Muscovy Duck Showed Up

[Lynne]

This morning, I was taking my dog for his morning walk and and I spotted a beautiful Muscovy duck roosting under one of our large spruces. It started to walk towards me and my dog. My dog doesn't alert much regards other animals, so the duck is still alive and unscathed.

I called one of the local farm families and it's not theirs. They don't know who it belongs to.

I didn't know what to feed it (of course I fed it - I'm a mom!), so I took out a tray of leftover corn tortillas, ground flax seed and grapes. And water of course.

I'm now wondering if I should provide some shelter for it. I have a plastic storage bin. What would I put in it for warmth? We don't have any hay.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...p=18&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS211US211&sa=N

 

[Sukerkin]

What a nice thing to see unexpectedly on a walk, Lynne .

According to the info I quickly Googled up, it would seem that they are independent types, quite cable of handling most of the problems even an unfamiliar environment throws at them.

http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/31-3script_en.asp

 

[Lynne]

What a nice thing to see unexpectedly on a walk, Lynne .

According to the info I quickly Googled up, it would seem that they are independent types, quite cable of handling most of the problems even an unfamiliar environment throws at them.

http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/31-3script_en.asp

Thanks for the link. We watched the duck for a few hours. I went to check on it later and it was gone. I assume it flew away.

Your article said the Muscovy duck is tasty. It's funny. I eat meat, fowl, and fish but I just have to rescue animals. We'd never be able to raise animals for the dinner table. I'd turn them all into pets.

We see all kinds of interesting wildlife here. Occasionally, we see foxes, both red and silver but only a glimpse. I've seen a coyote twice.

 

[Sukerkin]

A shame he or she couldn't hang around for a while longer. Obviously a duck on a mission .

My missus is the same when it comes to 'edible' creatures raised at home. Duck's and rabbits particularly wear the mantle of "Pet" rather than "Dinner" - tho', sadly for them, chickens do not seen to garner the same 'protection' :lol:.

 

[Lynne]

A shame he or she couldn't hang around for a while longer. Obviously a duck on a mission .

My missus is the same when it comes to 'edible' creatures raised at home. Duck's and rabbits particularly wear the mantle of "Pet" rather than "Dinner" - tho', sadly for them, chickens do not seen to garner the same 'protection' :lol:.

The ducky is back. He's in another part of the yard. He hangs out near the road.

I don't know if I'd get attached to chickens - probably.

We live on almost 6 acres and were thinking it'd be nice to have some goats for lawnmowers. And maybe a donkey to keep the coyotes away from the goats. My husband said it would turn into a disaster though. He said the animals would spot me inside the house walking by a window and then they'd all start braying and bleeting for me to come out and give them a treat or pet them. He could see this happening all the time

 

[Lynne]

We went out-of-town for 10 days. Me ducky gone. Hopefully, he went home. But I did find a dead rat in the garage if that counts as exotic wildlife. After all, he looked more like a baby porcupine versus the big black greasy number I caught in my root cellar. The red squirrels aren't scampering around in our attic or throwing hickory nuts down the walls. It's nice to not wake up to soccer at 2:00 am. The coyotes are usually through screaming by 1:00 am. Occasionally, they start up at odd hours though. Our neighbor must have gotten rid of the red squirrels. Red squirrels chewed through his shingles and got into his house and set up for business last winter.

More interesting, the monster buck is back. I swear, his hooves are the size of a quarter horse.

 

[elder999]

A shame he or she couldn't hang around for a while longer. Obviously a duck on a mission .

My missus is the same when it comes to 'edible' creatures raised at home. Duck's and rabbits particularly wear the mantle of "Pet" rather than "Dinner" - tho', sadly for them, chickens do not seen to garner the same 'protection' :lol:.

Just don't name them-that's the rule.

We raise rabbits and chickens. 2 varieties of turkeys, too. Had some people to the house , and they were admiring the birds, and one of them (a vegetarian) asked What are the big turkey's names? to which I replied, "Well, that one's Thanksgiving, and that one is Christmas, and that one over there is called Unexpected Guests...." :lol:

Muscovy duck is tasty in a domestic setting, where you can control its diet, but most wild waterfowl taste like what they eat-crap! Dad and granddad were big time bird hunters...I can do without it, except for turkeys..

 

[Lynne]

Just don't name them-that's the rule.

We raise rabbits and chickens. 2 varieties of turkeys, too. Had some people to the house , and they were admiring the birds, and one of them (a vegetarian) asked What are the big turkey's names? to which I replied, "Well, that one's Thanksgiving, and that one is Christmas, and that one over there is called Unexpected Guests...." :lol:

Muscovy duck is tasty in a domestic setting, where you can control its diet, but most wild waterfowl taste like what they eat-crap! Dad and granddad were big time bird hunters...I can do without it, except for turkeys..

I almost called the duck "Tilly" but knew it would take on pet status. My daughter and I named a red-tailed hawk baby "Fuzzy." Fuzzy had been kicked out of it's nest or fell out. We thought we were rescuing him by putting him in a box with a juicy worm. The following morning Fuzzy was dead. My daughter cried and we gave him a nice little funeral. She was about 9 at the time.