Ep. 2: Muscovy ducks vs Mallard-derived ducks | Duck Keeper’s Corner vodcast

Last Updated on June 19, 2025 by Aaron von Frank

Watch or listen to the second episode of The Duck Keeper’s Corner here! In Episode 2, we take a deep-dive into Muscovy ducks versus Mallard-derived ducks. Featured guest: Hannah Miller from Raising-Ducks.com.

Below, you can:

• watch the full video
• read the show transcript (lightly edited for brevity and clarity)
• and see links referenced in the video.

Also, congratulations to this episode’s giveaway winner: Lorianne Fisher! If you want to enter to win a Duck My Life or Duck It t-shirt or a copy of our book, The Impractical Guide to Keeping Ducks, enter the Duck Keeper’s Corner giveaway here.

Video: 

Links:

• Hannah’s website: Raising-Ducks.com
• Hannah’s Instagram channel: @junglesidefarm
• Al’s Quackery (Muscovy breeder in Maine, USA): https://alsquackery.com/
• Metzer Farms (which has White and Black Muscovies): https://www.metzerfarms.com/index.html

Transcript: Muscovy ducks vs Mallard-derived ducks – Episode 2 of the Duck Keeper’s Corner Vodcast

Aaron: Muscovies versus Mallard derived ducks… If you’re thinking about getting ducks, most people, especially in the US, think about getting Mallard-derived breeds.

That means, all the breeds that you typically know were originally bred from wild mallards. Then those are hybridized and ultimately become new breeds. But, there is actually an entirely different species of duck that you might consider getting called Muscovies.

Depending on where you live, Muscovies may actually be a better fowl for you to get than a Mallard-derived breed.

So in this episode of the Duck Keeper’s Corner, we’re going to introduce you to Muscovy ducks. The scientific name for Muscovies is Cairina moschata. The primary native range of wild Muscovies is Central and South America, although they do go up into the southernmost parts of the United States, such as in southern Texas. There are also feral populations in Florida, California, Texas, and other southern states.

Our guest today is Hannah, from Raising-Ducks.com. Hannah currently has 47 Muscovy ducks in her flock, in addition to chickens, Mallard-derived breeds, and hybrids between Mallards and Muscovies. So she has quite a bit of knowledge to draw on to do a really good comparison of mallards versus muscovies.

Hannah, tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hannah: My name is Hannah. I live in Belize which makes my experience with ducks a little different. And I have a small farmstead. We raise ducks, chickens, sheep, we have goats now, and we’re trying to become more self-sufficient, basically.

Aaron:  Are all these animals kind of mixed together? How do you integrate all the different species together on a daily basis?

Hannah: We have about seven sheep pastures. The sheep rotate through those, and we have chickens in some of them. We have our retired ducks in our orchard. Then we have a separate chicken run that mainly just has chickens. And then there’s some that are free-range, that kind of go wherever they want, which are mainly the Muscovies because they can fly. They just switch pastures if they want.

Aaron: And eventually they come back home?

Hannah: Yeah. I feed them in the main area so they all come back there, come back for food.

Aaron: And for those of us who don’t know what a Muscovy duck is, how would you describe a Muscovy?

Hannah: Well, they’re very large ducks, very strong. Their main defining feature is the caruncles. They’re like a warty mask around their face, similar to a chicken’s wattle or comb. Or turkey’s. And they are a separate species, similar to like a Mandarin duck or wood duck [as far as their relationship to Mallards and Mallard-derived breeds]. Except they are domesticated, whereas most other species of ducks are not domesticated.

Aaron: Now one thing you mentioned there that’s pretty different from the mallard-derived breeds… Other than wild mallards, I don’t think there’s any breed of mallard-derived bird here in the US that you can get that can still fly. So you know, we don’t have to clip wings…

Hannah: Bantams [can fly].

Aaron: Okay, Bantams. Now with Muscovies, when you say they can fly, I assume you mean they can literally get to the top of a tree, for instance? How flighted are they?

Hannah: Well, I don’t think they are good for long-distance flight, but they can get up in the air. They can fly on top of our roof sometimes. I actually do clip their wings most of the time, so they don’t fly away, but they can.

Aaron: What keeps a flighted bird from flying off your property and not coming back? 

Hannah: Well, they stick around. I’m afraid that they will fly away if I left them unclipped the whole time. So I do usually clip their wings, but after they molt, they have a few weeks of flying around. They will sometimes circle around our property and then come back. They don’t leave, I guess because they know there’s food here. It’s 8 acres, so they have lots of space to run around.

I’d say even within our eight acres, they don’t use most of it. They stay very close.

Aaron: Tell us a little more about your story? Why and when did you decide to get Muscovies? What was the, impetus for that decision?

Hannah: My dad got some when I was a kid to start with because he was interested in the idea of raising eggs. And then I only had them for a year and a half. Then we moved to Belize. And then in 2014, I got Muscovies because it was the only kind I could find. I couldn’t find Mallard-derived ducks anywhere at the time.

Aaron: Here in the US, there are farm stores where you can get ducklings at the beginning of the year, which we kind of discourage because a lot of people impulse-buy those. There are breeders you can get them from. There’s basically any number of ways you can get ducks. And for us, a big one is rescues.

So for US listeners that might be curious, how do you go about getting ducks in Belize? Are there markets or other farms you go to? What’s the process?

Hannah: Yeah, mainly it’s just your contacts. Like word of mouth. I know various farmers or breeders or poultry enthusiasts that have flocks. As of right now, we have Saxony, Buff, Khaki Campbell, and others.

Aaron: Would you say that Muscovies are sort of the default species down there for waterfowl?

Hannah: Yes, they are, definitely. Especially because they live wild here. I actually see wild [Muscovy] ducks quite often.

Aaron: Would you say they perform better in your climate than your mallards; or any differences that you can note from your experiences in raising both?

Hannah: The Muscovies are definitely very hardy, but the mallard-derived ducks are doing fine. They lay way more than the Muscovies.

Aaron: We’re kind of jumping into the differences between the two species. We mentioned that Muscovies are flighted. Mallard-derived ducks are not. Egg production is a big one too. A lot of people in the US and elsewhere get ducks for egg production. So maybe let’s take a little deeper dive into some of these differences between the species.

Hannah: Egg production would be the biggest disadvantage of Muscovies. They do not lay much. They lay about 60 to 120 eggs a year. Mine are on the low end, definitely. I don’t know why, but they are not productive layers. If you have a few of them for pets, they’ll make enough for a family

Aaron: I wonder if some of that might be the management practices, where they’re getting a lot of exercise, free foraging. So they’re not sitting around in a cage getting tons of nutrients and having a ton of excess bodily energy and body fat that might be more typical with a US bird. Or if it’s the heat down there. I guess I wonder what factors would contribute to a lower egg production down there?

Hannah: No, because my Saxony ducks and Khaki Campbells lay every day. So it’s the genetics. And also I think the Muscovies, even in the US, I don’t think you can find Muscovies that lay a lot. I think people haven’t focused on breeding them for high egg production is the thing.

Aaron: Are they primarily raised for meat production, would you say? The males size up really quickly and are large and supposedly quite delicious for people who eat ducks. So is that the primary function?

Hannah: I would say yeah, at least commercially. But they’re common as just farm birds and backyard birds as well.

Aaron: Let’s dive into some of the other differences… In talking with you before this episode, you mentioned things like roosting. With our ducks, at night in their coop, they’re on the floor. 

Hannah: Muscovies don’t roost like chickens. They don’t go to the same coop every night and go fly up on a roost. You can train them to, but they’re happy to sleep on the floor. If you give them a roost, they will maybe use it. I have a roost in my ducks’ night coop. And maybe four ducks will use it at night, and then some will sit on a concrete block on the floor, and the rest will sit on the ground.

The other big thing about Muscovies is their favorite thing to do is make babies. So they are very good at hiding their nests. They make very carefully chosen, carefully constructed nests. They try to hide them from you.

Aaron: Outside the coop?

Hannah: They almost never lay in the coop.

Aaron: That might be an important thing for people to consider because a lot of people might not want a whole other clutch of babies to deal with. With our girls, they typically lay in their coop in a communal nest. We might have one occasionally that’ll hold the egg and sneak out and put it over somewhere in the bushes. But do Muscovies lay in a communal nest?

Hannah: Occasionally, yes. Sometimes they will choose their own nest. Sometimes I’ll have two or three laying in the same nest. But, mostly they will just find a hidden location if they can.

Aaron: We wrote an article about hatching duck eggs. We have experience hatching Mallards, but not Muscovies. One of the things I thought was interesting when looking into Muscovies was that they do take a little bit longer for their eggs to hatch.

Hannah: Yeah. I don’t know why. It’s interesting because turkeys take 28 days, geese take 28 days. Mallard-derived ducks take 28 days, chickens are 21, and then muscovies are 35. So who knows why that is.

Aaron: Maybe something magical is happening with that extra week they have inside the egg. You mentioned that they are a smarter bird, in your experience, than Mallards. We have some pretty smart little ducks, but you know, they do tend to be humorously… I don’t want to insult our flock by calling them stupid, but they’re not the brightest animals on the farm, so to speak. So, tell us a little bit about Muscovies as far as their intelligence or how that might be different from a Mallard.

Hannah: I’d say they’re closer to geese as far as intelligence. I started with Muscovies, so I was used to their personalities, their general level of intelligence. Then we got the Mallard-derived ducks, and my sister and I joke that they share one collective brain cell.

Aaron: Ouch. Now, are they equally as entertaining? Because maybe part of the entertainment value of our mallard-derived ducks is the lack of the extra brain cell that you mentioned?

Hannah: Yeah, I would say the mallard-derived ducks are a little more entertaining. They’re funny. The Muscovies are more calm and quiet and laid back.

Aaron: For people that aren’t so fortunate to have a farm like yourself… Let’s say you’re living in a neighborhood and you’re trying to figure out which species to get. Girl Mallard-derived ducks can be quite noisy. Our drake, not so much. He makes a kind of raspy little blurp, blurp sound.

So what’s the difference between a male Muscovy versus a female Muscovy, and then, generally, Muscovies versus Mallards?

Hannah: Both male and female Muscovies are very quiet. You will not hear them unless you’re quite close to them. Your neighbors will not hear them. Males will kind of hiss, but it’s not like a goose hiss. It’s a very soft, raspy horse hiss. And then females have this trilling sound. They can honk or quack occasionally, but only when they’re in distress or something like that. But it’s mostly just like this musical trill. So it’s a very pleasant sound, not annoying at all.

Aaron: We have a public pond near us. Something that happens all over the U.S. that’s really, really frustrating, is people get ducks and then they end up dumping them at their local pond once they figure out that they just don’t have the desire or ability to raise ducks. I guess maybe that happens down in Belize as well.

But at this pond, which is actually Furman University pond, there are feral ducks that have been dumped. There are Muscovies over there. There are tons of different kinds of mallard breeds. The mallards seem to be a little more timid and skittish around people. The Muscovies will just come right up to anybody, it seems like. This is maybe not the best characteristic because there’s all kinds of people over there, like little kids that might want to hit them with a stick or who knows what.

So on the temperament side of things, are Muscovies generally more timid or friendly around humans as far as your experience goes?

Hannah: I wouldn’t say mine are friendlier than the mallard derived ones. I guess they do let me pet them more. The mallard-derived ducks, they’ll run around and follow me. They’ll come up close and beg for food, but they don’t like being petted or held. Whereas the Muscovies, I think, tolerate it a bit better.

Aaron: Are these all birds you’ve raised from day one? As far as the 47 Muscovies, for instance, you have in your flock? Are these animals that you got as adults or are these animals that you hatched or bought as eggs? Or what was the process?

Hannah: Mostly I’ve just hatched them because they love to have babies. We have a few ducklings a year. With the mallard-derived ducks, I’ve gotten most of those as adults. 

Aaron: Will mama duck be protective of them? I know with geese, for instance, they’re very protective. The males and the females will protect the goslings. Is it something similar with the Muscovy ducklings?

Hannah: No, not really. I’ve had one of my ducks attack a dog. But with me they’re fine. They’ll hiss, they will bite. But that’s probably just because they’re used to me. They’re not very aggressive, I don’t think.

Aaron: We have a young son, he’s five years old now. We’ve taught him how to handle ducks, but he has occasionally over the years had a duck nip him. And it’s more funny than anything. It doesn’t hurt. It’s just this little bill. It’s not like a chicken where it can peck you and actually do some damage.

Hannah: But I would say Muscovies can bite worse than chickens or mallard-derived ducks. They can grab a piece of skin and twist and hold on.

Aaron: I assume they have lamellae like Mallard ducks do? The false teeth that function like a filtering mechanism.

Hannah: Yes. But I would say they’re not the best option if someone has children. I wouldn’t think they’re the best pet, because they are very strong and can be hard to handle – especially the males. And they have very sharp claws.

Aaron: So on that note, of sexual dimorphism, the male Muscovies are much larger than females. Is that generally correct?

Hannah: Yes, they are about twice the size. Males are 9 to 15 pounds. Females are about 5.5 to 7 pounds. So the females are closer to a regular duck size. They are about the size of my Khaki Campbells. Most of my Mallard-derived ducks are bigger than my female Muscovies. So the females aren’t that big, but they are very strong. They have huge powerful wings.

The males are bigger than pretty much any Mallard-derived duck. They are huge.

Aaron: Okay, so let’s talk about their relationship to water. With our Mallard-derived ducks, we have a pond for them, and they’re probably swimming out there six to ten times a day, especially in the summer. They’re frolicking, cleaning, mating, doing all the things that ducks do. Do you need to have a small pond of some sort for a Muscovy, or can they get by with less water?

Hannah: They definitely should have somewhere to have a bath, but they don’t need it as much. They won’t be in it as often. My Mallard-derived ducks, when I let them out in the morning, they go flying to the pond and spend hours there. And Muscovies, when I let them out, they usually run to their nest or to their favorite shady spots, and then they will have a bath maybe once a day. Sometimes not even that. Sometimes like once a week. But they do appreciate it. Still, they need water deep enough to rinse their whole face in, at least.

Aaron: Now, when you see them in the wild down there, I don’t know if you can tell a difference between a feral Muscovy versus an actual wild one… Where do you typically see them? Are you seeing them in waterways or are you seeing them walking around in parks? What’s the environment where they live? 

Hannah: Well, first, they do look very different. The wild ones are solid black with an iridescent sheen and a very prominent white mark on their wings. That’s, the only color they come in. Feral Muscovies will be any color. There are a lot of colors and varieties.

Aaron: Is that true of males and females?

Hannah: Yes, they are the same color. There is no difference between the colors of male and female Muscovies.

Aaron: Do they have a drake curl?

Hannah: No, they don’t. No drake curl, but the males are way bigger. And there’s a few other ways to tell them apart. Different voice. But anyway, where I see them, is mainly they just fly to our farm and visit our ducks. I’ll see them swimming in the pond or walking around, occasionally flying overhead.

Aaron: Do they ever decide to stay put or do they eventually take off again?

Hannah: We had one male that hung around for a few months. I haven’t seen him in a while now, but he hung around for months. And then we also had a female who nested in one of our sheep pastures. Then she had ducklings in the pond and then they all flew away.

Aaron: Well, it sounds like a good place to be a duck. I can understand the draw.

So let’s talk about their food needs. Is that also similar to a Mallard-derived bird as far as everything from niacin to protein ratios and whatnot as they
get older and start laying?

Hannah: To my knowledge, it’s the same. But that could be because there hasn’t been much research done on them. I have never heard of Muscovies having niacin issues though. So it’s possible, but I haven’t heard of it.

Aaron: Do you give them all the same feed? Because you have a kind of a complicated situation there where you actually have all these different species. You have geese, chickens, Muscovies, and mallards. Are they all eating from the same feed sources?

Hannah: Yes, pretty much. We just basically feed them all chicken layer feed. Except the ducklings will usually get chick feed with niacin added. I haven’t added niacin for the Muscovies because I have never had an issue and it just doesn’t seem necessary right now as long as they’re free-ranging at least.

Aaron: So even the males are getting layer feed, is that right? And do you provide access to that 24 hours a day or do you use that for them to come in at night to where you want them?

Hannah: Usually twice a day. I’ll go out at noon and collect eggs. I’ll usually put some food out then. And then they have their main meal in the evening to get them in for the night.

Aaron: We talked a little bit about the difference in egg production. But what is a Muscovy duck egg like versus a Mallard egg as far as size, taste, and  other key features?

Hannah: It’s a little bit smaller than my Mallard-derived ducks’ eggs, just slightly. And it’s got a slightly waxier, creamier shell. Sometimes I can tell the difference, sometimes I can’t. They’re very similar.

Taste wise, I think they’re the same. But someone might be able to tell the difference. I can’t.

Aaron: If you compare a duck egg versus a chicken egg, obviously a typical duck egg is gonna be much larger. The yolk’s going to be larger. Does the muscovy egg also have a larger yolk?

Hannah: Yes. But I’d say the whole egg is between a large chicken egg and a mallard-derived duck egg. But that could just be mine because I’ve heard of people having huge Muscovy eggs as well.

Aaron: I’m gonna bring up a topic that some people necessarily won’t like. So some people eat meat. We also eat meat. We’re very discerning about where we get our meat from as far as making sure it’s ethically raised and meets a wide range of criteria. Do you primarily raise your Muscovies for meat production or for eggs or is there sort of a multifunctional aspect to it?

Hannah: We started with just raising them for eggs. Now whenever they have ducklings, we will process the males. Because I am trying to raise more or most of our own meat, but I’m mostly focusing on chickens.

Aaron: So, I’m gonna ask two questions here: would you describe the meat as far as the quality of it goes? You know, compared to maybe just standard mallard-derived meat, which might typically be a Pekin or Silver Appleyard or other larger breeds?

Hannah: It’s a very dark meat. I’ve heard people say it’s really good. It’s even comparable to steak. It’s not my favorite though. For me, it’s mostly been quite tough. It tastes good though. It’s flavorful.

Aaron: I’d imagine yours are also different from a typical farm-raised animal where they’re just, you know, sitting inside. Yours is more like a grass-fed, grass-finished beef sort of situation where people who are used to sort of fatty steaks, they don’t like it, but once you are acclimated to that, then you actually don’t like the fattier farm type meat that you get. So I wonder if your situation where they’re flying around, they’re foraging, if you end up with a much healthier meat?

Hannah: Yeah, I’m sure it’s healthier, it’s probably tougher, very lean. If you process them younger it would be more tender as well.

Aaron: This also kind of gets to another set of questions… With mallard-derived ducks, you don’t want to have a male-female ratio any lower than 4-to-1 or maybe-3-to-1 (which is kind of pushing it). Otherwise you’re going to end up with over-mated birds or stressed birds unless you’re able to separate them out in different pens and coops and whatnot. With Muscovies, I assume there might be a similar situation? If you’re hatching duck eggs, you’re going to end up with 50% female, 50% male over the long term. So you can’t possibly have that many males.

Hannah: Yeah, that’s one challenge with raising Muscovies. If you don’t want to use the males for meat, the males are very, very hard to re-home. But I guess that makes sense if you’re producing your own meat.  For me, that’s not a problem. 

On the ratio of males-to-females you’d want in a Muscvovy flock, yes, it’s about the same ratio as Mallard-derived [4-to-1 or higher]. I’ve always kept a very good ratio because we just don’t keep very many males. So I haven’t seen exactly how much we can push it with the males. With the mallard-derived ducks, we do have like a 1:3 ratio right now I think, and that’s definitely starting to push it. But I haven’t experimented with the muscovies.

Aaron: We’re in South Carolina, USA. So about four to five months of the year, primarily in winter, our drake’s hormones switch and he calms down. We’ve had a lot of drakes over the years, and it’s the same story. Then he can fully be out with our flock during the day and behaves himself and doesn’t cause stress and chase the other females around. Do you see something like that with your Muscovies? It might be different there on the equator. I don’t know how the light levels affect things. Do your drakes ever calm down?

Hannah: I think my Muscovy drakes are calm all of the year, actually. Maybe it’s because I have a lot of females. Only two males right now, actually. I used to have more. They are very calm.  I don’t see them running around chasing females very much at all.

Aaron: One thing you said that was funny before our talk here is that you actually have names for all 47 of your Muscovy ducks, which is amazing. That’s a lot of names to remember and come up with. But you said you don’t necessarily have a name for every one of your mallards just because it sounds like you’re…

Hannah: I do actually.

Aaron: You do? Okay, never mind.

Hannah: There’s the babies I haven’t named yet, but I will definitely lose track.

Aaron: Do you recycle names? I mean because I don’t even know if I could come up with that many names. I’d have to use an online directory or something. Can you look at a Muscovy and say that one is, I don’t know, Harold or whatever it is?

Hannah: Yeah.

Aaron: Wow. Okay. That’s impressive. Because I actually get some of our birds mixed up. I’m embarrassed that we have a flock with ten ducks right now, and we have two — I think they’re hybrid white layers we got from a rescue — I can’t tell them apart. My wife can from the speckling on their bills, but I just call them “the twins.”

Hannah: I have a couple Khaki Campbells, Biscuit and Gravy. I can barely tell them apart. And then a few Saxonies also. They kind of have slightly interchangeable names. Sometimes I’m not sure which one’s which. But that’s a nice advantage of the Muscovies is you can tell them all apart very easily. They have like almost unlimited different patterns and colors and then the caruncles on their faces are unique. So you can learn to remember their faces, I think, quite easily.

Aaron: The caruncles, number one: that’s such a great word. Caruncles. I think there’s something about that word I find really entertaining. But they are a really interesting feature. And one of the things, being in Belize, you would not have experience with this. One of the things we hear up here in the Northern hemisphere is that those caruncles can actually be sort of a detriment in certain situations. When it gets really cold, they’re prone to frostbite. So, you know, something to maybe talk about a little bit is who is a Muscovy duck good for? And, you know, based on potentially location as one of the primary criteria. And then maybe who is it not so good for? So imagine, like, I don’t know if you have reference for this – let’s say Maine, United States. Kind of a northern…

Hannah: Actually, the biggest Muscovy breeder I know of right now is in Maine.

Aaron: Oh, I take that back. Okay. So are they keeping them outdoors all year round?

Hannah: I don’t know how they do it. I’ve seen pictures. They have every color imaginable, and I think they ship them even. It’s Al’s Quackery.

Aaron: Okay, so it sounds like they can do pretty well in most climates.

Hannah: Yeah, I would say they are more suited to a warmer climate. But like chickens, you can keep them anywhere. You just need to take precautions in the winter, like deep bedding. 

Aaron: So the housing, depending on where you live, might be something to consider during the winter. Maybe not letting them out on certain days or whatnot.

Hannah: Yeah. In general, ducks don’t need a lot of winter protection.

Aaron: Yeah. The colder and wetter, the better for our ducks. Like if it’s 5 degrees and snow on the ground, our ducks are just thrilled. They might kind of sit on their feet every now and then to warm them up.

Hannah: But for the most part, Muscovies, they would definitely need a draft-free protected area.

Aaron: And we’re kind of getting into the question of health. So what differences, if any, do you see? You know, a big, big problem people have up here, is reproductive health issues. Do you see any differences in overall health — or robustness may be a better term here — between your Muscovies and your mallard-derived? 

Hannah: I haven’t had the mallard-derived ones very long. I haven’t really had issues with them either. But I would say the Muscovies, I’ve had them for a total 12 years. I’ve never had a single health issue. Except one duck had her eyes swell up and her eye was like swollen shut. She’s half blind now. But that’s not a reproductive issue or anything like that. It was a freak accident of some kind.

Aaron: Longevity and also egg production… So let’s talk a little bit about how long, in your experience, the Muscovies live. In our flock, I think our oldest female is 10, maybe a little older than that now. We actually have a few 10 year olds. One of them is still producing eggs every now and then. One of them produces pretty regularly during the peak production season. And then one of them has – we call it “henopause.” She’s past that stage in life and is now basically in retirement.

The longest I’ve heard of a mallard living is maybe a little north of 20 years, for drakes. Not sure about Muscovies. But the bottom line is on egg production – Mallard-derived (with some variance by breed) their egg production I’d say probably peaks at three to four years old, and then maybe seven to nine years might be where you could expect them to begin shutting off production.

Hannah: Muscovies are very similar. I’d say mine lay until 9 or 10 years. My oldest one is 13 years old and she’s definitely not laying. I think my 10 year old ducks maybe lay a few eggs a year. And then full lifespan… I have never heard of a 20 year old Muscovy, so I’m guessing it’s going to be a similar lifespan.

Aaron: Now your 13 year old Muscovy: is she still getting around fine? Is she walking and flapping and…

Hannah: Yeah, she looks about the same as the others. I can’t tell she’s old at all.

Aaron: Okay, I’m gonna ask you a question that might be kind of hard for you to answer… What if you could only pick one species of the birds you have? Which one would you go with or maybe even rank them for us from favorite to least favorite? And this is highly subjective, obviously.

Hannah: Well, there is a part of me that really loves Muscovies, because they’re very unique, very lovable, and easy to identify individuals. But I think I would pick Mallard-derived ducks still because I think they’re easier to work with in the garden because they don’t try to jump over the fence or anything. I can keep them in the garden easily and keep them contained, and they lay way more so I would still say I think they fit our farm better.

The only exception is the Muscovies are very good foragers, very independent. If I needed a very independent duck, then I think I would stick with Muscovies. 

Aaron: Being in a farm setting, do you have Runners? 

Hannah: I’m looking for them. I haven’t found them, but I would love to have some.

Aaron: Yeah. Because those are, you know, in the US at least, if you have a farm and you want really good foragers that are fast and can potentially avoid predators, those are a really good breed to choose.

We have one Blue Runner and he is so fast. Our son is ridiculously fast and he’s the only duck that our son has trouble catching. But also a good forager. So I didn’t know how they would compare on the foraging front, in a kind of a farm-type context or small farm context?

Hannah: They are definitely considered good foragers. I don’t know if they would be better than Runners or my other mallard-derived ducks or not. I think they are. They’re very independent, though. I think they would have an easier time finding all their own food.

Aaron: Maybe this is a myth you can bust or not… One thing I’ve heard up here is that people who have mosquito problems, Muscovies apparently just love snapping mosquitoes out of the air and keeping mosquito populations down. Any thoughts on that claim?

Hannah: I’ve heard that, too. I’ve also heard people saying they’ll snap flies out of the air. I don’t think I’ve seen mine do that. But they do eat mosquito larvae. They love eating larvae out of our tubs and pools. The mallard-derived ducks will do that too, though.

Aaron: But generally, if the mosquitoes are in the air, you’re not seeing them snapping them up?

Hannah: Not that I know of. Maybe I haven’t watched enough. 

Aaron: Okay, so another interesting bird that you have, which is also very popular for certain situations is mule or mulard ducks or hinnies. Can you describe what those are and then maybe what the features of those birds are?

Hannah:
I do have a pair. I’m actually not that familiar with the exact differences between them. So if you cross a Muscovy and a mallard-derived duck, you will get a mule or a hinny. And they are infertile. The hinnies will lay eggs, but they won’t hatch. Mules will not lay eggs at all. But they’re often used for meat because they’re very fast-growing.

A mule is a cross between a muscovy drake and a mallard-derived hen. And hinnies are the opposite.

Aaron: Do they look the same? Any differences between them?

Hannah: I only have mules. I think hinnies are smaller. People don’t do that cross deliberately because that’s not good for meat. And I don’t know about the egg laying. I’m guessing that they won’t lay very many eggs.

My mules make sounds kind of like Muscovy noises, but then they can also quack. The female can quack, kind of, and then the male hisses. But it’s not quite the same as a Muscovy drake hiss. It’s kind of a weird hybrid sound.

Aaron: It’s not quite sure what it is.

Hannah: Yeah.

Aaron: My understanding is those [mules] are primarily used for meat production, is that correct? 

Hannah: Yeah, I’d say that’s the only reason people would deliberately cross them is for meat. The mulards – I think that would be a Muscovy-Pekin cross.

Aaron: Now, one thing I should say to people who are living in the United States: before you potentially go out and get any duck, whether that’s a Muscovy or any animal for that matter, is to find out whether it’s legal or not. In some areas, there are apparently some federal regulations that would apply to Muscovies being considered an invasive species, which might impact availability or legality. And then there’s also various state ordinances, various city ordinances, or even all the way down to the level of a home owners association.

So one thing I just want to make sure that we’re really clear about, from a responsible ownership standpoint, is that people check that out before they ever go get any of these birds. Because what you don’t want to do is go out and get birds and then find out you can’t have them for whatever legal reason, and then be in a situation where you have to re-home them and can’t find a home. And then that increases the likelihood of someone dumping them in a pond, which is not good for anyone or anything.

So I just want to make sure we state that very clearly. Don’t get birds until you know you can legally do so, and you’re also fully prepared to do so as far as predator-proofing a coop and run, whatever it happens to be.

Hannah: I’ve heard quite a few people finding feral Muscovy ducklings and adopting them. I don’t know if that’s legal, but they’re in Florida. They are overrun with feral Muscovies there.

Aaron: On that note, are there specific places that you recommend people get Muscovies? I know it might be kind of hard to say from Belize, but you know, we talked about rescues, for instance.

Hannah: I would imagine that rescues might be a great place, definitely, because they have a very hard time rehoming them. So if someone wants to get a flock of Muscovy drakes from a rescue, that would be a great idea. In Florida and similar states, I’m sure they have a lot of rescue ducks there.

The next option would be a breeder. There are good breeders. I know there’s the one in Maine, I know one in Washington, one in Arizona.

And then hatcheries. Metzer Farms has white Muscovies and black Muscovies. I don’t know if they ship them everywhere. Most hatcheries don’t have Muscovies because they’re hard to ship. They apparently don’t tolerate it as well.

Aaron: Do they have a higher mortality rate as ducklings being shipped in the mail?

Hannah: I think so, yes. Metzer Farms does have them like I said though, but only two colors.

Aaron: Anything else you’d like to let people know about Muscovies before we wrap up? 

Hannah: Yeah, speaking of the colors, they have so many colors. I have a list of the colors…

Aaron: With Muscovies, the different colors aren’t even considered breeds, right?

Hannah: Yes. In Muscovies, there are no breeds. Every one is kind of unique. And then you can cross them to get different colors. I have black, blue, and silver. And then I have them in barred, plain colors, pied. And then also there’s this white head gene that’s dominant that causes them to have a completely white head. But there’s also like lavender… Let me look at my list: lavender, lilac, buff, bronze, blue, cream, and several other rare colors. And those patterns also include ripple and looney.

Aaron: Wow. Are these specific traits that you’re looking for in the offspring or are you trying to breed for any particular one of these? Or are you just making notes and showing an interest in how the genes happen to express?

Hannah: It’s just an interesting part of the species that you can get them in a really large variety. I like the silvers the best, personally.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that Muscovies are not as flock-based as mallards. Mallards will group together if they’re scared, they will pack together. Whereas Muscovies will go off on their own. I often have sisters sticking together, but other than that, they just spread out. They will go forage on their own. They will go have a bath in the pond on their own. They’re not as flock-based. Although you should definitely still get two. You shouldn’t have a single Muscovy.

Aaron: I should also mention this: I don’t know how all duck people don’t know this yet- we use long herding sticks, like thin pieces of bamboo, to herd our ducks to where we want them to go. Otherwise, they’ll never go where we want them. How do you herd Muscovies? Do you use a whistle, a herding stick, or what? 

Hannah: I used to use a herding stick. Now they go to bed on their own. I just stick food in there. They all come. Same with the mallard-derived ducks.

Aaron: How do they know that it’s food time and start coming in?

Hannah: Nowadays, I go out near sunset and they’re already in. They’re very well-behaved now. But before that I would just put the food in there and they would all follow me in.

Aaron: Ours love a routine. We usually let them out at the same time every night, but sometimes our schedules are weird and we’re late and, man, they are so loud and are not happy about it. Are muscovies kind of routine-oriented in a similar respect? 

Hannah: Yeah, I think so. They don’t make noise when they’re mad because they’re very quiet. But they will pace up and down and try to climb up the walls if they can.

Aaron: So they’re irritated, but they just can’t express their irritation in the same vocal way that a mallard can.

Hannah: Yeah. Oh, by the way, they have a crest on their head. They have a small little erectile crest that they can raise. They don’t do it when they’re mad. They do it mainly when they’re alerted. When they’re alert, they will raise it. Males and females have that. The males have a bigger crest. They don’t raise it that often though. 

Aaron: Hannah, my sense here is that we have fully covered all things Muscovy duck. Anything else you’d like to add? 

Hannah: Basically they are very, very hardy, very independent, not great if you want a lot of eggs, but they’re good pets. I know people have them in the house a lot of the time. I don’t know if they would wear a regular duck diaper. I don’t know if it would fit a Muscovy

Aaron: That’s a good question. And I would assume they poop just as much as a mallard-derived duck? I think that’s probably universal with all waterfowl – just constant pooping. That’s a lovely feature of ducks.

Hannah, thanks so much for coming on the Duck Keeper’s Corner and telling us all about Muscovy ducks! 

Hannah: Thank you for inviting me! 

---

Thanks for your support!

If you found this information helpful, please like and share this post and the original YouTube video!