The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: harry on August 04, 2018, 06:09:05 pm
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I would like to keep a few muscovies for meat alongside my meat geese . I don't want them flying over to my neighbours .Is it ok to cut their flight feathers as I have trees and I know they like to roost
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Yes, just cut the flight feathers on one wing.
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If you feed them they will not fly anywhere. Even girls don't fly too much. Less than chickens.
My ones know to go home themselves in the evening as I always feed them a bit inside the coop.
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What do you feed them on for meat birds .What's the feeding plan
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My Muscovy's were all hatched here and they do all fly, but usually its for a reason. Over a tall fence if the hens are being fed and they want some, about 100 metres over some gates to the larger pond, or when there is a duck on eggs and the drake is looking for her he will fly quite far and quite high to try and spot her. Or of course if they are being chased (by an escapee terrier usually)..
I didn't realise how well they flew when I first got them and I lost a few, so think clipping their wings is an excellent idea. For older birds that have been living with you for some time I wouldn't bother top clip after they moult as they will know there home. Younger birds hatched there won't want to wander too far either.
I wonder if you clip meat birds wings will it affect the size of the breast muscle though?
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If you feed them they will not fly anywhere. Even girls don't fly too much. Less than chickens.
My ones know to go home themselves in the evening as I always feed them a bit inside the coop.
This is not my experience with Muscovies. More than any other type of duck, they are not happy without a proper pond or stream, no matter how well you feed and bed them, or how much you give them a paddling pool or other source of clean water.
And all my Muscovies have been avid flyers, so I would absolutely snip the primary feathers on one wing.
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I find my males get too heavy to fly and the females only fly a lot when they are young as they get older they don't fly more than 20 meters or so. I've had muscovies forever but know that everyone seems to have different experiences with theirs so you best bet is just to see what works best for you. I guess it may depend on your set up.... I would say clip their wings to start with to be on the safe side :)
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If you feed them they will not fly anywhere. Even girls don't fly too much. Less than chickens.
My ones know to go home themselves in the evening as I always feed them a bit inside the coop.
This is not my experience with Muscovies. More than any other type of duck, they are not happy without a proper pond or stream, no matter how well you feed and bed them, or how much you give them a paddling pool or other source of clean water.
And all my Muscovies have been avid flyers, so I would absolutely snip the primary feathers on one wing.
My ones have free access to a brook in a middle of our garden. Muscovies spend a lot less time swimming than Campbells.
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If you feed them they will not fly anywhere. Even girls don't fly too much. Less than chickens.
My ones know to go home themselves in the evening as I always feed them a bit inside the coop.
This is not my experience with Muscovies. More than any other type of duck, they are not happy without a proper pond or stream, no matter how well you feed and bed them, or how much you give them a paddling pool or other source of clean water.
And all my Muscovies have been avid flyers, so I would absolutely snip the primary feathers on one wing.
My ones have free access to a brook in a middle of our garden. Muscovies spend a lot less time swimming than Campbells.
I would agree my muscovies swim the least of all my ducks. The calls swam the most! The muscovies spend a lot of time foraging and can waddle quite far! They usually swim in the morning and evening and that's it!
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If you feed them they will not fly anywhere. Even girls don't fly too much. Less than chickens.
My ones know to go home themselves in the evening as I always feed them a bit inside the coop.
This is not my experience with Muscovies. More than any other type of duck, they are not happy without a proper pond or stream, no matter how well you feed and bed them, or how much you give them a paddling pool or other source of clean water.
And all my Muscovies have been avid flyers, so I would absolutely snip the primary feathers on one wing.
My ones have free access to a brook in a middle of our garden.
And that’s why yours don’t fly off! Lol