WELCOME to amf Cackles

DG ....'DH' is clearly your partner(?) so is it initials for 'Duck Husband'? lol did I miss something? And Maria....you're evil!      I am actualy having mild anxiety in bed at night anticipating the population explosion....I actually had a dream last night about a scientist who was manipulating a cross between humans and mussies and there was a 'birth' scene but I didn't see the results  just as well.  Think i was imprinted last night from a strange movie that was on....lol I guess my psyche is mussie obsessed at the mo.  B.T.W Renee has not touched food or water (or even changed position) in 3 days, is this normal?  Yes, DG it is Spring here and just begining to 'burst' with life.  We live in a really pretty green valley and i love this season...we get 42deg + in summer which I don't like so much :-( 

To the Australian Muscovy Forum, we're excited to have you here!

Don't be shy, let us get to know you better by telling us about you and your muscovy.

About now our young ones start to practice mate and pulling each others tails and feathers under the wings. The boys tend to bicker more among themselves, and the girls usually just pick on the ones that are younger, especially the younger boys...maybe they know that the boys will grow up and pester them! Girls fly much better at this stage and one of our ducklings used to fly up to the top of our 50 ft tall redwood tree( about 17 meters high I think!) The girls here tend to like to roost up high in the evenings, so the older males will not be able to bother them. the boys here seem to fly until they are about 8 months, and get a full chest width, becoming too heavy to fly anymore. The boys here also seem to be more amorous in the late evenings, about the time the females go up to roost!
Although we did have a duck that was even laying before we knew for sure she was a girl! Of course she turned out to be a lousy mother and had a bad temper to boot! She even tried to kill another young duck!
Hope this helps, at least if they act the same there as they do here. As you can tell we spend a lot of hours with them!
DG

I think that my ducks, and myself , could do well in your climate and country, if I just didn't have a fear of your wildlife! Spiders with huge fangs, poisonoius mammals, and huge lizzards, not to mention the toads! The bad stuff here is black widows, mainly, and the ducks love to eat those! There are snacks outside of town, but it is usually too hot when they are our to get out of the car where they are! Just drive by with the A/C on! It is hot here in summer up to about 44 deg C  last week, and sometimes gets hotter, but all in all not too bad a place!(just don't tell the dh I said that, he might have me commited!) Our climates are very similar, just opsite seasons. We are just getting to fall nmow and you should be starting spring, yes? With as mild as it was this summer it should be wicked cold this winter!

I'll definitely keep you informed and post more pictures as they change.  I went out this morning and all but four of them took off and flew quite a long distance from the clothesline, around the corner of the house, and over to the duckhouse (formerly the greenhouse) to their pond.  They flew high - above my head and I am 5ft 1in in height.  They flew gracefully and with ease.  Of the four that didn't fly, one is the tiny one (no.9 in the pictures) who still has not developed flight feathers and he has enormous feet. I'm pretty certain this one is a drake.  My photo just was not that clear.  No.10, a terrible photo for detail, also does not have primary flight feathers, has much more pronounced caruncling around the bill than the rest of the flock, has enormous feet and is the biggest and heaviest of the flock. These are the only two about which I have any certainty.  Two of the smaller, darker coloured ones didn't fly, but just strolled casually along with the tiny one.  I think they were just keeping him company.

All of them tend to squabble with one another.  Just developing pecking order I suspect. None are fighting - as yet.  I've been listening to their calls when they squabble and the majority have a throaty "whoop whoop whoop" sound not unlike that of an annoyed kookaburra.  Sometimes this is accompanied by a higher pitched squeal from some of them.  None hiss so far.  The main sound they make is rather like the sound used for the little dinosaurs in the Jurrasic Park movie - the ones that spat blinding venom.  Perhaps they used muscovies for the soundtrack as they probably didn't have any dinosaurs handy.

I will be interested to see how right or more so how wrong I am
But I think you were pretty lucky as the majority does look to be female.
Would also be interested in their colour development as they grow so make sure you keep us updated as they grow

Duck Gardener it does seem like your ducks would fit into our climate very well
We forget sometimes here that climates are very different in different parts overseas but like here what works in say Victoria will be totally different up in Cairns and Queensland.
Victoria you will have enough in the next few months to keep everyone in your general vacinity well stocked with ducks

I uh,  .  . Welcome to the wonder world of mussies.
DG

Anna, I think it is the clear "collection' vessel that does it! With a perfectly good teaser duck right there!

Maria-
It might just make it possible to import some Chocolate genetic material. I haven't given up on that, just very busy and been ill alot lately. If anyone has time to look into it on that end?...
DG