Muscovy Duck Keeping 101

You may remember these little faces from Duckling Raising 101... That's right, it's Moby, Smooch, Pippin, Quaxley (A rescue, non-muscovy, now been released) and the slightly younger Sylvy, and they are here to tell you how to keep them as royalty! (And I'll give you the essentials).

Muscovies are honestly beautiful creatures, and are completely different to chickens, as my wife soon realised, having never kept either until recently.

Toni, one of our new younger babies, now all grown, enjoying a fresh muddy puddle under the mulberry tree.

A bit about ducks, from a duck.

We are the most exquisite of creatures, and are as different from each other as you hoomans are. Some love cuddles and pats, others prefer to hibernate quietly in a corner until corn or peas are delivered by room service, (preferably fresh corn, with pesky wrapping removed, and peas, de-shelled, shells on the side, however frozen and thawed in warm water will suffice.)

We all, however, LOVE a clean home, with fresh water hourly, as we will splash and chuck it absolutely everywhere the moment we get our beaks in it.

We are extremely sceptical of any new food, as we are convinced it will try eat us or you're trying to poisonous us! But given enough time, we'll try it and in some cases it is delicious! 

Now, the essential knowledge.

The first thing you need to know, and I am extremely serious here. Duck keeping is contagious! You can't just have one because they can die of loneliness, so you get a second... and a third... and a fifth.. before you know it you have eight waddling around the place! Trust me, I speak from experience. I went to pick up one the other day, to go with the existing flock, and came back with three!!!

Observe the heart thieves below.

Ducks love food, and become very familiar with any sound or times relating to food.

Despite movies and popular belief ducks can not eat bread. It can cause many health problems and doesn't particularly provide any nutrition. If you want to feed treats, peas and corn, as previously mentioned are great, but also watermelon and lettuce are greatly appreciated. It might take them a little time to try new foods though.

A good base is important, I've found a mix of gamebird breeder, laying mash, and laying crumble. It provides a nice mix of nutrients and variation so they don't get bored. The way I look at it, I'd hate to eat porridge every day, why should they.

Muscovies aren't the same as other ducks. For starters, they don't quack. This is great especially if you're in a residential area.

They do make noises and are very expressive little creatures, but communicate mostly with little hisses and squeaky-cheep noises. They also wag their tails like dogs, and will head bob, especially when their happy.

Our babies also try preen and give little kisses when being snuggled, they are very caring and gentle and extremely loving.

My gorgeous Smoochy Boy, a young blue and white drake.

Whilst they don't like most ducks, or anywhere near as often, they do need a source of water that they can dip their heads in in order to clean themselves and maintain their waterproofing. Kiddie pools work very well and can be cleaned out frequently to remove any food or debris left by your babies.

As you might expect, your drakes will be much bigger than your hens, and even your hens can vary in size, I have two girls that are almost half the size of my other girls.

Did you know, muscovies are more closely related to geese than a mallard.

Muscovies are the most beautiful and wonderful personality filled creatureas ever. They will wag their tails like dogs, hiss like geese, and roosters like chickens but will love you loyally forever.