Rele-e-e-ease the Quackin!

Let me start off this post with a confession.  I chose the title because I heard it on a YouTube video and liked it so much that I stole it.

Another confession: the bird I’m writing about doesn’t quack.  Heck, some say it’s not even a duck.

But it’s a catchy title, isn’t it?

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I’ve detailed in a previous post how I chose which breed of chicken I chose for our little place.  At first, chickens were the only type of poultry I wanted to keep, since I love the meat and eggs they provide.  Then I decided that we needed another kind of poultry. 

How did I decide?

The farm told me.

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OK, that’s enough obfuscations and riddles for one post.

When we bought the new property, it was pretty much perfect for us, except for one thing.  Whether it was because of the free-range chickens pooping everywhere, or because they had laid a lot of eggs in hidden spots that had gotten old and rotten, or the horses, or maybe for some other reason, the place was home to a lot of flies. 

Some of the flies were the biting kind and some were the kind that just land on you and crawl around, tickling as they go.  Either way, we realized quickly that we’d had all of them we wanted.

But, how to get rid of them?

Well, I told you my previous post that Annie and I had discovered a couple fly traps that use environmentally-safe methods to entice the buzzing buggers into them, where they are then unable to escape.  Then, when you are ready to empty them, the flies can be fed to your poultry.

Too bad we can’t cut out the middle-man and find a way to draw in the flies and get them to hold still long enough for the birds to gobble them down.  To use the trapped flies as poultry feed, the bugs had to be killed first.

I was thinking about this conundrum when a little spark of a memory popped into my head.  At the same time I was researching chicken breeds, I pursued my little flash of inspiration and looked up Muscovy ducks: the breed of duck that some say is not really a duck.

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There are several theories as to how the Muscovy got his name, so I won’t go into them, but suffice it to say that the birds have nothing to do with Muscovites, or even the city (Moscow) from which the Muscovite people take their name.  Nope, Muscovy ducks are native to South America, Central America, and even a few counties in southwest Texas.  They were domesticated by South American Natives long before Europeans ever set foot in the western hemisphere.  Scientists say they may be the oldest domesticated species of duck.

But wait, I said earlier that some people say they are not actually ducks.  Well, they believe that because it takes about as long for Muscovy eggs to hatch as for goose eggs.  Also, Muscovy ducks like to graze on grass, like geese.  In addition, they are not biologically closely related to other domestic ducks.  You see, every single breed of domestic ducks is derived from the Mallard…except the Muscovy.  They come from that wild bird native to South America whose native name has been lost to time but which is commonly called, guess what, the Muscovy duck.

Go figure.

As I said, some people claim Muscovy’s are not actually ducks, but some say they are.  The argument is really moot since, as the old expression goes, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”

Oops.

You see, Muscovy ducks are sometimes called the quiet duck, because they don’t quack.  Nope.  The hens may peep a little bit, but both sexes mostly make noises like they have completely lost their voices, sounding something like a very sick person’s wheezing cough.

Also, every breed of duck that was derived from the Mallard species is flightless.  The ability to take wing has been bred out of them.  Not so the Muscovy.  The breed has been increased in size for better meat production, leaving the males, once they have reach adult proportions, to rarely even try to fly and seldom, if ever, get more than a few inches off the ground.  However, the females haven’t gotten that big, attaining about half the adult weight of the drakes.  Thus, even though they don’t go super-high, they can truly fly.  Years ago Annie and I had a flock of Muscovy ducks.  In the morning I’d sometimes see the dozen or so Muscovy hens fly past the kitchen window.  Impressive!

I called them the Muscovy Air Force.

Muscovy ducks are roosting birds, whereas other domestic breeds are not.  Muscovies have sizeable claws (sometimes called talons) that allow them to grip branches.  It is not uncommon to see the hens sitting on low limbs in trees.  The wild ones will build nests in the bowl of a tree, but, luckily for me, the domestic ones are fine with nesting in a secluded spot on the ground.

Speaking of nesting, as I alluded to earlier, Muscovy duck eggs take 35 days to hatch compared to the other domestic breeds which normally hatch in only 28.  Despite the difference in gestation times, Muscovies can cross with mallard-derived breeds.  The young of such a cross is called a mulard but, like the mule, is sterile.

On a side note, the mulard (which is produced specifically by crossing a Muscovy drake with a mallard hen and NOT the other way around) gains weight like a Muscovy, but matures faster like a mallard, outperforming either breed when it comes to meat production.  The product of crossing a drake mallard with a hen Muscovy does not gain like a Muscovy and is still sterile, so there is little advantage to crossing them.

The Muscovy is a friendly breed, with the exception of the hens when they are protecting their nest or young.  They are somewhat protective of their progeny and will threaten and MAY bite (more like a half-hearted pinch than a bite) if someone sticks a hand in their nesting spot.  I’ve never known them to actually attack or hurt anyone. 

Not far removed from the wild birds, the Muscovy is hardy.  It likes to free-range, eating grass, little mice, and small snakes, lizards, and frogs…and bugs, particularly mosquitoes and flies.  Yes, flies.

It is amazing to watch as their heads dart out to snap up a fly.  They can often even catch them as the bugs fly past.  In fact, they are so good at catching flies that one Canadian study found that the Muscovies caught 60 TIMES as many flies as sticky fly traps. 

Owners and breeders of Muscovy ducks say that their voracious appetite for flies more than offsets the number of the bugs normally attracted to a poultry flock.  Yep, that’s a big reason why I want to add Muscovies to my flock.

But I’m not done yet.

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Muscovy eggs are delicious, containing a larger proportion of albumen (egg white) than other duck breeds, making them a favorite of pastry chefs, who say they make for fluffier pastries.  Who doesn’t like fluffy pastries?

But what about the meat? 

I’m glad you asked.

Muscovy ducks, being the largest domestic breed of ducks, produce large, dark meat that I’ve often heard compared to the best cuts of beef, including sirloin.  Sirlion?  As in steak? 

Yep, sirloin, as in steak!

OK, let’s round things off with a summary.  Muscovy ducks are large, friendly, meaty birds that also produce delicious eggs, while living on a diet made up, in a large part, of grass and bugs, including mosquitoes and flies…and their meat is delicious.

Oh, and, I can’t wait to get my little box containing my Muscovy ducklings, so that I can say, determinedly, “Release the Quackin’!”

Aren’t you glad I didn’t say anything about opening a box of quackers?

Yeah.

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