# Muscovy Ducks



## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

I need advice on my Muscovy Ducks. I have 100 feet of 5 foot tall 2x4 wire run attached a 12x15 shed. I have hay in the shed and 2 small dog houses. I only have a drake and hen right now and both are 2 years old. My husband wants to buy 25 more Muscovy ducks come April as a guy from his work is willing to sell them $3 a bird. He wants to weed out the drakes at 13 weeks and butcher. He wants to keep back 4 hens so we have 5 hens to lay with 1 drake. Then either try to sell the other hens or butcher as well.

We have a larger pond(about half an acre in size and 25-30ft deep) that I plan to run them down once a day and then run them back up to the shed at night. We are currently practicing that with just the two at the moment and I've gotten wet feet more then a couple of times now. It seems to work better when I let my pit bull run them up and down instead of me chasing them.

Right now I'm feeding scratch that said it works for ducks and chickens. What do I need to feed as my hen is starting to get broody? She's refusing to sleep in the shed, let alone in the dog houses in the shed(even though they were cleaned with bleach and fresh hay was put in there). She seems interested in sleeping in the middle of the pen by the bench my goats like to sun on. She has dug a small hole and brought over large amounts of straw from the shed.

What do they look like when they are about to lay? I've only had her 3 months and she's never laid with me. She seems to be getting broody and she's waddling slower.

I've heard oyster shells work well. I have a bunch of mussel shells on hand and wondered if they'd work just as well(we eat a lot of mussels).

Thanks!


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

Oh, all the goats except my one heavily pregnant one have been moved to a different area. It's more convenient for me to use the shed as a kidding area.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

She needs a layer feed. I feed my muscovy ducks a mix of scratch, layer pellets, and dog food. I know some folks say to not feed dog food, but I have the most beautiful healthy ducks you've ever seen. They lay eggs, they reproduce, and are just lovely. They also get kitchen scraps and leftover milk.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

We had muscovys for a couple of years... They are very nice ducks! And delicious! We fed laying pellets and sprouted grain. Your shells (all crushed) will be a good supplement. The females do fly. They often would be on the railing outside my bedroom in the mornings as if to say "time to feed!" My husband got tired of the mess they made of the poultry yard...mud. 


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

Would layer feed for chickens work for ducks? I could only find the chicken brand at Wal-Mart. Otherwise I'll make the extra 20 minute trip and go to the farm store. I called them and they have it for $1 more then Wal-Mart's chicken egg layer, but theirs is called poultry egg layer and says it can be used for both ducks and chickens.


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## Goats4Milk (Jan 2, 2015)

milk and honey said:


> We had muscovys for a couple of years... They are very nice ducks! And delicious! We fed laying pellets and sprouted grain. Your shells (all crushed) will be a good supplement. The females do fly. They often would be on the railing outside my bedroom in the mornings as if to say "time to feed!" My husband got tired of the mess they made of the poultry yard...mud.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


The first thing we did when we got home with them was clip their flight feathers! DH said we couldn't keep them if they flew off and he refuses to put netting over the pen if I'm going to free range them during the day anyway.


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