[goosepimple]

Just in case you don't usually go into Marketplace.
 
I know some of you contacted me previously about Muscovies.  We presently have an excess and need to offload before spring, mostly to try to sell off the boys before the end of this month or they will have to go as oven ready.  Some girls available.
 
Many thanks.

[harry]

AS a side issue...... ime going to start keeping muscovy this year.... maybe a drake and 5 ducks and maybe hatch some eggs in my incubator,,,,, i want to raise them for meat for my own consumption though the year, whats your rearing regime for these ducks.... they will have an acre free range spilt up into 3 sections so i can move them onto fresh ground,  hoping to start with about 50 ducklings to rear..... dont suppose i need to hatch any in my incubator??/

[goosepimple]

They're good mums and big hatches.  They fly, personally I don't agree with wing clipping, they're almost sure to get taken and they love to roost on shed roofs, fences etc, it's nautral to them.  They love the pond and do a lot of dooking in it, so unless you have a decent sized one I would keep something else.  Meat-wise, we have killed a lot this year, all boys, for meat - to be honest the breast meat is nice, but they are more gamey than normal duck - kind of more liver-like than duck like, we had ours processed as oven ready but I would only do the breast meat now as they legs get a bit chewy.  We've tried cooking them different ways and in differnet ovens (conventional and Aga) and for different times to try and get it right but the meat is really in the breasts.    Like geese, the meat you get is less than you'd think.  I'd suss out other ducks before you decide or maybe encourage wild ducks and then have a shoot, much less hassle.  We can't have any other types of duck here as they get eaten by otter if they can't fly.  I don't know much about other ducks for meat, maybe you could put a post out to see what others think.  If I can help you any further, please get in touch.

[harry]

got a 8 ft wide stream running though fenced off about 2 ft out to keep foxes out ..... completly surrounded by electric fence ,,, been fox proof for years now... tried other ducks but thought muscovys would produce a bigger duck....... breasts only would be good as only pluck the breasts then carve them off maybe..... will still try them this year i think..... at what age is best to kill before getting a bit tough.... would you suppliment with growers as well as free range.............. would they x with another duck maybe

[MAK]

A Muscovey will sit on up to 18 eggs and are great mums so I am unsure why you would want an artifical incubation methods. As for meat - the males are very much bigger and the main differenec is in the leg meat. Both sexes yield long plump breasts and for my money the meat is superior to the few other breeds I have tried.

[harry]

why i sometimes use an incubator........18 eggs per sitting may result in 12 to 15 growers.... x 3 ducks = about 40 ducks to the table...i want about 50 - 60... was told these muscovys dont lay many eggs so i useually incubate a few as spares when other birds sit  to chuck in amonst the other day olds to make up for the non hatchers or early deaths..... but also was told these ducks may sit on 3 lots during the year if so then no incubator

[MAK]

Sorry Harry - I guess I am coming from a different perspective in that I keep them for our own consumption. We are taking the eggs just now as we do not want mum's sitting on eggs in the winter. Last Jan /Feb we had 62 eggs being sat on but took them away after nearly 3 weeks of -20 degrees. A couple of clutches a year in the spring and late summer is more than enough for us. As it is we give "meat" away to neighbours who return the favour in other ways.
Do you plan to sell the ducks? 50-60 should give a good return. Good luck.
martin

[goosepimple]

Their growth rate is rapid harry, so like puppies, you have to give them a lot when young (and I mean a lot) - you can meat them at 25wks (so 6 months) but there's a lot of feeding up to that point.  There's no way we have made any profit from our muscovies, quite the opposite.   We used bruised barley from a local farmer here which we get at cost so fairly cheap, but even at that we just can't make it stack up, I think each duck has cost us about £12 to feed to that point and I then have them processed which worked out approx £5 in the end (full bird as oven ready) - you can't sell them for a huge amount as like geese, the meat on them is limited - it's tasty but goose is tastier still and geese are far more economical to feed as they eat much more in grazing.    They can give you up to 3 hatches a year (most are 1 or 2 hatches) but their hatches tended to be smaller, 3 or 4 in the later hatches with an average of 12 ducklings in their first hatch, so don't bank on a big number every time.  2-3 hatches a year is a lot of mouths to feed.  We have gone through well over 100 ducklings this last year (hatchlings that is) but wont be doing that this year, just keeping 1 male and 6 females and keeping enough meat for ourselves that's all and using the rest for egg selling to friends.  Maybe look at geese and turkeys for meat marketing and keep the ducks for eggs, you will probably make more money and have less hassle.

[MAK]

Good informative post from goosepimple. We keep fewer birds (non commercial) and they free range but they are happy to demolish 2 feeds a day and eat anything that moves when I dig the garden -even if it means that they get in my hole. They are great fly catchers and eat any insect - even 4 inch grass hoppers !
I kill and pluck our own so do not have additional costs to the laying lelles and corn mix they take.Easy to butcher as the breasts are full and long.

[Fleecewife]

We kept lavender Muscovies and loved them - until the young males reached sexual maturity at which point we didn't like them any more     Gang rapes became the norm (including some almost drowned ducks) and unfortunately they mature sexually a few weeks before they are worth eating.
 
I have told before the tale of the ducks attempting to shake off a pursuing gang of young males - the duck would fly low towards a fence then pull up at the last moment, leaving the drakes to crash embarrassingly into the fence.  The ducks would fly off laughing.  The drakes fly when they are young but soon get too heavy.  The ducks can always fly but usually come back.  We did lose one or two that way though
 
We got fed up with trying to pluck them so eventually we just skinned them and casseroled the meat.  We found it delicious, but then we prefer well flavoured meat.
 
The ducks really are great mothers and seeing them teaching their ducklings to eat and swim is wonderful.  As babies they are gorgeous, and the females stay beautiful as they mature, but the drakes are best eaten 
 
I don't think they are fertile when crossed with other breeds as they are not really either ducks or geese but it doesn't stop them trying, and terrorising the hens 

[harry]

mmmmmmmmmmmm  really not sure about this... dont want turkeys ,to long a project and all ready at the same time...... got a trio of geese 2 weeks ago but again all ready at same time,,, muscoverys will be protected with electric fence , had no problems with foxes for sevaral years now, and dont want them to fly over into the neighbours nice large garden or over the 6ft stream fence as difficult to fly back again so would have to clip wings. was hoping for a large % of feeding to be of free range as have loads of rough grazing land full of insect life...... think i will go for a drake and 3 ducks this year and see what happens and get some aylsebury types as well.. any ideas how these 2 types would get on together.

[colliewoman]

I really wouldn't clip their wings, muskies like to fly up to perch and I know mine would be miserable if unable to do so.
Having said that, mine have never strayed even without clipping or fences.

[MAK]

Ours go for a walk but always always come when I call at meal times. they do like to eat brassicas and our flowers though so I would keep them off any plants you want to keep. They are quite a sit to see flying but if they do get into next doors garden and its a problem then just clip a wing.

[goosepimple]

Muscovy drakes can get aggressive with other non-Muscovy females - we don't keep others but our first elderly breeding drake kept trying to drown our Steinbacher geese (females) when they first came here even though there was a gander present.  Another time we did have a big blow out with another drake and the gander, the gander came off worse.  Now if we are keeping drakes we are only keeping them for 1 year so they don't get too old and dominant.  If you research on google, there are articles that tell you about Muscovy drakes and other species of ducks.
 
I agree with Colliewoman though, I wouldn't ever clip their wings, they have no way of defending themselves and no matter how well you think you've fenced them in etc .... I don't agree with clipping any wings whatever the bird - it's their only defense.  It is natural to a Muscovy to roost, why take that away.  There are already lots of species of ducks which don't fly and are tasty.
 
Before taking the idea of farming them further why don't you get one and cook it yourself and see what the end product is.  They are fantastic ducks and echo what Fleecewife has said but you will need to feed them - bugs and slugs and a bit of grazing is not enough for their growth rate and it would be irresponsible not to feed them properly, if you want ducks that don't eat much and won't fly around then that's not a Muscovy.

[harry]

ok ive decided..... muscovys a few issues, so going for a commercial type alysbury, definatly (i think) or possibly hatch a few muscovys in the incubator kill at 25 weeks so no adults anywhere