Raising Muscovy Ducks: Our Experiences; Pros and Cons...
We used to raise muscovy ducks. Now, muscovies are not like regular ducks.
They are not closely related. Kind of like a donkey and a horse. They can mate with ducks, but the babies will be sterile.
Muscovies are pretty interesting birds.
They are native to south and central America, and Mexico. Being tropical birds, you might think they would have issues with cold weather, but nope, they adapt to northern life quite well. These birds are pretty good meat birds, males getting up to 15lbs and females weighing in at 8lbs. The males are too heavy to fly much, but those girls, well, you have to watch those boogers, they can fly around all over the place! We always had to keep their wings trimmed well. It doesn't hurt. Some people actually snip the entire end of the wing off when they are ducklings, which I personally find cruel, but we just cut the flight feathers, which is about as painful as a haircut.
Muscovy ducks are usually quite prolific. Well, during mating season, anyway. (Unless you end up with bad mothers, or didn't they bother mating before their egg-laying season.) They have ducklings willy-nilly all over the place!
You may be wondering why I speak of them in the past tense.
Well, for multiple reasons, we decided raising them wasn't for us anymore. I'll outline them for you.
First of all, they are large, extremely poopy, animals.
And this isn't dry, small, chicken poop kind of poops. No... these are HUGE nasty splats! Disgusting. Their favorite thing to do was perch on the porch railing and poop on everything.
Look at him. He's not even sorry.
So yeah, poop.
Second of all, they only lay seasonally.
Meaning they lay eggs for a short period of time each year. If you want duck eggs for eating, you don't get many. If you want meat ducks, you better hope you hatch out some of those eggs, or you have to wait until next season... I know I said they were prolific, and they can be, if they get it right... We found that over a period of a couple years, the amount of feed and poop just didn't justify the amount of eggs and ducklings.
Not to mention, it takes a LONG time before they are big enough to eat.
My research says the ideal butchering age is 13 weeks, but they never seemed big enough that young. This may have something to do with the fact that they free-range. All that exercise keeps them slim and trim. My chickens also don't get large fast. By the time the ducks were big enough, they were pretty difficult for me to butcher. I tried plucking one once, but that was a massive failure. I normally skin my chickens, but a friend wanted an entire duck with skin. Perhaps with practice, it would be easier, but from what I understand, plucking ducks is a chore and a half on a good day. Skinning was also difficult since, being older, their skin was more firmly attached. You guys who have butchered many birds before know what I'm talking about...
Some young, teenager ducks.
They are rapey. Yes, you read that right.
The drakes will chase down and mate with anything they can catch. I have heard stories of unfortunate cats and even legs...
In my experience, they will force themselves on female AND male ducks, which isn't good, but the main trouble is they will also force themselves on chickens. This IS a problem, because, without going into graphic detail, ducks penetrate, and chickens are NOT built for penetration.
I'll leave it at that.
Now, some of you may be thinking, silly her, animal 'love' doesn't look like people 'love', she just doesn't expect it to be so rough. Not so. I know how mating usually is. I can tell if the female is ready or not, and generally, the male animal will back down after a few tries if the female resists. Not with these ducks. Not at all.
Last thing is ducks like water.
Duh. Of course they do, they're ducks!! If you don't have a pond, (we don't), you should put up a kiddie pool or two for them to wash out their beaks and clean their feathers in. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, imagine having to dump and refill a kiddie pool or two of NASTY POOP SOUP every day! Every. Single. Day. It gets old. Trust me. And it stinks. Literally.
We raised these birds for several years. They free-ranged and WERE good for some things.
First of all, they are great fly control!
They will sit there and catch fly after fly and eat them. If you live on a farm, you know flies are the devils minions. Fly control is good.
The eggs are delicious!
I loved eating duck eggs and I wish they had laid them more often!
The meat is also delicious!
It was not like chicken at all, it was more like a red meat. I would filet out the breasts and get nice, large, tasty chunks of meat. Duck burger is also pretty stinkin' good. I would use it as ground beef, and no one could tell it wasn't beef!
Overall, I think muscovies are a pretty good bird for homesteads.
They WERE worth trying out, but for us, the work outweighed the benefits. We decided that chickens gave us more eggs and meat for our money and time, so we ultimately decided to get rid of the ducks for good. We gave away a few, and ate the rest.
Have you raised or are currently raising muscovy ducks? What do you think about them?
Thanks for reading and have a blessed day! ♥
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I used to keep Muskovies.
You're pretty much right.
'take a step take a dump...and all sex is rape'.
I had ten acres with a three acre pond...not a problem.
I didn't clip the females wings...there's a reason they can fly and the guys can not.
Haha, yes, you know what they're like.
Well, in that scenario, they would be okay! Especially if the pond was nowhere near the house! You know, that is an excellent point, the females can fly away from the males! If I had 10 acres and a pond, I might give them another shot, they sure do taste great!
I had to clip the wings on mine, unfortunately, because they have no sense of 'this is MY peoples' property, I had better stay here or the neighbor's dogs might eat me!'... :/
LOL - love your post and the comments.
We have three muscovy hens currently. I started with four, which are in a large covered enclosure with our chickens, but one literally flew the coop - I'm assuming she must have flown out of the one gap between the top and the panel we use as a gate. I've since employed a bungee cord to eliminate that gap, and so far, we've had no further escapes.
One of the ducks had gotten out a few days earlier, but I managed to herd her back inside fairly easily.
But then one morning I realized there were only three ducks, with zero feathers around, the enclosure pristine, and no sign of a struggle. I checked along the driveway between the house and the barn, which winds through the woods, but nothing. Not even a stray feather. I never did find any sign of her.
Anyway, we have found them to be fairly consistent layers, though there are certainly dry spells, we love the eggs, and I love the girls.
I did make the mistake of feeding our lead girl, who I've nicknamed "Duckess," from the bowl in which I bring their scratch grains, which has now made her not only grabby, but a few times she has literally flown at me in order to get me to hand feed her, which prompted the other girls to try that little trick as well.
Nope. Not taking orders from a duck, thank you very much. She has pretty much knocked it off, after getting a few handsful of feed thrown in her face. Sheesh!
We don't have a drake, and won't until we secure a chicken tractor, so that our chickens can be separated from the ducks. I spoke with a friend online who told me that she lost several chickens due to a drake forcibly mating them.
We're down to two Australorp hens and a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte rooster, but we do plan to get more, but I'd much rather they die of old age than get raped to death. I'm not willing to put them through that.
I was hoping to free range ours, as we have 16.5 acres bordering a river, but we have LOTS of resident hawks and owls, not to mention red foxes, bobcats, transient coyotes and occasional bears.
In talking with our next door neighbor, she told me that her son had recently seen one of the red tailed hawks land on top of our poultry enclosure, making me doubly glad that I had the good sense to cover the top from the start.
Once we get the barn fence completed, which we are planning to make 7' tall as a barricade for the deer, I may try free ranging them in the barnyard with the goats, as there is a small pond there. I'm also hoping to run a few geese and turkeys, and hopefully a Pyrenees or two to help with predator control, though the geese will help with that, as they are so territorial.
And, hopefully, with cross fencing, I'll be able to give them all more freedom over time. Time will tell. But I won't let the breeders free range until we have at least fifty birds, as I'd really like for enough of them to be around to provide good tick control, since our place is a tick haven.
Wow, sounds like you have a good and sensible plan!! How inspiring! ♥
Word to the wise: make sure you have a few black hens in your flock. They say the hawks think they are crows and wont bother your chickens. I dont know how much truth is in this, but we have LOTS of hawks around here, and we keep black australorps in our flock. None of our neighbors can free-range their birds due to hawks killing them, but we have ours loose, and have not lost a SINGLE bird to hawks. Ever.
Cooincidence?...
I doubt it.
Haha, I used to have a couple ducks that would try and fly in my face for feed. The turds! Try having a male duck do this! They are at least twice as big as the females. The turds. And boy, those claws are crazy! They are the scratching-est birds ever!
Anyway, I hope you are having a nice weekend! Thanks for the comment!! ♥
As for our drakes flying at me for feed, that will be squashed but quick.
Rutger, our rooster, started challenging me with his little sideways aggressive dance toward me about six months ago, when he reached a year or so of age, and I put an end to that immediately.
We had a little chat, Rutger and I. And I informed him, not unkindly, that if he EVER lays a spur on me, or on any of our animals, he'll be soup. No second chance.
He's a nice rooster or he's gone. I refuse to allow that kind of temperament into the farm's gene pool. Not happening on my watch.
And, lo and behold, he may not have understood the words, but he absolutely understood that I meant business. He has not threatened me again.
And, every so often, I do a sideways dance toward him, just to let him know exactly who is boss, in no uncertain terms, and it ain't him. ;-)
Do NOT bite the hand that feeds you. Big mistake. Huge.
Absolutely! I have the same policy here! I had to eat a few roosters before I got one that got the point. I could teach them to respect me, but to leave the kids alone, that was harder. Not allowing that nonsense though!
The mean roosters taste better. ;)
Yeah, my dad raised boxers when I was a kid, and the breeder he used had a similar policy for her dogs.
Beyond checking for conformation and temperament, on the few occasions where a dog exhibited any signs of viciousness, she culled them immediately. Not worth taking the risk, when you're dealing with such a large and powerful dog.
That's a tough decision to make, but I respected her take, and I apply it to my animals. I'm a lifelong advocate of "Live and let live," but viciousness I won't tolerate.
Absolutely. Taking a life is never fun, but if you are going to breed animals, that is something that will have to be done at some point, either with animals of bad temperament, deformities, injuries, or other things... Best to realize that from the get-go.
LOL - I actually started out with four hens; two Dominiques (because I still want to raise them as a triple-use rare breed), and two Australorps.
Although both breeds have the reputation of being hardy, and consistent layers of brown eggs, over about four years we lost one, and then the other Dominique, and not to predators; they just seemed to lay down and die.
They had precisely the same care and conditions as the Australorps, which are still going strong, they were housed together, and until about a year and a half ago, it was just the hens, as we hadn't yet gotten our rooster.
Granted, we obtained all the hens as layers, and it is entirely possible that they were considerably older than we were told. I understand that that is commonly done among less scrupulous sellers.
That said, two black Auatralorps didn't prevent the red tailed hawk from landing on top of their enclosure, so I'm not convinced that the hawks don't still view them as a potential lunch. ;-)
We have a big group of Muscovy is probably about 30 some. Currently I was trying to help the babies stay alive, but some raccoon or possum climbed down their deck and slaughtered all but three. It's our first full year raising them, trying to weigh the pros and cons. Lots of eggs presently. When do you fiND they stop laying?
Ours laid mostly in the spring and fall. Most of them would use a nestbox, but there were always a few rogues... They seemed to lay until they had a nest full and then set. The summer and winter times would be eggless for us...
Sorry about your predator problem... That is so frustrating and disappointing. I hope you find the culprit!
They are a little bit of a strange looking bird.
Some people have nick-named them the 'ugly ducks', haha.
Not very pretty, for sure.
My sister has ducks and warned me not to get any from the mess standpoint!
The mess is indeed pretty ridiculous!
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Cool, thanks! ♥
here we uses the meat for prepared a deliocious tamales.
That DOES sound delicious! ♥
yes sir the tamales are a corn blended inside or a leaf of bananas with duck meat and tomate sausage, and potatoes, vegetables, and boiled about 2 hours they are very delicious, some day i hope share this great recype here.
Best regard.
I would LOVE to see the recipe! They sound fantastic! :D
yes sir, we hope share a great contents here in this great social network.
have a great week.
I love eating duck!
Me too!!!! ♥