Raising Muscoys

[hallnoaks]

I have 11 Muscovys. 2 drakes and 9 hens. I live in the country and have them living around my 1/2 acre pond. They do pretty good here except for the occasional loss due to predators.

Looking for a method to give the hens a relatively safe place around the pond to have ducklings that lets them do it naturally. I realize there is no 100% safe place but they did it in the wild somehow.

 

[ruthhope]

What a lovely environment for your ducks!

I have muscovies: all rescues that for various reasons didn't make it with ducky mama in the wild. In the wild, the mother lays a large number of eggs but there is a very high loss of the ducklings. I visited a muscovy family on a pond near me last month to see how they were doing. The first time I spotted them the drake was with the group keeping a little watchful eye and chasing off other drakes that were coming over threateningly. There were 7 ducklings. A week later there were 2 and after another week later they were gone.

There cannot be a safe way for your muscovies to brood out round your pond. Predators will be able to get to them. The only way to make it anyway safer would be to have an island in the pond for the ducks to brood on and even then, a hungry raccoon can swim. Can your muscovy fly? (My female can but I dont know if my males have useful flight as they dont try and fly away but I doubt that my larger drake can fly).

Where are you? What are the main predators? If you have hawks or owls, planting shrubbery for the ducks to brood hidden within might help reducingn attacks. Clumps of tall native grasses might help -- wild muscovy near me like sitting in clumps of muhly grass -- but grasses will also provide hiding places for predators

The most safe way for your muscovy to brood their eggs themselves would be to have nesting boxes inside a duck coop that can be secured from dusk to dawn. My muscovy use old wooden drawers as nesting boxes. Some won't use nesting boxes but in a secure coop they would be safe brooding in a corner

 

[addctd2plnts]

As long as they have babies outside, they will lose very close to 100%. Many predators come from the air. Crows, owls, hawks, and even eagles will come back daily till they are all gone. They simply don't have the ability to protect the babies

 

[hallnoaks]

What a lovely environment for your ducks!

I have muscovies: all rescues that for various reasons didn't make it with ducky mama in the wild. In the wild, the mother lays a large number of eggs but there is a very high loss of the ducklings. I visited a muscovy family on a pond near me last month to see how they were doing. The first time I spotted them the drake was with the group keeping a little watchful eye and chasing off other drakes that were coming over threateningly. There were 7 ducklings. A week later there were 2 and after another week later they were gone.

There cannot be a safe way for your muscovies to brood out round your pond. Predators will be able to get to them. The only way to make it anyway safer would be to have an island in the pond for the ducks to brood on and even then, a hungry raccoon can swim. Can your muscovy fly? (My female can but I dont know if my males have useful flight as they dont try and fly away but I doubt that my larger drake can fly).

Where are you? What are the main predators? If you have hawks or owls, planting shrubbery for the ducks to brood hidden within might help reducingn attacks. Clumps of tall native grasses might help -- wild muscovy near me like sitting in clumps of muhly grass -- but grasses will also provide hiding places for predators

The most safe way for your muscovy to brood their eggs themselves would be to have nesting boxes inside a duck coop that can be secured from dusk to dawn. My muscovy use old wooden drawers as nesting boxes. Some won't use nesting boxes but in a secure coop they would be safe brooding in a corner

Very sorry for such a delayed response. We are moving to the country place pictured in earlier post.

I really appreciate your insight. I have since purchased some more Muscovys. I now have 4 drakes and 9 or 10 hens.

My take on your response is having a coop available closed from dawn to dusk or an island float might be the only way to provide a safe place for them to have ducklings.

I have tossed around the float idea before and the coop idea. I really dont want to get in to a coop situation only because it's a little too hands on for us. My wife has physical limitations and I still work weird hours servicing hospitals so attending the coop would be difficult. Maybe I should try a floating island for them then all I would have to do is clean it once in a while.

Note: I have a leaning tree I noticed them liking up by the house. Maybe they'll use this as kind of a natural safe place and predators may e less likely up by our house which is about 75 yards from pond.

Thoughts?

 

[ruthhope]

Very sorry for such a delayed response. We are moving to the country place pictured in earlier post.

I really appreciate your insight. I have since purchased some more Muscovys. I now have 4 drakes and 9 or 10 hens.

My take on your response is having a coop available closed from dawn to dusk or an island float might be the only way to provide a safe place for them to have ducklings.

I have tossed around the float idea before and the coop idea. I really dont want to get in to a coop situation only because it's a little too hands on for us. My wife has physical limitations and I still work weird hours servicing hospitals so attending the coop would be difficult. Maybe I should try a floating island for them then all I would have to do is clean it once in a while.

Note: I have a leaning tree I noticed them liking up by the house. Maybe they'll use this as kind of a natural safe place and predators may e less likely up by our house which is about 75 yards from pond.

Thoughts?

You are actually proposing to let your muscovy be wild muscovy. The breed is successful in the wild in Florida -- too successful, as they are determined to be a nuisance and the migratory bird act is not enforced for muscovy in Florida.

So you are likely to have muscovy that survive out there. Some may lay and brood eggs, but you are likely to have a high mortality in the ducklings. If you are lucky, enough ducklings will survive to breed the following year and replace adults that are taken by predators. But you will have losses to predators with muscovy living wild.

 

[hallnoaks]

You are actually proposing to let your muscovy be wild muscovy. The breed is successful in the wild in Florida -- too successful, as they are determined to be a nuisance and the migratory bird act is not enforced for muscovy in Florida.

So you are likely to have muscovy that survive out there. Some may lay and brood eggs, but you are likely to have a high mortality in the ducklings. If you are lucky, enough ducklings will survive to breed the following year and replace adults that are taken by predators. But you will have losses to predators with muscovy living wild.

Thanks for the response. That's exactly what I've been looking for, just to know that letting them do their thing is at least pretty normal. I understand that the loss of ducklings will be unavoidable as it is in nature. Don't really want too many ducks anyway on only a half acre pond.

 

[ruthhope]

Thanks for the response. That's exactly what I've been looking for, just to know that letting them do their thing is at least pretty normal. I understand that the loss of ducklings will be unavoidable as it is in nature. Don't really want too many ducks anyway on only a half acre pond.

Where are you located?

If the conditions are right on your pond, you will get wild ducks flying in at certain times of the day, and at certain times of the year.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Why let them hatch just to feed the predators when there is other prey that’s available? Take up eggs daily is the best way to keep the ducklings from becoming food.

 

[hallnoaks]

Where are you located?

If the conditions are right on your pond, you will get wild ducks flying in at certain times of the day, and at certain times of the year.

I get Wood Ducks and they use the Wood Duck box but they don't hang out. I also get Fulvous Whistling Duck but they are very docile.

I have another question. I have 2 Mallards the Drake is very aggressive to the Muscovys and I've been thinking about giving it away. Do you have any thoughts about this?