Pocket Pause

Welcome to the farm, muscovy ducks!

Craigslist can be a dangerous and wonderful place. Yesterday i met a nice couple from Sweet Home who had hand-raised these gentle muscovy “ducklings” in a parking lot by the farmer’s market (They’re 2 months old and about 5 times the size of our chicks of the same age). I also met a nice woman who sold me some of her daughter’s muck boots – who happened to be friends with another friend of mine. Small world! And i got a killer deal on both transactions and will make good use of them. This trio of muscovy ducks will mow and fertilize our pasture and provide delicious eggs and even more delicious meat next spring. I’m crossing fingers for a few eggs this fall and crossing toes that the hens will be broody enough to incubate eggs next season and raise us some delicious ducks to butcher for our freezer or sell to others as breeders or food…. via craigslist! ha.

It’s looking like a real barnyard out there now. The chickens are not at all sure what to do with these slow moving and quiet creatures. They’re similar enough to chickens that they’re interested, but different enough that they’re completely baffled by their presence. I’ve read that muscovies can get a bit aggressive to chickens, so i’ll have to watch closely as they mature, especially around breeding season next year so that we don’t have any chicken casualties. Future plans for rotational grazing may have the ducks and geese (yes, i skipped the geese this year but cannot be stopped from my goosey goal forever!) grazing with the goats/sheep instead of in with the chickens. I’ve moved the waterer out of the coop so that they have equal opportunity without motivation to go into the coop, which is reserved for the chickens. The ducks will stay outside at night, protected only by the electro net – which hopefully does its job well! More future plans may include the farm llama patrolling outside of the electro nets…. though that might upset it. More research to be done.

Muscovy ducks are apparently more closely related to geese than the mallard type ducks. They’re grown mostly for meat and have lower water/swimming requirements than other ducks. After a day with these interesting creatures, i’m already planning on adding more egg-laying type ducks to the flock. I might even want more ducks than chickens at some point – though they all have their different roles to fill.  I love duck sounds and muscovies are very quiet. I’d like some more quacking around and love the looks of Blue Swedish and Buff Orpington ducks. These muscovies have such beautiful green sheen to their wings. Since they weren’t raised by a mama duck i’m crossing more fingers that they’ll be good foragers and will require fairly limited supplemental feed once they’re grown. In the meantime i’m feeding them curdled milk, whey and any slugs i can find and will be switching all of the poultry to a ‘general poultry’ grower ration with 19% protein. Wowzer, that’s a lot of protein. They’re not supposed to eat layer rationw hile they’re growing because the extra calcium can damage their growing bones, so the laying hens will get some extra calcium added to their feeder and will just have to go 2 months off of their regular ration. I think they can handle it, especially since they’re terrible (old) layers anyway.

Have you ever kept ducks? Have you ever kept ducks WITH chickens? Please leave a comment with your experiences!