Are you looking to keep a muscovy duck as a pet? Then you might wonder what they are like. For example, are muscovy ducks noisy? Well, I answer this question in detail below.
While duck eggs and meat are great, raising loud ducks comes with the problem of your neighbors complaining about all the noise.
While the drakes don’t quack, a female duck quack is quite loud.
They aren’t as noisy as chickens but can still cause disturbance for people living nearby.
If the noisiness is what stops you from building a backyard duck coop, Muscovy ducks are the perfect solution.
Known as the quietest duck breed, they rarely make any noise.
How Do Muscovy Ducks Communicate?
So, if Muscovy ducks aren’t as verbally expressive as other domesticated ducks, how do they communicate with each other?
Well, Muscovies aren’t entirely silent. They’re quieter ducks, but they still have vocal cords and are capable of calling out.
Besides vocalizing, Muscovy ducks also communicate through bodily movements like wagging their tails and bobbing their heads up and down.
The males are crested ducks that raise their crest to attract female ducks and establish dominance over other males.
Do Muscovy Ducks Quack?
When raising Muscovies, you may hear the females make soft croaking and quack-like noises when they’re frightened.
However, their calls are very different from the loud quacks typically associated with domestic ducks.
They often communicate with the ducklings through cooing and trilling noises.
The males vocalize a little differently. They make a raspy noise akin to a hiss, especially during courtship.
What Does a Muscovy Duck Sound Like?
Muscovies are a quiet duck breed, and you won’t hear them make much noise.
Even when they do vocalize, the noises are very low-pitched and often go unheard by humans.
A flock of Muscovy ducks, however, will be more audible.
Why Don’t Muscovy Ducks Quack?
It’s all about genetics. Not every animal with vocal cords makes the same sounds because the vocal cords differ from one species to another.
Muscovy ducks are genetically very different from other breeds of ducks.
Muscovies can make sounds similar to quacking, but they’re nowhere as high-pitched as the female duck quack of other breeds.
Instead, they often make hissing sounds to communicate. They are perhaps the only duck to do so, and it is one of the unique things about them.
Do Muscovy Cross Ducks Quack?
Cross-breeding Muscovies with other duck breeds like Pekins results in sterile ducks, known as mules.
Even with one of the parents being vocal and noisy, Muscovy cross ducks tend to be very quiet and do not quack.
Do Muscovy Ducks Make Noise?
Muscovies aren’t completely silent, but they don’t make much noise, either.
Unless something threatens or startles them, they only make soft and low-pitched sounds.
How Loud Are Muscovy Ducks?
If you’re worried about ducks being loud and causing a nuisance, you can rest assured that Muscovy ducks are a safe choice.
They’re rarely loud – most of the time, they make soft sounds. As I mentioned earlier, Muscovies cannot quack like other ducks.
Do Male Muscovy Ducks Make More Noise or Female?
Both male and female Muscovies are capable of vocalizing, but the latter is much quieter. The males tend to make noise more often, especially during courtship.
The females can make a variety of sounds, ranging from clicks to trills.
On the other hand, the males can only make a raspy hissing sound after reaching a certain age.
This is one of the several differentiating characteristics between male and female Muscovies.
What Time of The Day Do Muscovy Ducks Make Noise?
Like most birds, ducks are the noisiest during the daytime when they are active.
Apart from sleeping during nighttime, they’ve also developed an instinct to remain quiet at night to avoid predators.
However, a mother duck staying up at night to nurse the young may make some noise.
Can Muscovy Ducks Talk?
Some birds, like parrots, can “talk”, but unfortunately, Muscovies aren’t one of them.
They communicate in their own ways with their specific range of sounds, but they cannot reproduce human speech.
Some bird species, especially in the parrot family, are capable of producing a wide variety of sounds.
This allows them to say human words with varying levels of clarity.
You should remember that birds don’t actually talk as in saying something they mean to communicate, as they do not understand human language.
They just learn words that are frequently spoken to them and repeat those.
To do this, they need a highly developed larynx and vocal cords, which Muscovies do not have.
Frequently Asked Questions
What sound do Muscovy ducks make?
During the spring and summer, when they’re mating, male Muscovies make hissing sounds to attract the females towards them.
They also do it to show aggression or to protect their territories.
Females usually only call in response to the males; their call is described as low quack.
Muscovies are the only ducks in the world that do not quack, and they are considered to be one of the quietest of their species.
Why do Muscovy ducks talk?
These vocalizations help to ward off predators. They are also used sometimes to woo mates.
It is also thought that they use these vocalizations to establish their hierarchy within the flock, with strong, dominant birds making louder sounds than those higher up in the pecking order.
Pekin duck crossed with Muscovy, do they quack?
Each parent species has its own unique vocalizations, and its offspring may or may not inherit these qualities.
It is most likely that the ducklings would create a mixture of noises, including both quacks and different hisses.
However, it is not possible to guess it beforehand.
Is my Muscovy duck talking to me?
However, they can make hisses and other noises to communicate with one another.
Perhaps your muscovy is trying to indicate they want something from you.
Observe how your duck behaves when it interacts with you; it might bow its head or make a low, quiet sound that could signal it wants attention or food.
Wrap Up
To sum up, Muscovies are relatively quieter duck species and make far less noise than backyard chickens.
If you’re thinking of making a duck pen but don’t want to deal with much noise, Muscovy ducks are a great pick.
This breed of duck is known for its high yield of tasty meat, and the eggs are much tastier than more common and noisy duck breeds too.
Additionally, Muscovies make great pet ducks due to their calm and friendly temperament.
I hope this article has been worthwhile to you and you can raise your Muscovies without much trouble.
