Duck breed questions

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I am going to be getting some ducks this spring. I had been reading this winter and decided on pekin ducks, as we are interested primarily in meat birds. Now our feed store is taking orders for spring and they have Muscovey, Rouens and Legarth. I know I am not interested in the Rouens, the Muscoveys possibly since they are supposed to be quiet and forage fairly well. Could someone tell me if the muscoveys are easy to dress, they are white are they not? And if anyone knows anything about the Legarth breed, it is not mentioned in the book I have been using for reference. Thanks a lot folks!

On another note- thanks to all those who offered advice on keeping a buck goat. I went looking and have found a very promising young fella and I am going to visit him and his breeder this week-end.

-- Terri in NS (terri@tallships.ca), March 29, 2001

Answers

Muscoveys are easy to dress. They both white and colored. Just remember that they are not a true duck. They are NOT good swimmers and can actually drown.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 29, 2001.

David , What are they then, I was under the impression they are ducks. I am really interested in this as I have a good many of these creatures. Terri, If I can figure out how to get them to you, would be more than glad to share. We have colors and white. They are vary friendly and really good about bugs. At the present time we have about 12 hens setting. Lexi @NE KY

-- lexi Green (whitestone11@hotmail.com), March 29, 2001.

The best place to get info on the legarth breed of ducks (I haven't heard of them either), would be from the place that will order them (or where they order them from).

As for the Muscovey, I know they are a South American breed of duck that doesn't have any relation to the Mallard (of which all other common breeds of ducks have been developed). Some do like to roost in trees.

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (jwlewis@indy.net), March 29, 2001.


Muscoveys are a South American WATERFOWL, but not actually a duck. If you breed them with another type of true duck, the offspring will be sterile. I do not know all the details why they are not a true duck. I assume since they are not as water repellant and affected by the cold more, that it probably has something to do with the type of down they have verus ducks. Not really sure.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 29, 2001.

I just found info on Legarth. The problem is, they are not Ducks, they're GEESE. Check out WWW.LEGARTH-GEESE.DK Another excellent site for info. on all types of animals is WWW.ANSI.OK.STATE.EDU/INDEXTEXT. HTM This is the Livestock Website for OK. State UNIV.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 29, 2001.


There are two basic types of wild ducks. One is related to mallards and teal, to which most domestic ducks are also related. The other is perching ducks, also related to wood ducks (in Australia - don't know what it might be elsewhere) and geese - Muscovies are related to these.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 29, 2001.

We have Rouens, Pekins and Muscovies. We think that the Rouens make an excellent meat bird. Muscovies can vary in color. If I remember correctly, the wild muscovy is dark colored, but the domesticated types come in several different colors, including white, black, blue and brown. Dressing them out will depend on their age and feather growth. We have 2 black ones in our freezer now that were younger than the others and we will skin before eating because they look terrible.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), March 29, 2001.

Hi Terri I have never owned Muscoveys but have been told by others they really have a good flavour. There is a little info. at the Rocherster Hatchery site. www.rochesterhatchery.com They are in Alberta . Good luck Gary

-- Gary in NS (ggiles@north.nsis.com), March 30, 2001.

Terri, I have raised Muscovey "ducks" and everyone is correct, in that they are more of a goose. They come in varied colors but the white or mostly white are the easiest to dress out. They can fly and fly fairly well, they hiss instead of quack. They are excellent setters and will raise their own babies. This is the tricky part, because Muscovies can swim, but the newly hatched babies do not have the water repellent coating on their down and they will drown if you let the hen take them out to the pond. You need to keep the baies away from water for a couple of weeks until they get the water repellent coating. They are excellent eating but you must dress them out when they are young(less than a year old). Older Muscovies are tough as shoe leather. I know nothing of the Legarth breed. Have fun!

-- Karen (kansasgoats@iwon.com), March 30, 2001.

Not only are the babies non-water repellent, but the adults aren't a whole lot better, particularly the males. I've been told the males will drown if they stay in a pond very long (they are considerably heavier than the females). As I don't have a pond, I couldn't say for sure but I believe it. We sold about 20 Muscovies (for pets) to a doctor who lives on a river. He says the females and older babies swim some, but not the males. I also have some big males who will take a dive into my horse trough once in a rare while. They only stay in a few minutes, and when they jump out, they do NOT glide out gracefully with the water sheeting off them like a normal duck. The water POURS out everywhere, and they walk away with the water still running out in streams....kinda like a wet tennis shoe...squish, squish, squish.

Muscovies are definately birds of a different feather.

-- Lenette (kigervixen@webtv.net), March 30, 2001.



Muscovy ducks:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Musc/BRKScobies.html

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), March 30, 2001.


Terri,

Legarth Embdens (geese)and Legarth Ducks (a giant white fast growing and early maturing Pekin hybrid from Denmark I believe) are very different creatures. So the question then is not "Do I want to raise Legarth (ducks)?" but rather "Do I want to raise giant white pekin hybrids from Denmark?"

My 2 cents is that, yes, they are preferable to raising muscovey.

-- William in Wi (gnarledmaw@lycos.com), March 30, 2001.


Thanks folks, I know the obvious thing would be to ask the workers at the feed store, however I find them to be a bit clueless. I find that although somewhat knowledgeable about how to feed a whole commercial herd of cattle/hogs etc they don't necessarily know much about individual breeds or how to economically care for a few of anything (even if they are selling them). To be fair I suppose they are just reselling. I have two large ponds that the ducks will have access to, so I am concerned about the muscovies. I am hoping the legarth is a "pekin" type-- makes sense, and am going to order some of these, and will cover my tracks and order some of the muscovies too. I guess that will be a good comparison exercise anyway. Thanks for the Rochester Hatchery link, I have looked at Murray McMurray befor but it costs too much to ship the birds into Canada.

-- Terri in NS (terri@tallships.ca), March 30, 2001.

I don't have an answer.......I have a question. My husband and I just bought our first ducks. We bought 6 babies about 2 weeks ago. We purchased them from Tractor Supply. The salesman told us they were Dark Bruins. I have looked for any information on them and do not find this name listed anywhere. Can anyone help me? They are dark colored with yellow stripes on their heads and a few yellow spots on their backs. Any help will be appreciated.

We are cleaning the pen about 3-4 times per day. They sure are messy little buggers, but we love them already. They are living in our dining room and starting to peek over the top of the pen. I expect the escape is looming imminent. We let them get in the bathtub a couple of times a day just for a few minutes. They are diving and bathing. We have a large tank and some land. I plan to eventually put them out there, but how old should they be? Lots of predators in our part of Texas, Coyotes, Hawks and Owls.

Any advise would be appreciated!!!

-- Dana Collins (cjungle@airmail.net), April 02, 2001.


Okay, which one of you is gonna keep a house duck? Ya gotta have a house duck! -G- I know a couple of folks who do this; the ducks are like dogs; they go just about every place their owner goes! Here's what keeps the house clean:

Pekin wearing diaper http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Pekins/RockDiaper.JPEG

How to make the diaper http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Pekins/diaper.gif

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), April 03, 2001.



hi, I just got a 3 week old Pekin duckling. It's growing really fast! But, I've done research and found out about it, so now I can look after him like he should be. He's the cutest animal ever! I think pekin ducks are the best kind of ducks, they are one of the biggest and toughest. If I were you I would hold out and look in other places for white pekins. Try reader's mart or quokka. Please email me if you know how to order them, or have any other suggestions on how to look after the ducks if you have some already. thanks.

-- Claire G (plasmo20@hotmail.com), November 24, 2001.

I have a question, we have 2 girl mallards and 3 boy Mallards, 1 indian runner girl and 1 indian runner boy. We have the girls and boys separated. Do you suggest getting rid of 2 of the boys. The girls don't get a brake. Iwould like some further info on breeding, any suggestions,

-- Kris Lord (kalord@earthlink.net), February 18, 2002.

Definitely get rid of two of the males! I have found that one male for 6-8 females is just fine. They are a much happier herd, much more calm and lots of eggs - and still there is sufficient boinking to renew the population. What a lot of noise there was when we had even two males! At one time, by chance, there were 6 males for 3 females. It was gang-rape day & night. One drake is plenty.

-- snoozy (bunny@northsound.net), February 19, 2002.

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