Muscovy Husbandry (homes, live, club)

[Lemmy1]

Hey all,
My wife saved/adopted 2 female and 1 male of this species. They are all used to people and cars, have drinking bowls and a kiddy pool to swim in..They wander our property, occasionally leave, but always fly back for food. With that said, a female laid eggs under our porch and is incubating them 75% of the time..Asking for insight!

Mahalo Nui

[Monello]

Slow roasted for sure. Then finish with high heat to crisp up the skin.

Around week 3, the eggs can be used to make balut.

[Lemmy1]

Monello, the title is husbandry not harvesting. I’m a hunter and understand the difference. I recently lost our family Rottweiler, just looking for another distraction. If I wanted to kill, I’d post on my hunting forum..Thanks anyway.

Pope & Young Club Record Member.

[terracore]

Muscovies are prolific breeders. Not only do they lay a lot of eggs, they have a really high hatch rate, even under poor conditions. Their natural environment in central / south America is a lot like Hawaii.

Not all hens are good mothers. We've had a few that more or less abandoned their chicks after a couple of days, but generally they do a better job raising their chicks than turkeys or geese. Your flock size will quickly grow and get out of hand if you're not careful. I don't know where you live but here the ducklings can be hard to give away. They go in cycles. Sometimes people can sell them for a few bucks, other times they are pretty easy to give away for free, occasionally people can't find homes for them and they get dumped somewhere.

The chicks that are raised around humans will always be underfoot. We have one duck that tries to land on me all the time, others try to get in the house, they are constant companions if they think I have any food. We have one duck that climbs chicken wire with the claws on it's webbed feet. I have to be careful when I'm feeding the other animals because the ducks try to crowd me and they can't seem to learn how not to get stepped on.

We originally raised them to eat. Their meat is closer to goose than it is other types of ducks. It's possible to prepare it such that if somebody was blindfolded, they might not be able to tell the difference between Muscovy and beef. We spent too much time with them and they became affectionate and each has a distinct individual personality, so they are off the menu, at least as long as the barges keep coming.

Their eggs are good, with a rich yolk and sought after for baking and making mayonnaise. We like making eggs benedict with them.

We like having them around and there is a noticeable reduction in the amount of pests. They eat stuff off the ground like chickens, but they also snatch bugs in the air. They'll even go after small mammals like mice. LMK if you have any specific questions.

[Lemmy1]

Mahalo Nui terracore! They act like puppies, follow us everywhere, bobbing
heads and grunting, stinking up the car port..With that said, we’ll see in 6 weeks. Mahalo for the insight

Oh also noticed less Coquis near my windows at night

[hapci534]

I remember starting out with 3 ducks in 2018...
Now we have 50+. I second Terracore's advice, he already covered the main points... :-)
For special duck questions, I find this forum very helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/ducks.42/