To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Caution on Muscovy Ducks
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:06:52 -0600
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