ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS > FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE
Muscovey drake -- the winner
Cindi:
We have 5 Musovey drakes and 3 ducks (is that what the females are called) that are just about mature. After losing the 10 other older Muscovey stock to the weasel awhile back, we have these young stock that were in a different house that lived (thank goodness). The drakes are getting old enough now that the ones not needed will be put into our freezers (yea, yummy duck dinners coming up).
My Sister and I were outside yesterday looking at the drakes, deciding which one we would be keeping. She would not tell me her choice, so as not to bias my opinion. I chose the same one that she wanted to keep. He will replace our beautiful old dude, we called "Big Boy". He was a beauty.
This drake is very pretty too though. He does not have the typical red face of all the other Muscoveys that we have had, his face is black, and I think it will remain black. The red would have showed up by now for surely.
We tried to keep two drakes before and unlike the roosters, they would get into some pretty good fights, so, off with his head. We kept only one.
Anyone know how to make drakes get along other than complete separation? That is not a choice here though. I like the red face of the Muscovey drakes, I think they look cool.
The picture of the duck in the back, the dark looking one, is the one that we are going to keep, the second is just a picture of his face.
The third picture is one I took of poor old Big Boy, he was a real beauty, maybe one day we will have a young one that looks just like him. Have a wonderful and great day, enjoying our life we live. Cindi
JP:
I like the looks of that first duck in the first picture, the dark one, the tasty looking one. I would cook him in a roasting bag with butter and sweet onions. It would be a fine meal.
Just kidding! :-D That is me at the top left chasing after your duck. :-P :-D
Sincerely, JP
Angi_H:
Ok Cindi now dont get mad at me :-P That black one is not pure Muscovey. All Muscoveys especially the drakes will have a face full of red. The wild ones like around Florida have less red but it is still prominate in the head markings. And he should have around the eyes and by the bill full of the red. If they dont have it then they are not pure. They should have it starting at 2 month old the starting of faint red moving back as they get older and when they become 5-6 months old (sex mature) they will be fully red in the face. Some here in the US is even on the tops of there heads. The females should even have a little around there eyes like eye liner. You should see the blue Muscoveys here they are beautiful and very carnucled (SP)(red blobs on there face and on the turkeys necks If you are wanting to keep them pure I would not use him for breeding. Muscoveys are really good eating a very lean red meat. And lots of it. I have never ate them but they lay good and they sale good at the sales. Sorry I show water fowl and I used to breed the Muscoveys but ran out of room for them as they eat ALLOT.
Check this out Feather Source
scrool down to almost the bottom where it Says Mule Duck Muscovey/silver appleyard cross Crosses are non fertil and wont breed they may try but no little swimmers to make it happen. They have the body type of the Muscovey but none of the carnucled look.
Angi
Cindi:
--- Quote from: Angi_H on December 14, 2007, 02:22:25 am ---Ok Cindi now dont get mad at me :-P That black one is not pure Muscovey. All Muscoveys especially the drakes will have a face full of red. The wild ones like around Florida have less red but it is still prominate in the head markings. And he should have around the eyes and by the bill full of the red. If they dont have it then they are not pure. They should have it starting at 2 month old the starting of faint red moving back as they get older and when they become 5-6 months old (sex mature) they will be fully red in the face. Some here in the US is even on the tops of there heads. The females should even have a little around there eyes like eye liner. You should see the blue Muscoveys here they are beautiful and very carnucled (SP)(red blobs on there face and on the turkeys necks If you are wanting to keep them pure I would not use him for breeding. Muscoveys are really good eating a very lean red meat. And lots of it. I have never ate them but they lay good and they sale good at the sales. Sorry I show water fowl and I used to breed the Muscoveys but ran out of room for them as they eat ALLOT.
Check this out Feather Source
scrool down to almost the bottom where it Says Mule Duck Muscovey/silver appleyard cross Crosses are non fertil and wont breed they may try but no little swimmers to make it happen. They have the body type of the Muscovey but none of the carnucled look.
Angi
--- End quote ---
Oh Angi, I am not mad at you, but you have rocked my socks!!!! Eeeks!!!!! And I am extremely grateful for your wisdom that you may correct me and teach me things, don't ever doubt that for a minute, that is important for me to be corrected when I am wrong -- I bear absolutely no issue with that, I love to know the right things. What on earth has happened in my chickenyard. I will check out the sites, you have certainly peeked my interest and I am totally shocked at what you have said about the Muscovey not being a purebred, I am serious!!!!
So, let me tell you what has been going on here with the Muscoveys. It may be lengthy, I am long winded when I get onto something and I feel compelled to speak a little bit here, for you to understand why I am so shocked.
We have been breeding the (what I thought were pure) Muscovey ducks now for about 2 years. We have had about 4 batches of Muscoveys come to maturity. They have all had the read head and faces. This one that we were intending to keep (but definitely not now) is the only one in about lets say, to make things really simple, 40 Muscoveys, that did not have the red face. Honestly, the only one that has not had the massive red on the head, that is why we thought it would be so cool to keep him. That goes to show how little I really do know about breeds. I must really do so much more studying, and this I will be doing. I am the type of person that is on a "quest for knowledge", always.
Now I am getting more and more freaked out!!!!!
I think that the Indian Runner drake (the one that I thought was purebred too, until you told me differently and I saw for myself that they didn't have the completely upright look of the pure runners), has mated with one of the Muscovey ducks. That is the only way that there could be cross breeding and the Muscovey line not coming out pure. Unless they were not pure to begin with. But I am pretty sure that they were.
If the Indian Runner drake (who was black) bred with the Muscovey, that would create a black bird. The Muscovey being a purebred duck and the runner being a cross breed, the offspring would be inclined to look more like the Muscovey. That is why this drake looks all black, I guess, the runner side showing up, but the Muscovey look. Is that correct? I don't know and need to know.
Does this make sense to you Angi, that the runner mated with the Muscovey? If so, that bugs the crap out of me. Why would he bother the Muscovey duck? She is not his type, he had his own runners to breed with, what a pig!!!!!
So, now I am really in a quandry. Obviously, this drake is gonna go into the freezer. The other drakes have the typical Muscovey red faces, their dad was Big Boy, the dude you see in the picture above I was speaking about. I know that he was a purebred (well at least I presume he was a purebred).
Angi, do you know how I would be able to tell if these other drakes are purebred Muscovey and will be fertile. I am beginning to doubt the drake thing here now, and it would be a bummer to keep one of the drakes for breeding if he is infertile. Maybe I will have to bite the bullet and buy a new purebred drake.
I actually don't think that I am going to get any more Indian Runners if they cross breed with the Muscoveys, that is not my intention to breed crosses and when summertime comes here, it will be very difficult to keep them so separated anyways, it this is the case.
By the way, we have many ducks in our freezers, the Muscoveys. They are the most finest of eating fowl I have ever tasted. The birds are large and make a really nice meal. There is next to zero fat that comes with these birds either, I was surprised, because I always thought duck was very greasy, but not so. And let me tell you, I actually prefer the Muscovey meat to turkey, I would take it over turkey any day, and the gravy that comes from these ducks, wow. Think I am gonna have to cook a duck tonight. Hmmm. Yummy!!!!
We have a market for our duck eggs too, although I am hard pressed to sell them because I prefer them over chicken eggs any day. But the Chinese grocer takes all that we can give them, and they take the Muscoveys too for their freezer.
So Angi, always tell me if I am doing something wrong, please, that is how we get to be better at what we do, and I am game for that. See, I told you my posts go on and on and on. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, lovin' this life we live. Cindi
JP, that bird is going into the pan, sorry that you couldn't come for dinner, smile, smile, smile. C.
Angi, I found a Canadian chicken site, it was a lot of work, but I found it, and it looks like I might be able to get any breed of eggs to incubate, so much studying to do, so much to become more knowledgable about, eeks!!!! Wish the winter hibernation was longer for me. C.
Brian D. Bray:
If you intend to breed fowl (or any animal for that matter) they must be penned seperately from each species to preserve purity. An at large flock of anything, chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigeons, etc, will breed out of type that can result in a mule (sterile) or hidden defects. Hidden defects are supressed genes that pop up now and then and can exclude a very beautiful bird from breeding. The only way to insure type is isolate, selective breeding.
IE, if you breed a Buff Orpington hen to a Light Brahma rooster you'll get sexlinked young where all the females are brown and the males light colored like the rooster. Now the rooster looks true to type but his offspring, if bred back to a Light Brahma hen will run varying (approx) percentages of the following: 50% true to type, 25% Mixed--both brown & Light colored roosters and hens, 15% true to Buff Orpington, and about 10% Sport or throw back to types used in developing the breeds.
That's the simplest I can make it--it can be even more complicated. You need to get a book on breeding poultry to better understand the variables.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version