Winter Care of Muscovies

[Cottage Rose]

Lynn
I don't have any roosts for the ducks.
In fact I have some scovies in the old chicken coop and they don't use the roots but i have some young ducks that like to perch on the stall walls that are about 4 ft. high.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Vicky,

Your scovies look great! I really like the solid colors.

A note and I am not sure if everyone has the same experience but my 'older' female did not try to fly at all after her first year. She did before she brooded. This years' young females did fly a lot but they seem to have decided they don't want me coming down to chisel them out of the ice in my brook. They are smart enough to fly down there but once they get iced up they won't walk back up for food and shelter, they will stay in the brook until frozen down.

I could not catch them or make them come up and had to wait until they were indeed frozen. I think they just wanted to stay away from the male. Everyone is happy now and they stay with my chickens. They do not bother older chicks. Today I was watching everyone and saw that the drake wags his tail at some of my marans hens, they seem to interact some. The duck hens stay to themselves for the most part and do not like the drake coming near them at all.

Muscovies will eat all of your frogs in warm weather though. I like having frogs as much as the birds so that bummed me out to see the drakes capture and swallow froggies whole! They also stripped the fenced common run of all vegetation, including the staghorn sumac, where the chickens never did that. They ate all of my milkweeds and daylillies too (located outside the common fenced run). I did not need to mow all of last year.

For 2009 if I do get the young stock I have to breed successfully, the resulting ducklings will be kept confined as most of them will be for the freezer. I just want to keep a breeding trio and sell off the rest or put them in the freezer for grilling. They are excellent eating.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Oh ya that reminds me...Muscovy drakes will torment/ run down/and breed chickens too.

The Musc. girls always try run away from the testosterone crazed Casanovas

but eventually they're caught by the drakes.
A big Musc. drake's claws could do some serious damage to a smaller chicken.
Another reason to keep them separate.

Birch Run I'm surprised your Musc. ate so much.
How did they eat your Sumac?? Mine are like small trees and I've never seen the ducks even attempting to eat the stem part.
They don't touch my sumac or any weeds that I've noticed.
They seem to prefer the tender grass.
I have some daylilies within their free range area that get nibbled on a little bit but they pretty much leave them alone.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

I think they just would use their bodies to push the young sumac stalks down. I just remembered how much they liked my beets too! I planted some beets in a container and they didn't grow well, made small little bulbs so I never collected them. The ducks found them and kept shaving the little bulbs down with their beaks!

My original drake, who flew away after my hen started brooding never went after chickens for 'entertainment' he just flew the coop!

The young drake I have now had a broken leg as a duckling, I don't know that he will be an effective breeder as he was so low on the pecking order he stayed seperate from everyone else while growing up. They were all very cruel to him.

They really are learning how to ask for corn. The ducks now realize I control the treats. Lame Duck (the drake) will come over and wag his tail at me so fast it is a blur.

 

[Cottage Rose]

I use 2 ft. high vinyl coated green, garden/rabbit guard fencing to set boundaries for my birds.
I'm sure they'd eat more stuff if they could get to it.
Its easy to set up...I use electric fence posts/rods to keep it up and its short enough to easily step over.
The ducks and geese could get over the fence if they really wanted too but I have enough grass where they are allowed to free range to keep them occupied so the fencing does its job.

 

[LynneP]

Thank you, all of you, for giving me the skinny on muscovies. I'm taking a serious look at keeping some. If I do, I'll acquire them locally, I remember seeing some at a cattle farm nearby and they seems very compatible with the herd. They stay near the main buildings, mainly in the birthing pasture. It's possible they'd part with some chicks. At any rate, I'm deep in the country, so someone will produce some!