Muscovy ducks

Two weeks ago we bought four Muscovy ducklings from the produce store. Muscovy are a great beginner duck, being very hardy, they are also excellent utility birds for those who are happy to kill there own. Muscovy meat is more like goose and often compared to good quality veal, much leaner then tradition duck meat. Muscovy's are unique in that they are the only domesticated duck not related to the Mallard. South American natives they do not quack and are extremely quiet if you are used to what "normal" ducks sound like. They are large birds with a lot of character and become very used to human company.  

Its been a few years since we had poultry. Previously we kept chooks for eggs and Japanese quail for meat and eggs, but rodents put us off and in the end we got rid of everything feathered.

6 week old Muscovy ducks

So why ducks, how will the story end any different? Ducks don't really rely on grain  as chickens and quail, particularly Muscovy's which seem more aligned with geese then standard ducks. I have to date fed them mostly greens from my work (I am a chef), and clover and kale from my garden, just keeping a small container of pellet and grain to fill in the gaps.

 

The thing is they are ravenous eaters and if I want to keep this diverse green diet up I will have to get organised. While researching I came across the green fodder concept where  farmers are sprouting wheat and barley in trays and growing up "biscuits" of fresh shoots to feed cattle and sheep. I'm going to give it a go.

Obviously on a much simplified system but  I will be trying barley, wheat oats and lupin. Very easy and a great way to produce high protein green fodder perfect for ducks, this should remove the need for me to purchase pellet food and  ensure that my birds are eating organically principled pesticide free feed, important if I end up eating their eggs or them for that matter.

Lupin