If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. But what if the duck doesn’t quack, and it looks mostly like a duck, except for a rather odd looking snood sprouting from its head and falling over its bill? Must be Muscovy.
Eight young Muscovy ducklings have been waddling their way ’round the yard these past two months. Bought from a Ukranian woman who didn’t know but a few words of English and used an old broom to gently scoop-push the eight purchased ducklings toward the pen entrance for placement into the cardboard box I brought for transport, Muscovy is our newest venture in livestock.
A plus to the Muscovy is that they don’t quack, so neighbor Bill won’t grouse about loud 
quacks disturbing his peace while in his own garden. Muscovy also love to make meal of both mosquitoes and flies, which are especially plentiful here because of the horses living next door. Any critter that can turn a nuisance into edible protein is a friend of mine. And as for protein, the Muscovy is notable for being much larger than relatives of the mallard family. Even the Pekin duck, which we raised briefly before dining on him several months ago, pales in comparison to the grand size of the Muscovy, which can top out at 12+ pounds for a male, and 8+ pounds for a female.
That meat is 98% fat-free, tastes like sirloin, and is produced in copious amounts. We’re looking to this to balance out the predominantly white meat provided by our rabbits. Just as promiscuous as those rabbits, the females can breed up to three times per year, 12-15 ducklings per hatch. That’s a lot of birds, a lot of meat. And they grow F-A-S-T. As of this writing, they’re two months old and look bigger than a full-grown mallard at even this young age.
Of the eight birds purchased, one male will be kept along with any females. They weren’t sexed when purchased, so the odds are 50/50 that we have an even split of males and females. Thus far, half look smaller than the other half, so we’re optimistic that we have an even split. This would allow us to keep a solid sized flock of one male and four females. That would be enough females to keep the drake busy and us busy with Muscovy ducklings coming out of our ears.
We’re housing the Muscovies in our mega-plex chicken coop. By night, in the coop; by day, out and about the yard. Excellent foragers, they wander the yard in search of whatever flies
or mosquitoes make the mistake of whizzing by, as well as the remaining grasses in the middle meadow for them. Over the winter, we plan to shoo them into the garden to seek out slugs and bugs. Unlike chickens who scratch up the ground – and my garden plants - Muscovies aren’t quite as damaging. Yes, they’ll make a meal of unprotected lettuce, but keeping the lettuce under wraps in our hoop house should serve as protection enough. Not much will be out there for them to trample, so we’ll see if garden + Muscovy + winter = a good fit.
We’ll keep you posted on the Muscovy project… yet another in the ceaseless forays in suburban ag wannabes.
