We got our first Muscovy ducks in the summer of 2015. We raised a lot of ducklings, collected a lot of eggs, harvested some for meat, and gave a bunch away. In January 2020, our last Muscovy was killed by a dog and that was a sad day because we really liked these birds. But as much as we wanted to get more, the dog problem persisted. So we decided to wait until we could put a gate across the driveway.
The driveway gate was finally installed this summer, and we began to think about getting Muscovys again. We discussed where to put them and finally decided to fence off the area around the fig trees. It's next to the goat barn and sheltered by the figs plus a large evergreen magnolia tree, so it seemed perfect. Dan kept an eye on craiglist and when he found what he was looking for, brought home three Muscovy ducks: a drake and two hens.
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| Our new Muscovy ducks, 5 months old. |
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| Home for our new Muscovys next to the goat barn. |
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| Can you see them? They did a lot of hiding at first. |
Our first Muscovys were black, but Dan was able to get three in different colors. The drake is a "blue" (diluted black, actually grey), one female is black, and the other is "chocolate," i.e. brown. A very pretty trio.
Their second morning here, we went to their pen and -- no Muscovys. They weren't under the trees, they weren't behind the bushes, they weren't by their swimming pool, they weren't in their little house. They were gone. There was no sign that anything had entered their pen. No sign of scuffling, no piles of feathers. They had just disappeared. Since nothing seemed to have entered the pen, the only thing I could think of was owls. But the ducks had a lot of cover, and for all three of them to be taken by owls seemed odd.
Dan looked in the front yard and walked up and down the street to check the neighbors' yards. I searched the pastures and the woods. There was no sign of them. They were simply gone. It's always sad to lose an animal, but to have all three disappear overnight was really discouraging.
After chores, Dan came into the kitchen and said, "I found them." They were behind the chicken coop, gazing longingly into the chicken yard. And why not? It looked pretty much like the yard they came from: a large dirt yard with other birds. Dan lifted up the bottom of the chicken wire and they waddled right in.
Then he moved their water dish, house, and swimming pool into the chicken yard, and they celebrated by taking a bath.
The chickens aren't especially pleased with them, but the Muscovys seem happier, and being fliers, I doubt we could keep them out now, even if we wanted to. When animals make up their minds about something, there's usually no persuading them otherwise. Yes, I know some people say ducks and chickens should never be kept together, but our experience is that if each male has his own harem, his focus is on protecting his own. With this system, we've had no serious problems.
There was some territorial squabbling at first, but things have pretty much settled down and each group keeps to itself. We're just glad to have Muscovys again.
