make too much noise? I live in a regular neighborhood and I would like a guard goose for them but geese are just too loud so I don't think that would work. I am not super familiar with all the types of poultry but I was just wondering if there are any that I could like get as a chick and then raise up with my ducks that would then protect them, but without being too noisy thank you!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The easy answer is no. My geese go after my muscovy. My turkeys aren't much better. My donkeys and goats afford some protection just by being around, but if a duck is out in the open it's a target.

I've had a few hawk kills. I've had fox, coyote and coon kill my muscovy. Providing cover can help with aerial predators, but does nothing for ground predators.

The only thing you can do is lock them up in a secure run.

 

[SolarDuck]

Hmm alright, I am not as concerned with ground predators as I have a 6 foot fence around my entire yard but I am very concerned about hawks. My yard isn't all that big to begin with I feel like locking them in some kind of small run 24/7 would be cruel. Do you think adding a male muscovy would be a better bet for hawk protection? I can't imagine a hawk wanting to mess with a 15lb duck

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Having drakes hasn't stopped occasional predation from aerial predators here. I don't lose them often to hawks, but usually when I do they can't carry the duck off, so size doesn't matter. A drake will not protect the hens.

 

[SolarDuck]

Huh that's surprising to me. Even if he is imprinted on one of them?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Drakes don't protect the hens. They follow them, or they follow him, but it's every duck for themselves when a predator comes.

 

[SolarDuck]

Hmm alright, just over the past hour or so I've been researching other options. I came across many articles and videos saying that adding black chickens to a flock keeps away hawks because they confuse the chickens for crows. But every video I saw on that that had it working seemed to have quite large flocks. Do you think adding a couple black chickens would keep the hawks away if there are only 4 birds all together?

 

[hayley3]

Hmm alright, just over the past hour or so I've been researching other options. I came across many articles and videos saying that adding black chickens to a flock keeps away hawks because they confuse the chickens for crows. But every video I saw on that that had it working seemed to have quite large flocks. Do you think adding a couple black chickens would keep the hawks away if there are only 4 birds all together?

My two ducks (male and female) are surrounded by electric fencing and they also have a huge tree where I put their food and water so they are not sitting ducks. They mostly stay there or wander under the lean-to which is about 20 feet away.
A big animal like a goat will deter a hawk. Barring that, the ducks need cover. I think males spend their time watching for sky predators while the female eats so a male can be beneficial in that way.

 

[hayley3]

The easy answer is no. My geese go after my muscovy. My turkeys aren't much better. My donkeys and goats afford some protection just by being around, but if a duck is out in the open it's a target.

I've had a few hawk kills. I've had fox, coyote and coon kill my muscovy. Providing cover can help with aerial predators, but does nothing for ground predators.

The only thing you can do is lock them up in a secure run.

My drake goes after my Toulouse goose..so much that I had to finally separate them and keep her with the chickens.

 

[SolarDuck]

Alright well I set up some other things that hopefully will keep the hawks away. I heard they don't like shiny things so I put tinfoil up in the trees and on the roof of the coop, also I set up a bunch of CDs on twine over a good portion of my yard, and I got a fake owl that I'm gonna put very high up in my big tree