BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds Wild Muscovy Ducks, some info please

Hi,

Over the last several weeks, wild Muscovy ducks have roosted around a nearby apartment complex' ponds. During the day, the hatchlings and Moms travel over to our neighborhood for foraging.

Unfortunately, at approximately 8 - 10 weeks old, the mom was killed crossing a busy street. After we found the mom dead, we were able to corner a few of the younger, smaller chicks that had swollen knee joints and one had a wound on the top of its head. They are recuperating quickly and for now, reside in our back yard. The older ones we check during their daily feed over here.

BUT, we are very concerned as the hatchling group has been reduced from about 35 to know only 12 or so. Should we attempt to pen the older ones as well? Or let nature take its course, so to speak?

We have the room and the tools to pen them comfortably and it seems their feeding is no problem and we have a pool for water out with them that gets cleaned daily. Our goal is to raise them with very little human contact so that when they are adult they will fly happily back onto their migration pattern.

What is your opinion?
Thanks,

Oh - that is so sad Catherine. My first thought would probably be to collect the remaining young ones to keep them safe - BUT - often there are laws against you keeping any wild bird or animal in your possession unless you are a licenced rehabber. The other option therefore would be to take them all to a licenced rehabber. It may be that the ones that are left are the stronger ones and are apt to survive on their own, but there really isn't any way to know this for sure.

Muscovy ducks actually fall into a grey area when it comes to wildlife laws. Many Muscovies in the US are feral domestic animals and not protected. Best to check as Mavis said so you don't have legal trouble. Since ducks are precocial they (rehabbers) may not take them at all unless they are injured. Muscovies are good surrogate parents and another female may literally take them under her wing especially if she's lost a clutch (or a significant portion).

On the attrition rate - I know the ducks at the golf course near us are often raided by dogs, cats, raccoons, and opossum. It's unfortunate, but reality that a clutch of 35 on the golf course can end up with 2-3 that make it to maturity. They're also 'good eatin' and I suspect a few of the more mature ones have ended up on someone's BBQ.

I'm curious about the swollen joints you mentioned. It sounds like you might have some young males which grow very rapidly (males get quite heavy and often have leg problems). If you do end up keeping them you might give them some spinach and put calcium grit out. I feed ours commercial gamebird feed, calcium grit, papaya and spinach. They also like oong choy (in a pan of water) and shredded brussel sprouts.

If you find you can keep them you can always give me a shout. Ours are part of the family and I learned a few things the hard way (unfortunately).

I was hoping you would drop by and see this post Denise. Thanks for the great advice.
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Hi Denise,

Well we have a large, privacy fenced backyard that is now off limits to our dogs.

We have an "evening" pen for the duckies and have adopted the entire remaining group. There are now 12 total that remain from the original group of 35. So far this week we have not been visited by any adults.

My son has been most happy to shred his spinach and brussel sprouts and "share" with his new friends, the duckies. I have also located calcium grit and some gamebird feed.

On another note, it does appear at least from what I know of their coloring and so forth that the males are predominantly having these joint problems. I hope the better feed will help.

They are SUPERB at keeping our large yard free of flies, mosquitoes and other "icky" (read spider here) bugs. They are very intelligent and we are trying to keep them happy with little human contact.

There is one rehabber associated with a vet here but they only take the greenhead mallards and susies. Here, I guess, the Muscovy is considered more of a feral domestic. They will only take them to put them humanely to sleep - not to raise.

Since they are feral domestic, and as I am outside the city limits proper, we are allowed to keep them until adult. At which point the zoo, the local wetlands and the nature center are most happy to accept healthy adults.

Our little family of duckies are all in various stages of growth. All, however, are getting their tail feathers. I have noticed that one male has underdeveloped wings - his wings are the same size as a hatchlings!!! (That doesn't bode too well, I guess.)

Anyway, for now we are settled into a routine and doing well. Thank you all for your input!!!

Just a quick note on this - males and females can have the same coloring; with Muscovies the difference is size - the males are much larger than the females. The size difference I've noted starts at about 6 weeks when they really start filling out. Off the top of my head I believe the females max at about 8 lbs and males at about 15 (almost double). I've got a Big Boy (that's also his name) out back that I suspect is heavier than that. Some told me the caruncles (the fleshy red part on their face) can tell you about the sex, but that's not true either. Females can have just as fleshy, bulky caruncles - it's more genetics and age.

I've found that most of the ducks will eat the calcium grit, but you do run into the odd one that doesn't. If the problems persist there is a product (or two) that you can put into their drinking water or give orally. I use Calcium Plus. It's got the calcium & D3 (which they need to process the calcium). I give full grown females up to 1 cc 2x day during egg laying if they are known egg binders. (I've got one that binds every time she goes into laying mode.) You can check with the vet on dosage if giving orally (and how-to - it's easy to harm a bird if you don't know how to give meds properly). For drinking water the products usually give recommended percentages.

Glad you're having fun with them. Mine play with toys, wear diapers for visits in the house, and love to snuggle in bed at night (they've learned to avoid tossing and turning along with dogs/cats jumping in at odd hours). They've also learned how to play tricks on the dogs and cats .... Perhaps if you do end up with a lame one or two you might keep them as organic pest control. I know you have hunting dogs, but our Weimeraner has learned to co-exist peacefully even though she can (and does) pull wild ducks out of the air on take-off while hunting.

"Just a quick note on this - males and females can have the same coloring"

Now, I am stumped. I have solid white; I have solid dark brown/black and I have the brown with yellow. The vet told me that the multi-colors were most likely the males and the solids females. Sounds like I have a "not-too-sure" vet.

Thank you for all the input!

Don't be too hard on the vet. Most don't deal with farm animals especially "as pets". Ours helped us do experimental treatment on 2 that were gravely ill simply because no data existed on treatments past a certain stage of their illness. I just happen to live in "Aggieland" where many of the vets did study farm animals (although I have shocked ours a few times at the lengths and money spent keeping some of these "farm" animals alive). Also, there are lots of folks out there breeding Muscovies for color variations or meat production. I believe I remember one farm that was breeding pure whites. I bought a few fertilized eggs that were supposed to be milk chocolate colored. The chicks were physically behind the others and I've had issues with them not being good nest tenders or mothers. (I've since decided that breeding ducks for color is about like dogs - you ruin the brains along the way).

I can yap on about them pretty much forever in case you hadn't noticed (ha ha)