what kind of duck do I have?

[Rosecomb-Ryan]

Muscovys!

 

[thedoors5to1]

i have no idea what kind of ducks they are, but you should consider telling some sort of local animal authority (aspca?) of the dirty conditions you say were at this pet shop, im sure if you report its anonymous, and it sounds like someone should come in and make sure things are up too par. if the owners and workers dont know what kind of ducks they have, and have a dirty pet shop it seems like they need to have a kick in the *ss if i do say so myself.
anyone who has a pet store should be an animal lover and know what they are selling and how to "clean" a cage, no pet should live in a dirty cage.
sorry for my off topic rant, but if they dont know what they are selling then what else dont they know?hopefully they were fed properly, and im glad you saved them, how horrible that you felt guilt if you didnt take them home... and it is quite wierd they were at a pet store...thats a first that i've heard.

 

[flemjam]

I have been feeding them weetabix & oatabix, they love it.

I tried the started food & they just looked at it for 3 hours, read a few articels & tried the wheat & oats, it has plenty of protien.

Is this aproach OK.

Ok as for the pet shop, I live in Saudi Arabia, although I am from Scotland (Glasgow), I moved here 1 year ago to take a possition with an oil company.

Hence the reason for them not knowing anything about them, people just walk in to the pet store, ask for a price to sell there animals & the pet shop takes a commission, no questions asked.

Kind of sad but we all dont live in a perfect world!!!

If I had to save all the animals I see here I would have to build Noah's ark, the plus side to all this is there is a large pond outside my back garden with 2 geese & 1 duck, I am hoping to let then free when they are old enough (how old should they be before I attempt to let them free?).

I really appreciate all your help & assistance.

James

Ps. I just searched for muscovy duckling pics & guess what they are identical to mine

 

[xke4]

I was in a pet store in Paris one day and came upon chipmunks for sale as pets! For $100 an animal. It also was filled with ducks, roosters and things we don't ordinarily associate with a pet store

 

[chicktwit]

My muscovy babies looked a lot like that. I don't know about the first one.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

I would really try the chick starter again. Too much protein is not ideal for them and can result in some unwanted traits as adults. Starter makes everything easier and you won't have to worry that you are giving them too much of something or too little.

I can't tell you the right time to put them outside with the others. We've never come across that problem ourselves because our pond is a small 'inground' and hand-dug with a filter and our adults never had a problem with babies.

Muscovies are great ducks. Ours are very friendly and very patient with the ducklings and baby chicks we're always adding to our flock. Muscovies can naturally live with less water than most other breeds of duck. Ours didn't have the pond available to them for their first year of life and only lived with drinking water. If Muscovies are bred to another type of duck that is not a Muscovy, the offspring will be mule ducks and will be infertile. They're a quiet breed. 'Scovies go broody often, fly very well, and like to roost. Sometimes we'll see ours sitting on top our our chicken coop.

Just some info for you to consider.


Edited to add: I'd try that starter feed and leave it in with them for a while. When they're hungry, they'll eat.

 

[aleciasayshii]

They definately look like muscovies to me too! The beaks look kind of like scovy beaks.