Questions about Muscovy ducks !

[suey12000]

Hi all! I am new here. I am going to be acquiring some muscovies this spring and I am so excited!! I have done tons of reading on them but I have 2 questions that I am either not asking correctly in my searches or am having an issue putting the information together. I want to free range my ducks but I work during the day, does that mean I have to pen them up during the day as well as the night time? I have a spot about 20 feet from my porch where water runoff naturally collects and has a culvert that the water goes through to the other side of the yard. I was thinking about grooming that up to be a habitat area for my ducks by deepening it and partially blocking the culvert so it would fill a little more and then unblocking it if I needed to drain it for whatever reason. My question is, is it/ is it not a good idea to have the ducks pond/pool that close to the house?

Thanks!

 

[JLfarm]

Suey12000. Welcome to the site. I would say that 20 ft may not be to bad but ducks will surely erode a pond and make it bigger as I've had this problem many times. And the smell may not be favorable but the smell doesn't bother me bc I clean my ponds out atleast one a month. So id say no it's not to close

 

[suey12000]

Thank you so much for that! It is not really a pond but more of a run off area/puddle that I was going to enhance a bit. I appreciate the info about ducks eroding a pond. In this case I think it will be okay because my land is nothing but round rocks with dirt in between. I like the idea of being able to sit on my porch and look at it. Thanks again! Looks like I will be playing in the dirt this weekend.

 

[JLfarm]

Lol u r welcome have fun playing

 

[Smilin Jim]

I currently have a 9 laying chickens and am considering adding one or two trios of muscovy ducks. I would appreciate your more experienced opinions on some questions.

Our chickens are currently completely free ranged during the day and confined to a secure coop during the night. This is a compromise to allow the chickens access to as many ticks as possible while also providing some predator protection. We'd like to handle the muscovies the same way. If possible I'd like to house both the muscovies and the chickens in the existing chicken coop. That coop is 8x12.

• Do you think 3 or 6 muscovies would fit?
• Would they use the 12"x12" pop door?

I'm using a droppings shelf under a perch for the chickens. This has helped keep the coop bedding clean because most of the chicken droppings do end up on the board. There is a ladder from the coop floor to the perch.

• Will muscovies likely use the perch, thus making the droppings board work for them as well?

We currently have 4 nest boxes, 12" square on the front and about 16" deep ( they should be shallower for the chickens), mounted about 26" from the floor.

• Would muscovies likely lay in them or do their needs differ? Assuming we would collect their eggs daily, as we do with the chickens.
• If we wanted to have the muscovies raise ducklings, what sort of facility would they need? Could a duck nest in one of the chicken boxes? Or in a corner of the coop?

We currently provide water inside the coop using horizontal poultry nipples. The muscovies would have access to standing water outside during the day but would be limited to the nipples inside during the night.

• Any reason to think that these wouldn't work for muscovies?

We currently have layer mash continuously available to the chickens inside the coop. I've read that ducks can have difficulty with mash and should be fed pellets instead.

• Does that sound right? Anyone successfully feeding muscovies layer mash, especially in conjunction with nipple waterers?
• Will the muscovies have health issues with unlimited feed available? Our chickens seem fine with it.

During the winter I've used a light in the coop to draw the chickens in for the night. Now that it's light later, I'm also throwing out some whole corn on the coop floor to draw them in when I want to shut the door.

• Think a similar technique will work to get muscovies indoors in the evening?

Thanks for reading this long post, and for any relevant experience you can share!

 

[JLfarm]

Hi yes they will fit with your chickens.
What is a pop door ?
My muscovys don't use the perch with the chickens so I guess it's what they prefer.
It depends how many chickens you have with the ducks. If you wanted babies you could build a brooder but you wouldn't have to bc scovies are great mothers. I think the scovies would lay on the ground in a corner r somewhere outside rather than off the ground in a nest box. The water outside would be enough they don't really need water at night bc they will be sleeping. Lol. I wouldn't know about the layer mash sorry the scovies usually learn pretty quick where their night shelter is u probably wouldn't even need the light r corn. Thank you for all the question. It's great to ask questions like these. Hope I was some help.

 

[poulet0heureux]

Hi Smilin Jim, I have a mixed flock housed together in a coop that sounds like it's set up similar to what you have. Long term I think I'm going to separate them in the warmer months for farming purposes (chickens and guineas free range for ticks, ducks in the garden for bug control), but house them together in the winter for ease of care.

• Current coop is 12'x12' housing 6 guineas, 10 chickens, and 6 muscovies. Outside I have a 100'x75' fenced in yard where everybody spends most of their time.
• I have a smaller pop door (probably 10" x 12") with a ramp outside and even my big drake uses it easily.
• I cannot for the life of me get my ducks to perch. I offered everything - different heights, materials, locations in the coop, and even resorted to picking them up and placing them on the perch for a couple of weeks. I have a 4' x 8' platform (actually part of an old futon frame) with 2x4s wide-side-up that the chickens and guineas use, the ducks squish into a corner underneath it (but, thankfully, not under the rest of the birds!)
• For nest boxes I offer three options: 5-gallon buckets, a 30-gallon tote turned upside down with a door cut in it, and an old bulb box (roughly 38" x 16"). All are on the floor. Broody chicken took over the tote (should've seen that coming), and up until now I kept finding duck eggs outside under a rough shelter. But this morning I spotted my sweetest (and hopefully broodiest) duck in the bulb box. Fingers crossed!
• For water I have buckets with horizontal nipples in the coop and several small ponds/pools outside. My one complaint is that the nipples dribble just a tiny bit, but it adds up, especially in winter. I have a tray under them to catch the water...which the ducks then play in. I was unhappy with the amount of moisture in the coop this winter, and this is something I'm looking to remedy next year.
• I feed unlimited layer pellets and occasionally offer oyster shells. During the winter I use high-quality cat food as a treat and offer barley grass for greens. I don't think it's the best but everybody seems to be doing fine and this is within my current budget.
• I don't supplement with light but have a big window in the coop, the ducks come in just fine with everybody else as soon as it gets dark.
  
  Hope that's helpful!
  

 

[Mudbillkisses]

Hi all! I'm fairly new to the world of muscovys- I have one female Lucy who is 10 months old and just began laying this spring. She began laying when my ancona did (I only have these two) and they were laying daily for about a week or so then Lucy would lay a little less but still consistently for another week or so. We collect the eggs daily usually and one day I forgot to collect so the following day there were 4 eggs (they shared the nest). Lucy was sitting on them and then it seems after that she stopped laying. Even when my ancona (Persi) continued to lay one a day, and we would collect them, in the a.m. I'd find Lucy sitting on Persi's 1 egg. I have never seen a duck go broody for a short stint with 4 eggs and adopt another ducks 1 egg. Ever since her broodiness, she has also been less friendly and doesn't want to be pet (whereas before this she was very calm and liked to be pet). Is this unusual for a muscovy hen? How long before I could expect her to start laying again? I don't know what else I can do to keep the broodiness at bay, other than collecting Persi's eggs daily. Any suggestions or info would be appreciated!

 

[Mudbillkisses]

I currently have a 9 laying chickens and am considering adding one or two trios of muscovy ducks. I would appreciate your more experienced opinions on some questions.

Our chickens are currently completely free ranged during the day and confined to a secure coop during the night. This is a compromise to allow the chickens access to as many ticks as possible while also providing some predator protection. We'd like to handle the muscovies the same way. If possible I'd like to house both the muscovies and the chickens in the existing chicken coop. That coop is 8x12.

• Do you think 3 or 6 muscovies would fit?
• Would they use the 12"x12" pop door?

I'm using a droppings shelf under a perch for the chickens. This has helped keep the coop bedding clean because most of the chicken droppings do end up on the board. There is a ladder from the coop floor to the perch.

• Will muscovies likely use the perch, thus making the droppings board work for them as well?

We currently have 4 nest boxes, 12" square on the front and about 16" deep ( they should be shallower for the chickens), mounted about 26" from the floor.

• Would muscovies likely lay in them or do their needs differ? Assuming we would collect their eggs daily, as we do with the chickens.
• If we wanted to have the muscovies raise ducklings, what sort of facility would they need? Could a duck nest in one of the chicken boxes? Or in a corner of the coop?

We currently provide water inside the coop using horizontal poultry nipples. The muscovies would have access to standing water outside during the day but would be limited to the nipples inside during the night.

• Any reason to think that these wouldn't work for muscovies?

We currently have layer mash continuously available to the chickens inside the coop. I've read that ducks can have difficulty with mash and should be fed pellets instead.

• Does that sound right? Anyone successfully feeding muscovies layer mash, especially in conjunction with nipple waterers?
• Will the muscovies have health issues with unlimited feed available? Our chickens seem fine with it.

During the winter I've used a light in the coop to draw the chickens in for the night. Now that it's light later, I'm also throwing out some whole corn on the coop floor to draw them in when I want to shut the door.

• Think a similar technique will work to get muscovies indoors in the evening?

Thanks for reading this long post, and for any relevant experience you can share!

Hi Smilin Jim, I have only had experience with 2 muscovys so far in my adventure raising ducks but mine were all about perching. We only have a small flock of 2-3 ducks at at time so our coop/run area is simple with one open area with a few nesting boxes off the side with a sizeable wire mesh window that can open for light and ventilation- but one thing we added when we got the muscovys was a perching bar across the back the whole width of the coop. We only put it 10-12 inches or so off the ground but they use it constantly when they're in there (they free range outside during the day). As far as laying- in my experience they definitely switch up their nesting areas. My other duck breeds would be more consistent with laying in the boxes but muscovys will hide their eggs and move their nesting spots. Favorite spots have included 4 corners of the coop, nesting box and in front of perch and I have had to go digging to find the eggs because she's so good at hiding them (though the nest is fairly obvious). Also regarding mash vs pellets- in my experience muscovys are less picky than the other breeds and will eat the mash (especially if other treats are mixed in- peas, meal worms etc.) However, because my other duck only eats the pellets, my muscovy seems to prefer that. I have never had to herd my ducks in at night- they just wait for me to close the door behind them. One thing you'd need to consider with that though is if the muscovy's wing isn't clipped they may take to roosting in a tree or somewhere at night instead.

 

[jlybanc]

i have 4 muscovy hens and 2 drakes. They are all about a yr old. I was hoping to get some ducklings but no one seems to be going broody. Getting lots of eggs. Are they old enough? Let eggs pile up for a week and no one sat on them.