The Muscovy Duck (not really a duck)
The Muscovy Duck Story and Color Genetics
Muscovy
Cairina moschata
The Muscovy duck is native to South America, from Paraguay to Guianas. It was domesticated in Colombia and Peru before the arrival of the conquistadors and is one of the oldest domesticated fowl species in the world.
It was later transferred to the genus Cairina, making its current binomial name Cairina moschata. The Muscovy duck was formerly placed into the paraphyletic "perching duck" assemblage, but subsequently moved to the dabbling duck subfamily (Anatinae).
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Why is Muscovy not considered a duck?
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Although we call the muscovy a duck it is technically not a duck. The muscovy is a South American waterfowl that has a body like a duck, behaves like a goose in that it hisses rather than quacks, has a breast like a turkey, and roosts like a chicken.
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Reasons to we chose Muscovy as a Homesteading FAVORITE
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Rodent Control -From tiny mice to small snakes, muscovy ducks will take care of it all. Muscovy ducks are great hunters and will chase down small lizards, snakes, mice and other troublesome critters. Not only does this cut down on their feed costs, but helps to rid your barn from disease carrying critters. We use to have a mouse problem in our feed shed, but after our ducks were full grown, we have yet to see a single sign of mice.
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Bug Control-Just like rodents, muscovy ducks will decrease your annoying bug population. Our property is surrounded by wetlands, which means we are walking buffets for mosquitos in the summer. Muscovy ducks are the perfect hunters to reduce the mosquito population. My Mother says she rarely ever gets bitten any more since she first started raising them
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Guard Birds- A male muscovy duck can weigh up to 33 lbs. Add to the fact that they have some pretty gnarly claws, makes them the perfect guard bird for your flock. I watched one of my males fight off a small hawk that had been stalking our flock. They are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to protecting their females.
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Natural Foragers-As mentioned before 2 benefits of raising muscovy ducks are they are great for pest and rodent control, but they eat pretty much anything they can sink their beak into. They eat all sorts of bugs, but they are graze of grass and weeds around your yard.
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No Water Necessary-Well, they do need water to drink, but they do not require large bodies of water to swim in. While Muscovy’s are ducks, and belong to the anatidae family, like other ducks, they are not related to mallards. Most breeds of ducks prefer to swim in ponds and lakes, but Muscovy ducks prefer to spend their time in trees, perching. While they do enjoy dunking in and taking a bath in a small pool, they do not require it. But, as a side note, they will find your water buckets and make a mess out of them in a matter of minutes.
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No Quacks About It-Muscovy ducks are very quiet, and do not actually “quack”. Instead, they let out more of a hissing sound, that is not loud at all.
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Minimal Space Needed-Another one of the great benefits of raising muscovy ducks is that they prefer to perch. This is great if you have limited floor space in your coop. With the muscovy, you can go vertical and build higher perches for them.
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Hardy Birds-Muscovy ducks are some of the most hardy ducks available. They can thrive in cold weather as well as hot and humid weather without any issue. While they are native to Central America, they have been known to thrive in frigid temperatures as well.
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Great Mothers-Muscovy ducks make great mothers. The females in a flock will work together to hatch a clutch of eggs. They will rotate out and can clutch out 25-30 eggs at a time, with a high hatch rate. They will also accommodate other eggs, such as chicken eggs and will happily hatch them as well. The each usually raise up to three clutches a year!
Muscovy duck meat is known for its strong flavor, which some say is mildly gamey and similar to roast beef. Others describe it as having a unique taste and say it's tender like veal. Muscovy duck is often served medium rare and is sometimes called the "Red Meat of the poultry world".
The Muscovy is a heavy bird, suitable mainly for meat production. Under good management, with proper feeding, the drakes (male ducks) will reach 4.0-4.5 kg and the ducks 2.0-2.5 kg at 16 weeks, which is usually the age at which the birds are sold to be eaten.
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Muscovy ducks are long-lived with an average lifespan of 8-12 years and can live for up to 20 years in captivity. It takes around 24 hours for all Muscovy ducklings to hatch, then ducklings remain close to their mother for their first 10-12 weeks to stay warm.
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The muscovy is skinned and not plucked as the skin is very thin and the meat is 99% fat free.
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Muscovy duck food is the cheapest because muscovies can eat anything from worms, plants, insects, small fish, and reptiles. Muscovy ducks are omnivores creatures that eat both plants and animals no matter what cycle of life they’re in. They eat insects such as mosquitoes and lay their eggs in water. Muscovies will eat mosquitoes at both larval and adult stages. Muscovies make good pest control for flies and insects.
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During the summer, the ducks don’t require much from you because they can find food for themselves. During the wintertime, they might need a little more depending on your purpose for them. If the purpose of your Muscovy duck is for eating, then put them on a grower’s ration. If otherwise, then the layer ration will work just fine. It is important to know that even though these ducks can eat almost, it is good to have muscovy duck food special for them.
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For Muscovy ducklings, feed them an all-flock feed with brewer’s yeast. Make sure you feed them food that has a natural source of niacin such as nuts, there isn’t really isn’t the “right” muscovy duck food. Niacin helps all ducks to grow strong legs. But make sure you keep them on a restricted diet so that they can learn how to look for food for themselves. Muscovy duck food isn’t hard to find, because they eat anything.
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For commercial Muscovies, the best food is a protein-rich diet with sources of niacin to help the ducks’ legs grow stronger. Anything that is rich in protein and niacin is the best source of muscovy duck food.
The following are different things that muscovy ducks like to eat, muscovy duck food.
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Leaves
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Stems
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Seeds
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Mosquitoes
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Snails
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Worms
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Small Fish
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Termites
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Grass
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Maggots
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Black widow spiders
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Flies
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Roots
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small reptiles including snake
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Most fruits and vegetables -Try to avoid citrus fruits
Muscovy ducks can also eat bird seeds. Bird seeds have many minerals, vitamins, and nutrients that are important and healthy for the ducks and ducklings in order to grow healthy.
In wetlands, Muscovy duck food is mostly grasses, sedges, water lily seeds, mangrove seeds, tubers, and crustaceans.
Things to Avoid feeding Muscovy
Try avoiding citrus fruits such as lime, lemons, oranges, and grapefruit. Citrus fruits do interfere with the absorption of calcium and contribute to thin-shelled eggs. Citrus fruits can also cause acid reflux and stomach pain in ducks. Fruits and vegetables make great muscovy duck food.
Even though Muscovy ducks can eat almost everything, there are still some things that can be poisonous to the muscovies. Rhubarb is one of those things that muscovy ducks cannot eat. Rhubarb contains a toxin called oxalic acid. oxalic acid can prevent ducks from absorbing the calcium they need. A lack of calcium can result in egg binding. Rhubarb is not a great choice for Muscovy duck food.
See What we feed our Muscovy below ;
Locally in East TN we buy Tucker Milling Feed from Dodson Creek Farm Supply located at 523 Kite Road, Rogersville TN 37857 (423) 500-4923
******In winter we also supplement by adding one cup of catfood a week when foraging is minimum. We usually do this between Thanksgiving through March. We like the brands for inside cats because they include peas and carrots. ( remember peas are high in Niacin and waterfowl require more than chickens)
