MOSCOVY DUCKS

 

Muscovy ducks live on the farm year round; their straw bale duck house extends out of the east side of the barn. In most years the three hens and one drake produce around 40 ducklings, usually born in June.

 

The ducks are an important part of the farm ecosystem, consuming the flies that normally plague barnyards. One duck can eat as many as 300 flies a day. On occasion the ducks will eat the flies directly off the cows.

 

The ducklings produced each summer are raised for meat and eggs are collected throughout the summer for consumption. Muscovies are originally from South America and are technically neither duck nor goose, but their own bird.