Feathered
Obsessions
Muscovy ducks are one of the best ducks for the backyard raising experience. Muscovy are a strong bird with strong legs and long claws. Their size is fairly large considering other ducks and drakes can often top 15+ pounds while hens top 9+ pounds.Their meat is widely prized as a delicacy around the world being compared to veil and prepared like a roast beef. While duck meat is often considered greasy, Muscovy is a much leaner meat. They are great hunters devouring many slugs, bugs , and flies they encounter helping remove some of the nuisance for backyard gardeners. Hens will lay a large cream colored egg that often is considered wonderful for cakes as the texture is thought to be a bit firmer, however, having a slightly higher cholesterol content.
Muscovy are a very hardy duck as they are somewhat more self-reliant than many ducks of the Mallard family. Muscovy have much fewer oil glands than some ducks and tend to be more prone to stay on land than venture to the water. Although they do need water to clean and primp so they can have optimal feather quality the need for a pond is much less with Muscovy. Muscovy ducks, neither male nor female, make much noise. They are often sold as the "quackless" duck because they lack the loud quack of female Mallard family ducks. Males make a hissing sort of sound while females squeak. In many species of ducks the females loud quack can be a nuisance to neighbors while with the Muscovy sound should be less an issue. They also dig less into the dirt with their bills than mallard family ducks creating less mess.
Muscovy hens tend to be incredible mothers. Even in finding a secure hiding spot for the nest and filling it with wonderful down. They brood a clutch up to three times a year with up to 20 eggs a clutch sitting on the eggs for 35 days till they hatch. Once they start to hatch they can take up to 24 hours to fully emerge from the eggs. Although, she may get up from the nest for up to one and a half hours a day to feed but will return to the nest swiftly. Many breeders prefer simply not to artificially incubate Muscovy because they tend to be harder to artificially incubate than other breeds of ducks and the female Muscovy does it so well. Even without artificial incubation a hen could have as many as an optimistic 60 ducklings in one year. She is protective over her young and at times the drake will even be seen with the young ducklings feeding. The ducklings may stick with their mother for up to 12 weeks. At approximately 5 months old the ducklings will mature enough to lay eggs of their own.