Greens, Greens, Greens
One mistake I see so many new duck owners make is Niacin
"It would not be unusual to have a single flock of birds, with some exhibiting a niacin deficiency and others walking perfectly normally - but all eating the same
feed. Glory, a duck that was rescued by Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary, arrived with leg problems due to a niacin deficient diet.It would not be unusual to have a single flock of birds, with some exhibiting a niacin deficiency and others walking perfectly normally - but all eating the same feed. Glory, a duck that was rescued by Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary, arrived with leg problems due to a niacin deficient diet".
We give greens such as kale, collards, mustard, chick weed, mixed garden weeds (non-toxic) to provide Niacin to all our geese and ducks we hatch.
As for I am worried Muscovies would be too wild for my children's taste.
We raised muscovies for years. The males are much larger than the females. They also tend to be big lazy free loaders. They moche around all day and have to see what you are doing. They make very little noise and tend to want to just hang around with you if hand raised. They were a royal pain when working on stuff because they tended to pickup small things like nuts and bolts and just walk away with them. They would get tired of their new found toy and just drop it anywhere in the yard. The only reason we no longer have them is in my area the males get frost bite if not pinned up when the weather is freezing. I really do not have a great place to over winter them so we gave them away after years of improvising heating for them that was costly.