[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

Cou cou de Rennes

[snowyriver]

Cou cou de Rennes

Very nice, I really like that pullet's shape and deep body.
If I didn't know any different I would have said they were Cuckoo Marans.

[Dave C]

Cou cou de Rennes

Really looking forward to seeing how your first few batches of chicks turn out. 

Parent stock are looking good 

[Dave C]

One of my meat hybrids laid this beauty this morning




It weighed in at 107g, can't remember having one as big before.

[snowyriver]

Hi.
Quite a few of you contributing to this subject have experience of keeping Muscovy ducks.
What are the positives and negatives of keeping this breed as opposed to any other duck breed?
I've never kept ducks before, but having digested various sources of information, I quite fancy a trio of lavender and blue Muscovy ducks. The colour choice is just because it's easy on the eye, they will be kept primarily for meat, but we shall also make use of the eggs that are surplus to hatching requirements.
Any advice will be gratefully accepted.

[Dave C]

Macgro7 and PrincessrubyK have them.

[Bramham Wiltshire Horns]

i have them the meat is lovely but they eat a tonne
i suppose also it depends or room
they can soon turn grass and waterholes into mud pits

i am actually thinking of selling mine

[macgro7]

Hi.
Quite a few of you contributing to this subject have experience of keeping Muscovy ducks.
What are the positives and negatives of keeping this breed as opposed to any other duck breed?
I've never kept ducks before, but having digested various sources of information, I quite fancy a trio of lavender and blue Muscovy ducks. The colour choice is just because it's easy on the eye, they will be kept primarily for meat, but we shall also make use of the eggs that are surplus to hatching requirements.
Any advice will be gratefully accepted.

Muscovies are completely different species than other ducks!
Very very different birds!
They are great to breed for meat. I have blue pastel and lavender ones.
They are big.  Drakes fight with each other at this time of the year.
I like them because they are very quiet. Always hatch their own eggs and grow quite fast.
They will never be good if you keep them just for eggs as they only lay a clutch of about dozen to 20 and then go broody. They will lay maybe twice a year and no more. No more eggs for the whole year!
Where abouts in the country are you? I can supply you with a blue or pastel or black ones

[snowyriver]

Thank you guys for your response.
I live in the heart of Montgomeryshire in Mid Wales and I know of a trio I could buy for what I consider to be very little money, which makes it even more tempting.
macgro7, all the points you make are the same positives that drew me towards muscovy ducks and I don't really mind if all the eggs are incubated as I keep a few hens for eggs.
I'll sort these trio out pretty sharpish, before someone else also thinks they are cheap.

[macgro7]

Bare in mind they can fly and some of them might roost like chickens lol
Especially females as they are much lighter.

You live in a nice place then!
They are very strong birds! Much stronger to hold than geese and they have sharp claws! All those muscles make then very tasty though lol

[Dave C]

I know it's all about utility but I still like a nice looking bird, so just deciding which cockerel to put with my IG Pullets.
I'm going to breed more Blue Laced this year.
They say a Dark cockerel over blue hens produce the best lacing.

But I like this pullet and she is the result of a Blue x Blue so I'm not sure 



Don't worry both cockerels are huge so I won't be neglecting my meat project 

[Charlie1234]

Nice looking bird that Dave 

[Dave C]

Picked this guy up this morning when he got stuck in the barn.
Oh man he has some breast meat on him.

Well I was down to the last 2 in the freezer but just had this for Dinner, so will have to get hatching.

This plate is just the breast meat, which carves beautifully not like supermarket rubbish.



Look how dark the leg and thigh meat is.
Full of flavour.

[Charlie1234]

Nice to see chicken that resembles the chicken I had as a kid,proper dark meat and as you say Dave full of flavour 

Only 6 days until I process my cobbs,I will put some pictures up when they are done.

[snowyriver]

You live in a nice place then!
Bare in mind they can fly and some of them might roost like chickens lol
Especially females as they are much lighter.

Yes, we live in a beautiful place, I don't believe there's many better.

Well I went ahead and purchased the lavender muscovy trio, I'm very excited about this new project and hopefully in the not too distant future, we'll have a lot of tasty duck meat.