North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard Wagner" <rewagner@centurytel.net>]

Ours lay mostly in the spring like wild ducks. Our largest clutch was 18 
eggs. Our regular domesticated ducks have a longer laying period but I am 
not a big consumer of duck eggs, just for baking. My wife cures them for 
herself.  For anyone interested check the internet for "mule ducks".  'Mule 
ducks' are Muscovy x duck hybrids that are sterile like mules but have much 
larger breast muscles than regular ducks

The mature drakes are quite uncouth, but you
only need one.  Donna

. They are the meat duck of choice in Asia.

-----Original Message----- 
From: mIEKAL aND
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 11:06 AM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Caution on Muscovy Ducks

How are they for egg laying?

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Kieran &/or Donna
<holycow@frontiernet.net> wrote:
> I was one of those people who were horrified and contacted F&WS.  I also
> contacted hatcheries who had muscovy ducklings for sale and had no idea 
> that
> suddenly they were supposed to have their customers fill out forms, and 
> that
> in fact no more muscovy ducks were to be raised in the USA except for
> registered producers, and all those backyard birds that were 
> "grandfathered
> in" were supposed to stop reproducing too.  Those of us who discussed this
> all agreed that only protection from predators kept our muscovies alive.
> Down in Florida they can be a nuisance, and in Texas some have 
> naturalized.
> The F&WS were apparently equally shocked to discover that muscovies have
> been around for so long in so many places without making trouble.
>   I guess muscovies are a lot like goats.  If sufficiently protected and
> fed, they can take over and eat everything.  If insufficiently protected,
> they can die out.  To be practical and be worth the effort, they should be
> used.  They are excellent meat birds with excellent foraging capacity, are
> terrific mothers, are much less wasteful of water than quack ducks, and 
> are
> very pleasant to have around.  The mature drakes are quite uncouth, but 
> you
> only need one.  Donna
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