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Too many pigs and now too many ducks: Learn about Muscovy ducks

I have too many pigs. And now because I have too many pigs, I have too many ducks. Let me explain and maybe you’ll learn something about Muscovy Ducks along the way.

Becoming an accidental pig farmer

Pigs breed fast. I mean REALLY fast. Their gestation time is Godā€™s little joke of 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. And they can get pregnant basically as soon as the last piglet pops out.

Historically, thatā€™s been fine with me. I started off with two pigs, added a few extra breeders along the way to diversify the gene pool (nobody wants an inbred jed pig) and just kept them all together. There werenā€™t very many and I figure the more babies they made, the more I could sell and the better the farm would do.

This worked great for years.

Then I got busy.

Pig overload

They bred and bred and bred and I didnā€™t have time to sell the piglets. Imagine if one pig can have a litter of up to 14 piglets 3 times a yearā€¦ It doesnā€™t take long to be overrun with pigs. Thatā€™s why wild pigs are such an issue in certain parts of the country like Hawaii and Texas. Pigs are pretty rough on the environment, not to mention even domesticated pigs can be aggressive and wild pigs are super dangerous. Iā€™ll have to tell you my theory one of these days on how pigs changed the course of civilization.

Anyhow, so halfway through last year I realized that my little herd of two pigs had become closer to 50 and if I didnā€™t do something by the end of the year I would have hundreds. When your animals begin to exponentially increase you know thereā€™s a serious problem.

Ducks instead of pigs

I began to sell pigs, heck I even gave pigs away. And most recently I have traded my pigs for ducks.

I have a love hate relationship with ducks. I think theyā€™re adorable (and they taste good), but I hate their quacking. I donā€™t know why my flock of geese doesnā€™t bother me in the least, but give me a few quacking ducks and I will go insane.

Fortunately, the ducks I traded for are Muscovy ducks which actually donā€™t quack. They have a cute little hissing squeaky sound and they wag their tails. I mean cā€™mon! They. Wag. Their. Tails. How cute is that?

What is a muscovy duck?

So muscovy ducks are obviously unique. The only duck that doesnā€™t quack. Theyā€™re also a tree duck so they like to perch right along with the chickens. They also have these big claws that help them to hold onto branches as well as give farmers scars if the farmer isnā€™t careful.

See those claws? It helps them hold onto branches.

Muscovy ducks are native to Mexico and south america and some people actually argue that these ducks should be classified as geese. So maybe I donā€™t like ducks period and Iā€™m just a goose person??

I have never ever in my life owned an aggressive muscovy (making them different than a lot of geese), but Iā€™ve heard the drakes can be. Mine are sweet and let me pet them despite not being hand raised.

Muscovy ducks, especially the boys, have this funny mask called a caruncle. Some people think it’s ugly, I think they look like super heroes.

Purpose of a muscovy duck

Meat

They usually live for a little less than a decade and yes you absolutely can eat them. They are actually the number one raised duck because they are such good meat birds. They are hefty little guys with the mallards (boys) weighing up to 15 pounds. If you are butchering ducks, you want to keep good records about their birth date because there are specific times to butcher. This is when their pin feathers (or immature) feathers are all grown out. Pin feathers are horrendous to pluck out. Pin feathers are grown out at about 7, 12.5 or 18 weeks of age and should be the only time you butcher ducks if you value your sanity.

Do remember though that Muscovy ducks arenā€™t kosher unless crossbred with a Mallard to make a Mulard. No Iā€™m not making that up.

Eggs

They also are pretty decent layers if you want duck eggs laying up to 195 eggs a year during their 40 week season (they usually stop laying during the winter). This isnā€™t as good as Khaki Campbells, the best egg laying duck breed out there who can lay up to 300 eggs a year. Then again Khaki Campbells are skinny little things that you wonā€™t get any meat from so itā€™s a trade off.

Pest control

Now hereā€™s the best thing about Muscovy ducks. They are fly eating machines. One experiment put ducks in a cow pen and the population of flies dropped by 80 to 90 percent. Flies are a huge problem in our area of the High Desert whether you have livestock or not. I spend 3/4 of the year fighting flies. Iā€™m looking forward to using our new duck patrol for this purpose. Muscovites are also willing to eat grasshoppers, ticks and mosquitos.

Pets

If you want them as pets, the nice thing is that they are really resistant to disease so chances are you arenā€™t going to be dealing with any illnesses assuming that they are kept in good conditions. And like I said theyā€™re super friendly having once been described as ā€œfriendly as a puppyā€, so thatā€™s a pretty good quality. Just be careful of those claws.

Hey! This post might have some affiliate links. That means if you click a link and buy something, we make money-and it doesn’t even cost you anything! Pretty cool right?

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Regina

We had so much fun hanging out at this farm. I highly recommend a visit here!!
Flip Flop Ranch
5
2020-01-28T19:36:01-08:00
We had so much fun hanging out at this farm. I highly recommend a visit here!!

Aaron

Come here if you're okay with getting up close with animals! That's what makes the experience great.

Aaron

Flip Flop Ranch
5
2020-01-28T19:37:56-08:00

Aaron

Come here if you're okay with getting up close with animals! That's what makes the experience great.

Suzie

This was an awesome experience to have! Would highly recommend!

Suzie

Flip Flop Ranch
5
2020-01-28T19:39:27-08:00

Suzie

This was an awesome experience to have! Would highly recommend!

Cecelia

We had such a great time! It was a beautiful drive out to the farm and was so fun.

Cecelia

Flip Flop Ranch
5
2019-10-27T04:12:15-08:00

Cecelia

We had such a great time! It was a beautiful drive out to the farm and was so fun.
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