Muscovy
ducks are an ultimate passion of mine. Muscovy ducks are one of those
things you either love them, or hate them. I adore Muscovy
ducks. I have loved them for years before I
ever even owned one. I love their high IQ, wild
nature and awesome and interesting behavior. The Muscovy
is closer related to a goose then a duck. Some have said
it is a goose, however its chromosomes match neither to a
goose, nor a duck. They are the last of what ever kind
they came from. The Muscovy duck was among, if not the
very first duck domesticated several thousands of years
ago ( an estimated 10,000 years ago). Their DNA indicates
that although the females of cross breeding are sterile,
and the males are completely sterile with some types of
ducks and 70% sterile with others. Man did find a way to introduce the comb duck
(from Asia) into its family lines. One thing is certain,
it is in no way related to the wild mallard, the only duck
on the planet to make such a claim. The Muscovy also needs
meat to survive, roosts in trees, and can weigh more then
the average goose when fully mature, normally taking
approximately 3yrs to reach maturity. There is nothing like having a Muscovy
duck in your life. They are smarter then any water fowl I
have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They will entertain
you, and out smart you at every turn.
Here on the farm
we have many colors of Muscovy. The study of Muscovy
colors will keep you busy for a very long time. The simple
description of Muscovy duck color is this. They are all
black, or black and white. Chocolate and blue are
dilutions of black. Fawn, lilac and so on and so forth are
all dilutions of chocolate and blue. There for the base
color of all Muscovy ducks, is black. Chocolate is sexed
link in the male. If you have one chocolate parent and you
end up with chocolate offspring, they are all male. It
takes both parents being of chocolate color for a female
chocolate to appear. If they have a white head, all
of their offspring will have white heads, that's a
dominate trait.
Here on the ranch
we breed for 2 things. Size and head color. We have two
very separate breeding programs. The first is for meat
ducks. Here the drakes with the largest size are held back
for breeding. We do not cull according to color, only
size. In the second breeding program we select for a Call
duck type Muscovy. The smaller the better. Again, we are
selecting for size, not color. In this group type is of
the utmost importance. To shrink the size while keeping
Muscovy type is key. We avoid gypsy markings in the Call
type however I actually like it, so I don't avoid it in
the meat type ducks.
Anyone who owns
Muscovy knows that you can't help getting every color in
the rainbow unless you purposely try to avoid it. There
for we have ripples, and bars, laces and self's. We have
blues, and every dilution there of. We have chocolates and
every dilution there of. We even have some that are both
non dilute and dilute in the same bird. Every color you
can imagine, we have. I do try and breed away from whites,
although I do have some blue eyed black and chocolate caps.
This may sound like we shot gun breed our ducks. We do
not. Every mating is done with care. Every offspring is
recorded with a pedigree, and photographed as well as
marked for permanent identification by tattoo. This is a
pain staking time consuming task. It is however necessary
for a valid breeding program that aims for quality.
Please enjoy some
photos of our birds.
click the photos
to enlarge.
Below Drakes for
2012 breeding season. I will post others as they make the
grade.
Drakes
( to see more of the drakes click
here)
Lance
Lee Lee
Ling Ling
Drakes
for sale click
here
The Girls
(This is a sample of the hens)
Hens
for sale,
click here
To see more
photos of the more unusual colored hens, click
here
How
to order ducklings
About Meat ducks
and why our ducks far surpass most "free range" meat
ducks.
Nearly all
poultry sold in the US as "Free Range" merely satisfies
the minimum USDA requirement for "access to the outdoors".
As you can see, our ducks have much more then a small pen
allowing them to peek at sun light. They truly are allowed
to range freely. Our ducks are part of our quality of
life, they are part of our diet and our grandchildren's
diet. They are not given chemicals, no
GMO
feeds, no
steroids, antibiotics or allowed near pesticides or
herbicides, as none are used on the property. I love my
ducks. I play with them every day. They are calm, and thus
less stressed then ducks simply raised in a pen. People
ask how can you eat your pets. Its easy, I don't. The hens
are my pets, I play with the ducklings, and I always know
that to many drakes make everyone stressed out as well as
sometimes cause injury to the flock. Keeping drakes down
to the bear minimum is vital for flock health and well
being. There for adding Muscovy duck meat to our diets is
the right thing to do for both the ducks, and our family.
If you are
looking for a pet duck or indoor duck,
I highly suggest
you reserve a duckling before it is hatched. Once a
duckling bonds with it's siblings and mother, it will not
make a good pet. We need to stick an egg in the incubator
for you and hatch it manually. In this way the duckling
hears my voice before its hatched and bonds with a human,
preferably you. With in days after it hatches. After 3
days, you have lost your window for the baby to bond to
you, and you have lost your pet. Those first days are
critical. House ducks can be reserved by email, and then
calling me so we can talk about what you are in store for.
House ducks start at 40.00
Breeding stock
Our projected
hatch for 2012 is well over 600 ducks. We won't come close
to keeping even half that number over the winter months.
We do sell breeding stock on occasion. Every color you can
imagine except pure white, we have. Price depends on
quality. Adult meat type Muscovy drakes start at 25.00.
Juvenile meat type drakes start at 15.00. House ducks are
higher, as I hand pick the duck they came from for
temperament, and color, then I take great care to spend
all the time I can with the baby until you can come pick
it up. This is very time consuming and I make sure you
come very close to getting a bird you can also show. I
can't guarantee show quality in a newly hatched bird, but
I can sure try and pick the best parents and get you as
close as I can to a blue ribbon. If you are looking for breeding stock, some
colors also run a bit higher. We do not sell our Call type
Muscovy as we are still working on setting the genetics.
Why Muscovy
duck meat?
Muscovy are just
as tender and delicious at 1yr of age, as they are as
ducklings. This ancient breed develops more slowly then do
other breeds of ducks. There was actually a debate whether
or not to classify them as a duck, or a goose. Geese also
are very good at any age. the difference is in the cooking
time. Muscovy duck meat is 98% lean, all dark meat, never
greasy. The skin has 50% less fat than other varieties
such as Pekin ( the most common meat duck).
The Muscovy duck has 50% more breast meat, resulting in
more servings per bird and generous portions for the
price.
Muscovy duck actually has less fat and calories per pound
than turkey!
Duck meat is
seasonal here on the farm. To date we only breed what we
need however we are trying to expand our flocks to
accommodate out side interest. This means more fence, and
more dogs. As the safe area for flocks grow, we can then
add birds to these areas. It takes 1yr to grow a puppy up
to be a good flock dog for birds as they can't grow up
with the birds like they can with sheep. Everything takes
time on a farm and this is no exception. If you are
interested in our duck meat, we do qualify for the 999
bird exemption. There is no USDA duck plant near us. There
is only 2 in the state. This doesn't bother me as I don't
care for their kill methods and I don't like the fact the
meat is soaked in vats of bird crap and bleach. When I
butcher my ducks I know they are put to rest humanly. I
know the meat is never soaked in vats, and chemicals never
touch the meat. I may not be as fancy when I wrap it all
up and there is no USDA sticker on it. I do know however
that my duck did not suffer, and the meat stayed clean
through out the process. Because I do not allow my ducks
to be slaughtered at a USDA plant, I can not ship
interstate, nor sell at restaurants or stores. You must
pick your bird up in person, or have it shipped with in
the state of Iowa.
