Thinking about getting muscovys

[Sami's Mommy]

I want to get a pair of ducks and I want them to be quiet, so people recommended the muscovys. I have a few questions though...
First, are they friendly? We have a daycare and I would like to be able to let the kids pet them and such.
Second, is there anyway to know a boy from a girl at duckling age? I would really prefer two girls. I feel like the boys will be to loud and I don't want to deal with a ton of mating if possible.
Third, do they come in different colors? Can you tell he colors apart as ducklings?
Fourth, how much space do they need in a coop for at night? And for the pen during the daytime?
Fifth, how can I keep them from flying away?
And finally can anyone point me to a good resource that tells me how to raise 'scovies from babies? I would really like to get two as babies so I need to know the best way to raise them

 

[Eika]

Hi!

I've only kept muscovy ducks so can't really offer any advice as to how they compare to other ducks. In terms of noisiness, they are very quiet IMO. The males tend to hiss lowly and the females mostly whistle, although they can give a slight quack when angry/scared. Certainly quieter than most ducks or so I've heard.

1) Mine are quite friendly! I'd imagine it's the same as most really, handle from an early age and don't let kids chase them and they should be fine. I'd agree with you on getting 2 females as I've heard of males being a bit aggressive sometimes (although mine is a gentle giant) and they have the size and strength to do some damage if they didn't like the kids. Females are much smaller and can be very affectionate.

2) As newborn ducklings there is no obvious way to sex them, your best bet would be vent sexing which may damage them if done incorrectly, but if you can find an expert to help it is an option. Other than that, you can make an educated guess by looking at their feet, which are a bigger in the males. Apparently their legs are like tree trunks as well, but I'm not sure how true this is as I can't see any difference in the legs of my 3 (fingers crossed they're all girls!). You can definitely tell by around 8 weeks as the males will shoot up in size.

3) Yes they have a huge range of colours, most common is probably pied (black and white) or solid black, but there is also buff, white, chocolate, lavender, and even blue (a pretty slate-grey). White is easiest to tell, as ducklings they will be yellow. Lavender/chocolate are a sort of llight brown, and the others are dark brown to black. Try this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/663441/muscovy-duckling-colors

4) You'll get a lot of different opinions on this one for for a basic rule of thumb I would give each duck 40cm of perch space in the coop (they perch like chickens). As for space in a pen, I'm really not sure as mine have a field to themselves but would take a guess a 3 square metres minimum per duck? Anyone else got advice here?

5) Drakes tend to get too heavy to fly much anyway, but the female ducks are fantastic flyers. They are known for flying around as opposed to flying away, in fact my guys can actually hop over their fence whenever they choose to, but only do so when they know it's dinner time. Even then they just walk up the path to the feed bin and wait for me to get there. They actually quack at my window if I'm a bit late You can easily trim their flight feathers to stop them flying out of an enclosure, but bear in mind that it must be re-done every time they moult (once or twice a year depending on the weather).

Overall I would really, really recommend Muscovies to anyone, although will admit I'm a little biased having had no other types of duck

 

[Going Quackers]

There personable yes, but like with basically every animal how friendly and to coin the phase 'in your pocket' you want will depend on the dedication of people. Mine are personable but i choose to not have them super friendly as they have a job to do which is forage the farm, so i expect not to be attacked, to be able to handle one if a concerns arises and so forth but they don't eat out my hand.

Basically, spending time with them as ducklings and food is a good way to tame them down, i have most of my ducks raised by the other ducks so i am more a hands off approach here.

As the other posted said, vent sexing and that can only be done by those who know how a mistake can harm a duck, i don't know how myself BUT i have raised enough 'scovies to get a pretty good idea by 2-3wks old, the guy in my avatar? he is one of my Mar hatchings, he's 4wks on wed/thurs and is most definitely a drakelet, he's big, big feet, big legs... just big awfully cute but big lol

I would do some checking around and see, some may sex them as young and then you can decide which you'd prefer. The drakes are actually the quieter of the breed, as they only huff/hiss, whereas the ducks coo, trill, quack and hiss... but males and females together do bring forth breeding so if you choose to avoid that, stick with only one sex. My drakes attack no one, the one is a pest but he is harmless, the other is a sweetie but there big boys and do require more space than a duck would.

They sure do come in colours! a lot of them. I have whites, blue, chocolate, black and so forth... those well versed in Muscovy can tell as young ones, i am learning but have no issue admitting i am terrible with colors lol but i am learning pretty confident the one in my avatar is a blue or lavender but we'll see he's only starting to get feathers.

This is one of my blue ducks..





The one above is a chocolate, she was hatched out last year, actually her mum is the one in the picture above.

As for flight, which 'scovie girls are super good at, mine clear a 5ft fence. You'd need to do a wing clip, like they do with say budgies.

For housing, roomy... while the ducks are small there are not bantam and do need plenty of space, plus think predators although you may see none once as you have something like ducks, they come out looking for that duck dinner.

My mini barn is 6X8(6ft tall) and with additional 16sq ft addition of stalls, this is housing 14 birds right now, it's used for night and some days in winter when it's bitter... there penned area is 1/3 of an acre BUT they free range, the pen is for after dusk and poor weather days.

Do you have storey's guide to ducks? i would recommend it, not only will aid with feeding but housing.

 

[learycow]

1. If you handle them a lot as babies, then they can be VERY friendly. Mine will follow me around when i am outside, in the garage with the doors open, etc. They will eat treats from my hand (not always gentle enough for a kid though) and are very personable. I have never had any attack anyone (except for a broody hen on her nest or with babies) so yes, they make excellent pet ducks. But if you get them from a breeder, I would recommend making sure they come from non-aggressive parents. Some drakes have been known to be aggressive so be sure temperament is something the breeders breeds for.

2. Unless the person you buy them from knows how to vent sex them, you won't be able to tell gender as ducklings. But one thing to keep in mind is that this is a "quackless" duck. They make cooing and hissing sounds but don't actually quack like other duck breeds. So male or female, you will not have noisy birds. And just note that the females are excellent fliers unless you clip wings. So if you want them to stick around and not have to worry about flying off, get 2 males (they don't normally fight unless they have females to fight over). They drakes are much heavier and can not fly as well as the females.

3. They come in MANY colors and patterns. I will post some pics later when I am on my laptop for you to look at. But for the most part, you can tell as ducklings.
White will stay white, black will be black (they come in different patterns which will determine if they will be solid, solid with a white head, pied, etc), brown will be chocolate, whitish gray with a gray bill tend to be lavender, whitish brown with a pink bill will be buff, white with a colored bill and just a colored tail will be barred pattern in whatever color their tail is, blue blue fawn and sometimes chocolate can be hard to tell apart as these colors can be very similar. So unless you have some of each to look at and compare with, it's kind of a guessing game.

4. If you raise them as ducklings, they won't venture far if you want to free range them. They are quick to learn where their food/water is and they won't go far. For a coop space should you decide to keep them in at night, for 2-4 I would recommend a 4x4 or 4x6 if you can. If let out during the day, the coop doesn't need to be huge as it will only be used for sleeping and egg laying. If you pen them, make it 203 times larger than the coop. They tend to make a mess in small areas so it will stay cleaner/dryer if it's fairly big.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other specific questions

 

[Sami's Mommy]

Anyone have a good resource for caring for Babies?

 

[Going Quackers]

Anyone have a good resource for caring for Babies?

Check the sticky's at the top of the forum!

 

[Sami's Mommy]

Anyone have specific Muscovy baby care?

 

[learycow]

same as any other duckling

Warmth (heat lamp until feathered), shelter (to protect them from predators and the elements), fresh water daily (they can swim if supervised but be sure they can get warm and dry after so they don't get chilled), food daily (I let them eat free choice as I feel they grow better that way, unmedicated starter until they are 12 weeks, grower from 12 weeks to 20 weeks, then I put them on layer pellets). They can also eat fresh fruits and veggies (cabbage, lettuce, peas, corn, strawberries, etc as long as it's cut small enough so they don't choke)

Does that help?

 

[Sami's Mommy]

Yes thanks!