Farm

Muscovy Ducks

Basic Information Muscovy are considered heavy weight ducks and weigh between 8-16 lbs. They may have black eyes and black, white or blue feathers. Their wings can be trimmed on one side so that they cannot fly. Female Muscovy hens are superior brooders and can lay clutches of up to 15 eggs.    Muscovy Ducks are originally from South America and are the only duck not derived from mallard stock.   They are smart, can be hand tamed and make excellent pets.   Muscovys like to forage and eat flies, small bugs and even slugs. They are quiet and are known as quackless ducks. The males hiss if they are alarmed and the females make cooing sounds.

Ducklings for sale I still have some drakes and hens for sale. They hatched  on the following days.   August 7, 2009   I would like to sell the ducklings as pet stock. They do need access to a barn in the winter and get along well with other barn animals. Some of ours eat between the alpacas in the morning, pecking some of their grains.    Please contact me via e-mail yhoule@samysalpacafarm.ca or call me at (519) 247 3923.   Lecture Ok, little ones, lets review the safety procedures once more. You follow me and I peck anything that tries to bother us.

A personal note   I am a big fan of our muscovy ducks by now. They are different! We started with a pair and called them Archie and Helene. You see - if they have a name you cannot eat them! (I am just an old city girl)   At the time I tried to find out more about how to keep free range muscovy ducks. Not much luck, so we learned by watching them.   They didn't seem to go to far, hung around the barn and the pond. Soon Archie was double the size of Helene and was not able to fly anymore. They ate everything; flies, grubs, grass, what ever creeps and crawls and  unfortunately also all my plants in the ponds. Well, can't have everything. Watch the ducks or the plants. I enjoyed the ducks more.    They got through the winter and then they started the mystery of having eggs everywhere. Helene did not seem to find a spot she liked. Four, five eggs and then she moved on. I was not sure what to do with these eggs. I just left them and when I was sure she did not come back to this particular spot I through them out. I wonder if I could hatch them? Haven't found any info on that yet   Finally she found a spot she liked and sat there for ever. First a few weeks to fill up the nest with eggs and then she did not leave it anymore. I understand now, that is when you start counting of the 35 days until D-day. An eternity to hatch a couple of eggs. But she did it. Archie was pretty lost during this time. He used to sit beside her and tried to convince her to "go out and play". But natures took over and she sat on these eggs without anybody ever teaching or telling her.    Finally 16 of them hatched. Nature is just fantastic! They all hatch at the same time! And then she walked them around the barn and the yard. It was like she was weeding out the weak ones. We tried to rescue some of the stragglers with no success. The cats didn't really bother them. Well, they tried at first, but one good snap from Helene and they got the message. Finally there were six left, four females and 2 males, that grew into big strong muscovy ducks, our base flock! Our daughter Anna gave them all names, just to be on the sure side. What ever has a name you cannot eat!   Now it is May 2009, when I am writing this, I have four females sitting on eggs, number five is still undecided! I am working on ideas what to do with all these ducks arriving soon!?

E-Mail: yhoule@samysalpacafarm.ca
Web: www.SamysAlapacaFarm.ca