Muscovy Ducks - The unique waterfowl with bags of personality

Around 1 year ago, I was having a rather challenging time with life and work. I'm not sure why exactly, but I bought some hatching eggs and an incubator. The eggs I bought were muscovy duck eggs - of which three hatched. One of them turned out not to be a muscovy duck at all, but a chicken, and a rare large breed at that (more on that in another post).

The other two muscovy ducks were very unique - Dotty and Ducky. They had completely different personalities - Ducky was shy and cautious, Dotty outgoing and playful. All three provided amazing companionship:

Dotty, Ducky and Cheep-Cheep. All three ended up being boys (despite initial size differences) but I didn't change their names. I'm not sure what the exact anatomical term is but muscovy ducks often look like they are smiling because of the upturn in the lips on their beaks. Poultry on the other hand often look like they are frowning!

Ducky, Dotty and Cheep-Cheep at sleep time.

Even though the two ducks were very different in personality, they were almost inseparable

Sadly a fox attack claimed the life of Ducky (middle one), but Dotty survived and has been growing strong. He is in safety now and is so much fun.

A muscovy duck and a shamo chicken

He is very intelligent and seems to recognise me even when I am at a distance, plodding towards me with his tail wagging and making the hissing-train sound that Muscovy ducks make when they are excited. If you bow down to him, he bows down to you as well in a fascinating ritual that is unique to muscovy ducks.

They are tree ducks and are native to Central America (with pockets found in places like Florida) and spend less time in water than mallards, nevertheless Dotty seems to quite like the water. He is so talkative and almost never stops chatting, which he was like since he was hatched:


A very energetic duck
As they are tree-based ducks, sometimes they like to perch high. This is Dotty sitting on the roof and dangling his neck to look at me through a window. As usual, he was talking but I'm not sure what he wanted - maybe it was "come join me up here"

Because of his general attitude and sense of fun, Dotty has had a huge impact on me and I always enjoy checking up on him even though I'm not with him any more. He always seems to recognise me and its hard to separate from him when he wants to play.

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More from Dotty soon