Hello and housing question

J

Jibi

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Hello

I'm new to this forum. I just got my first three muscovies and am enjoying having them around. They're a bit messier than I expected, so I'm trying to encourage them to hang out around their coop that I put on the other side of our yard, rather than on our veranda where my wife doesn't appreciate the mess. I'm letting them free in our yard but I'd like them to go into their shelter at night.

So I built them a really nice looking wooden coop, raised off the floor a few inches with a mesh floor and a feeder and water dispenser inside. But they don't want to go in it much at all. I've had them 3 days and haven't yet convinced them to go inside at night. Does anyone have any tips for how to get them to adopt their coop?

Thanks,
Jibi
 
Hi welcome to the forum and hope you find it as useful as i have.
A quick amswer to your problem would be to lock them in the new house for a few days and hopefully they will then know it as there home.

Hope this helps
 
Train them to follow you with mixed corn. When mone arrived, the seller told me she trained them with mealworms -- too too expensive for me but I have found mixed corn works fine. Shake it in a tin, then get them to come. Put some in the coop and they should go in.
 
I have found muscovies are creatures of habit, and they don't really like any change to their routine. I have found patience and a little bit of persuasion (like Chuck.) with corn or warburtons seeded bread works well! :D
I certainly wouldn't leave them locked in their house for a few days... :shock:
 
Thanks all. I ended up making them a new house with cement blocks at ground level and with a tin roof. They love it! That;s similar to what they grew up in, where I bought them, so maybe they just prefer that.
 
Sounds good. I was going to query the mesh floor in case that was putting them off. Some do like to roost so a 2" X 2" wooden perch with rounded off edges would suit them.
Mine find their own food in the day but they have a lot of grass to wander over but they are only too willing to come for some mixed corn.
 
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